German ‘Radical Left’ State Media Faces U.S. Consequences After Charlie Kirk Smears

 

Charlie Kirk’s assassination has dominated headlines in Germany, but the coverage from state-funded broadcasters and prominent media personalities has been anything but neutral. Anchors and correspondents seized on the murder to push hostile portrayals of one of America’s most influential conservatives.

 

 Their remarks in the German media, including false accusations made on public television, have sparked outrage in Germany, triggered formal complaints, and are now drawing the attention of U.S. officials.

 

Print Media Headlines: From Biased to Derogatory

 

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) ran the headline: “A targeted shot into the heart of the MAGA world,” with the
subhead: “Charlie Kirk dies after being shot on a university campus in Utah. He tried to win young people over to Trump and racist ideas.”

 

The Berlin daily Tagesspiegel went further, bluntly labelling Kirk’s death: “Tod eines Brandstifters” – “Death of an arsonist.”

 

                                                    View on Instagram

 

 

ZDF: Statements Without Substance

 

Dunja Hayali, host of the state-funded ZDF Heute Journal, told her audience on Thursday: “The fact that there are now groups celebrating his death cannot be justified by anything, not even his often abhorrent, racist, sexist, and misanthropic statements. But it seems that the radical religious conspiracy theorist struck a chord with precisely these views. Charlie Kirk not only had millions of followers on various platforms, his events were also extremely popular and well attended.”

 

Later, on the broadcaster’s official podcast, without providing evidence, Hayali doubled down, labelling Kirk’s positions “too radical, too racist, too misanthropic, misogynistic, and dehumanising.”

 

 

HAMBURG, GERMANY – DECEMBER 11: Elmar Thevessen during the “Markus Lanz” TV show on December 11, 2019 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Tristar Media/Getty Images)

 

Others outside of Germany who made this false assertion have also been forced to issue corrections and apologies, including horror writer Stephen King and former Tony Blair strategist Alastair Campbell.

  

German Online Discourse Pushes Back

 

Independent German outlets and online commentators erupted in outrage at the coverage. Many argued that celebrating or trivialising the assassination of a U.S. political figure crossed a red line, regardless of political disagreements.

 

Screenshots of the FAZ and Tagesspiegel headlines spread rapidly across X, where hashtags criticising “Staatsfunk” (state media) trended regionally. Conservative commentators accused ZDF of “dancing on a grave,” while even centrist accounts questioned why sweeping accusations of racism and sexism were made without evidence. Several groups have since filed formal complaints against ZDF and other outlets, citing violations of journalistic standards.

 

Backlash from inside Germany’s media

 

Criticism of ZDF has not only come from conservative outlets and social media users but also from inside Germany’s press establishment. Die Welt chief reporter Anna Schneider described the coverage as marked by “malice” and “inhumanity,” pointing in particular to young people on social media openly celebrating Kirk’s assassination.

 

“When someone is murdered, it should not matter what their political views are — it is always terrible,” Schneider said, warning that if society loses this basic consensus, “we are really talking about different conditions.”

  

Meloni: ‘We Are Accused of Hatred by the People Who Justify Kirk’s Murder’https://t.co/xqL6ATL6bK

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 13, 2025

 

 

 

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