As in many other cities in Germany, the issue of the call of the muezzin is currently stirring up public opinion in Gelsenkirchen, a city in the Ruhr area. For years, the call of the muezzin has been heard from two mosques in the districts of Hassel and Horst, which are run by the Ankara-based Islamic association DITIB. If the Alliance 90/Green Party in Gelsenkirchen has its way, the muezzin call is to be extended to other mosques in the city area, from which the call is to be heard daily during the Corona pandemic and then permanently every Friday for the notorious Friday prayer.

However, there is growing resistance to this. In the city council, the Green motion was rejected with the votes of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the AfD and also some representatives of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). However, it was an extremely close result. The motion was then passed on to the education committee, where, however, there is great interest in dropping the hot potato, as can be learned from the city council. The Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa (BPE) has also contributed with extensive flyer distribution campaigns in Gelsenkirchen to raising the level of information among the population about the totalitarian and threatening significance of the muezzin call.

The Greens, on the other hand, seem to remain ignorant of the facts. Today, Tuesday, from 6 to 8 p.m., they are organising the online conference entitled “Ways of interreligious dialogue: Why does the desire for an Islamic call to prayer in Gelsenkirchen trigger such controversy?”, for which one can also register by email at “kv@gruene-gelsenkirchen.de”.

The most prominent participant is Lamya Kaddor, who has been a Green politician since October 2020 and is aiming for a candidacy for the German Parliament, and is also the founder of the “Liberal-Islamic Federation”. She will be in the company of “religious educator” Dr Darjusch Bartsch from the “Centre for Islamic Theology” at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster and Dr Detlef Schneider-Stengel, advisor for “Interreligious Dialogue” at the Diocese of Essen. A fact-based critical discussion can hardly be expected from this panel. Perhaps it will at least be possible to follow up with questions.

https://www.journalistenwatch.com/2021/03/19/gelsenkirchen-muezzinruf-stadtgebiet/

The migrant organization “New German Media Makers” (NdM) has reiterated its demand that editorial offices become “more diverse”. To this end, the association presented a “Diversity Guide” this week under the title “How German Media Create More Diversity”.

According to excerpts from the “New German Media Makers” or NdM website, it says, among other things: “German society has changed, it has become more colourful. That should be reflected in the reporting.” The manual explains which terms journalists should and should not use in which context.

When reporting on criminal offenses, “the prejudice still prevails that refugees or people with international history are more likely to commit criminal offenses than biographical Germans and that their origin is causally related to it”.

Especially now, when the media are losing sales, there is a crisis of confidence and more competition, “diversity” is important. “More diversity brings new target groups, new customers and, above all, better, more successful journalism”.

The more “diverse” editorial offices are, the more it is possible “to take up issues of society without prejudice”, the published excerpts further stated. “And just as we can no longer imagine a purely male editorial office today, we should also no longer be able to imagine white editorial offices. Precisely because of the special constitutional mandate of the media, the question of fair access and the representation of all population groups in journalism is also a question of democracy.”

Media companies are also told: “As a media company, get an idea of ​​the proportion of migrant journalists in your ranks, disclose this diversity data transparently and formulate clear targets (soft ‘quotas’) that can be checked.”

The manual which uses “gender-fluid” spelling, is addressed to all editors, but it is not for sale. “We are happy to make it available to media companies,” only if they are willing to attend an hour-long “information” session. The media should commit to employing at least 30 percent of journalists with an immigrant background by 2030. In addition, “non-white people” should be shown in every program and on every topic.

The MdN is an association that sees itself as “representing the interests of media professionals with a migration history” and advocates “balanced reporting” that “adequately reflects Germany as a country of immigration”.

The board of directors includes the Turkish-born journalist Ferda Ataman, as well as the former spokeswoman for former Federal President Joachim Gauck, Ferdos Forudastan. However, not all journalists with a migration background are welcome in the association.

In the past, the “New German Media Makers” drew attention to themselves, among other things, as language police who wanted to tell journalists how they should report on the asylum crisis. And most recently, the tax-funded association gave weather phenomena foreign-sounding names.

“So far our weather has almost only had typical German names. According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 26 percent of all people in Germany have a ‘migration background’,” the NdM declared. They maintain that weather systems should have “migrant names”.

For the first weeks of the new year, the “media makers” bought 14 sponsorships for the “weather correction” campaign. Among other things, the low and high-pressure systems in 2021 were called Ahmet, Goran, Jussuf, Flaviu, Dimitrios, Dragica and Chana. “Making the weather more diverse is just a symbolic step,” said chairwoman Ferda Ataman. “It is important that social diversity finally becomes normal, everywhere.”

Thus “Ahmet” brought the heavy snowfalls to Germany.

In addition to Ataman, the former spokeswoman for former Federal President Joachim Gauck, Ferdos Forudastan, is also on the board. Instead of “wave of refugees” journalists should write “immigration”, instead of “asylum seeker” rather “refugee”. And for people from immigrant families, the term “culturally diverse” is recommended.

https://freewestmedia.com/2021/03/19/organization-calls-for-more-diversity-among-german-journalists/