German public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) has ended its collaboration with Julia Ruhs, host and editor of the popular TV show Klar.
The move yesterday followed protests from NDR staff over the show’s portrayal of the negative sides of mass immigration and other issues.
NDR announced that the show would continue in 2026 but Ruhs would no longer host it. The 31-year-old Ruhs is regarded as one of the few Conservative voices in German public broadcasting, which is seen as dominated by left-wing sympathisers.
Ruhs wrote that she was “disappointed, even dumbstruck” by NDR’s decision, as was her entire team.
She called her removal “a damning indictment”, adding: “In recent weeks, we have received touching letters from fans who wrote to us saying that they had regained hope in public broadcasting … And now? All the prejudices they already had regarding diversity of opinion have been confirmed.”
Conservative State Prime Ministers Markus Söder (Bavaria) and Daniel Günther (Schleswig-Holstein) also criticised NDR.
Söder wrote on X: “This is not a good sign for freedom of expression, plurality and tolerance at the public broadcaster NDR.”
Günther said today that dropping Ruhs was “an extremely bad signal” with which NDR was confirming the views of all those who accused public broadcasting of a lack of diversity of opinion.
As newspaper Welt reported yesterday, around 250 NDR employees had previously signed an open letter to the TV station’s management accusing Ruhs and her team of one-sided reporting, dividing society and going against NDR’s public mission.
The protest was reportedly orchestrated behind Ruhs’ back by some well-known proponents of Germany’s leftist “moral journalism” in a secret group on messenger app Signal.
Klar first came on air in April. It aimed to present controversial issues – such as migration and the Coronavirus crisis – and give voice to people who might be cast aside by mainstream journalism.
The NDR employees were reportedly especially angered by the first edition of the show, which dealt with the problems caused by mass migration to Germany and how the German State was failing to deport illegals and foreign criminals.
In their open letter, the NDR staff reportedly complained that the show had “violated several principles of journalistic work”.
The producers interviewed victims of immigrant crime, including Michael Kyrath.
Kyrath lost his only daughter, 17-year-old Ann-Marie, in 2023 when she and her boyfriend were stabbed to death onboard a commuter train by an illegal Palestinian immigrant. The attacker had shown violent tendencies repeatedly in the past but German authorities had repeatedly failed to apprehend him.
Since then, Kyrath has spoken out vocally against the dangers of migration, earning him scorn and even ridicule from the German Left.
Every German household has to pay €18.36 per month to fund public broadcasters, including NDR.
