A current dispute between American politicans and a German public broadcaster could further impact the deterioating conditions for foreign journalists in the US.  

Elmar Thevessen, the US correspondent for Germany's public broadcast TV channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), talked about the mood in the US after the murder of influencer Charlie Kirk on his channel's talk show "Markus Lanz" last week.

During the show, Thevessen made one comment that caused a stir. He said Kirk had advocated stoning homosexuals. However, this is not true, which was admitted by the ZDF afterwards.

Charlie Kirk was killed in an attack during a discussion event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem on September 10. He was considered a close confidant of US President Donald Trump.

Thevessen later also said in a ZDF-podcast that Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff at the White House, had beliefs that were "somewhat reminiscent of the ideology of the Third Reich."

This was enough to prompt Richard Grenell, former US ambassador to Germany, to threaten Thevessen with the revocation of his journalist visa for the US. Grenell posted on X that Thevessen was a "radical leftist" who incited violence against people who held different opinions.

In a statement, ZDF explained that Thevessen had wanted to draw attention to an attitude within the US government "that advocates a strong concentration of power in the hands of the president and calls democratic norms into question."

Grenell was named the US government's special envoy for special missions in February and is also considered a close confidant of the president. He was the US ambassador to Germany from May 2018 to June 2020. The United States is currently represented in Berlin only by chargé d'affaires Alan Meltzer.

Further dispute about ZDF presenter Dunja Hayali

Another ZDF presenter, Dunja Hayali, who previously worked for DW as well, addressed and analyzed Kirk's murder during a broadcast. She too was heavily criticized and even received death threats on social media.

"Where is this all leading? In the land of freedom of speech, the US, it seems to be becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate or oppose other opinions without things escalating," Hayali had said.

Regarding Kirk, she had said: "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."

Aftewards, a user posted on Hayali's Instagram account: "You will soon pay dearly for your comments. You deserve only the very worst."

In a written statement, the German office of the global writers' association PEN criticized the radicalization of public debate from the highest political level down to the digital roundtable.

With regard to Trump confidant Grenell, the association stated that " threatening a journalist with visa revocation as a member of the government, for views that are not in line with the government's, and accusing him of violent intentions, are methods unworthy of a democracy."

US to limit press visas

Independently of the cases involving the two German journalists, German media representatives are also increasingly concerned about a plan by the US Department of Homeland Security. According to this plan, journalist visas would only be valid for 240 days, or approximately eight months.

Until now, journalists from Germany have been granted US visas that are valid for five years. Numerous other countries are also expected to be affected by the change. Around 100 media outlets from Germany and abroad, including the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), ZDF, and the German radio station Deutschlandradio, have appealed to the US department to drop the measures.

The chairman of the German Journalists' Association (DJV), Mika Beuster, said in Berlin that 240 days is enough for a single research assignment, "but definitely not for long-term correspondent work."

He said that journalists would hardly be able to cultivate trusted contacts in eight months: "No foreign correspondent can do a good job that way."

German government voices concern

The Thevessen-case and the Trump administration's visa plans for journalists have also alarmed the German government. When asked by DW, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of the country's governing CDU said during a press conference on Wednesday in Berlin: "I can only express my hope and expectation that free press coverage in the United States of America will not be impaired for German journalists."

"We will be watching very closely to see to what extent German journalists can work in other countries," Wadephul said. And that, according to the foreign minister, applies to China just as much as it does to the US.

This article was originally published in German.