Raab: Letter sent after "careful consideration"
State Secretary Heike Raab (SPD), who has come under criticism, said that she sent the controversial letter criticizing SWR reporting after "very careful consideration". Raab, who is one of the most important media politicians in Germany, said on Thursday in the media committee of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament that she stands by the content of her criticism from the letter written at the end of April this year.
Raab added: "I would like to clear up any confusion about the chosen form." In her view, she had expressed differentiated and objective criticism and sought an exchange with the broadcaster. "It was by no means about personalizing or polemicizing," Raab emphasized. Everyone is entitled to objective criticism. She was perhaps old-fashioned and had opted for the letter format. It was sent on the letterhead of the representative of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the federal government and for Europe, which is why opposition representatives see it as an abuse of power.
The letter refers to a broadcast on public SWR television on April 11. In a broadcast with a political correspondent from SWR, the political future of SPD politician Roger Lewentz, who had resigned as Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister in connection with the Ahr Valley flood disaster, was also discussed.
Among other things, the correspondent made the following assessment: "This is probably unique in Germany that a state interior minister who has to take political responsibility for the many deaths caused by this terrible Ahr disaster remains state chairman of his party." Raab criticized this statement in particular in the letter. Lewentz was only re-elected chairman of the Rhineland-Palatinate SPD at the beginning of November.
In response to the criticism, Raab clarified that she sent her letter to the media, specifically addressing the SWR broadcast, following a thorough examination of the situation. Subsequently, various opposition representatives in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament's media committee raised concerns about the use of her official letterhead, viewing it as an misuse of power in the context of media politics.
Source: www.dpa.com
