The German Press Council had received a total of 63 complaints following the January 2022 article by the feminist magazine EMMA on the objection to the legitimacy of Markus (Tessa) Ganserer’s election to the Bundestag. Their tenor: the article was „transphobic“ and EMMA should be reprimanded for it.
Unanimous decision
Now, however, the Council decided:
„It is a permissible journalistic examination of a socially highly explosive topic, namely the question of how sex [Geschlecht] is defined. (…) The unanimous majority of the members were of the opinion that the article does not contain any sweeping and derogatory statements about trans people.“
EMMA reports: https://www.emma.de/artikel/presserat-keine-ruege-fuer-transphobe-emma-339535
The German Press Council is the body responsible for enforcing the voluntary self-regulation of the press in Germany. Through addressing complaints about press behaviour, it monitors compliance with the ethical rules for the daily work of journalists laid down in the German Press Code.