Germany's Post-Communists Cry 'Foul'

If Axel Springer's papers don't report on a topic, the majority of Germans won't be reading about it. Axel Springer is the most influential publishing house in Germany's newspaper market.

So being boycotted by Axel Springer's journals is serious business for someone who wants to get their message across.

This week, Axel Springer Verlag announced it would not publish advertisements for Germany's post-communist PDS party. The boycott has triggered a debate about press freedom in Germany.

Suspect party has no place in Springer papers

The publishing house justifies its step with doubts about whether the PDS is truly devoted to the democratic system. It points out that Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, continues to monitor the PDS and some of its sub-organizations.

This lumps it into the same category as some right-wing organizations whose ads Springer publications don't print as well, reasons Axel Springer Verlag.

The PDS, however, says Springer's boycott is scandalous and calls it an effort to influence the German election campaign.

"Springer excludes millions of voters and violates the principle of journalistic independence," says PDS party manager Dietmar Bartsch.

Bartsch says there is no doubt about the dedication of the PDS to the democratic system. He stresses the fact that the voters have elected members of the post-communist party to the European Parliament, to Germany's Federal Parliament and to the parliaments of seven Federal German States (Länder).

Free publicity might be worth it

A question that he leaves untouched is whether the whole affair actually gives the PDS more publicity than it would have otherwise gotten.

Many German newspapers not owned by Axel Springer Verlag have reported on the issue. German radio and TV-stations have carried it, as have many German news websites.

And all of a sudden, the PDS has made the headlines in Germany – something that rarely happens otherwise.