The term Lügenpresse, ‘lying press’, was used by the German National Socialist Party before and during the Third Reich to discredit the news media and to undermine public trust. By 2014, reports of verbal and physical attacks on journalists and news organizations by individuals calling them Lügenpresse, had again become a frequent feature of the public discourse in Germany. While the term ‘fake news’ is used to similar effect and intent in the United States, Lügenpresse is a historically and politically charged expression of distrust in news media on an institutional level. This research examines the responses and institutional strategies of 27 news editors and executive editors in Germany’s leading broadcast, print and online news organizations to the accusations that they are lying to their audiences. Findings indicate that the reemergence of the term Lügenpresse, has led to considerable self-reflection within institutions, in an effort to counter the lack of trust and to demonstratively better serve the public. The main focus across newsrooms is on improving established processes and on making professional standards and practices more visible to the audience.

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Using standpoint epistemology and critical mass theory this study analyzes the potential impact on work culture and conditions in German newsrooms following a call for voluntary gender quotas in newsroom leadership. In-depth interviews with 53 journalists in 21 leading newsrooms in Germany find positive changes in work culture and conditions for all journalists in all newsrooms that reached or approached critical mass of women in leadership. Through the eyes of women and men working in these national newsrooms, an increase in women in newsrooms that came near or superseded the voluntary quota in leadership positions helped boost ongoing institutional support regarding paid parental leave and childcare options and augmented transparency around opportunities for mentoring, coaching, and hiring through more institutionalized processes. We recommend a continued implementation of voluntary quotas and further research to document and analyze long-term structural and systemic changes that more women in newsroom leadership could bring.

Germany’s public broadcasters, along with local newspapers, have consistently ranked among the top three most trusted news sources in Germany. Yet growing criticism of mandatory fees and recent revelations about public broadcasters’ misuse of funds have put into question the health of Germany’s news and information infrastructure. In fact, a perfect storm appears to be brewing: precarious working conditions, exacerbated by cutbacks in the wake of Covid-19 and the emergence of so-called zombie papers. These papers, published without a local staff, reporters, or newsrooms, threaten to complicate audiences’ perceptions of news credibility and trust. This study explores Germany’s emerging news deserts by examining the rise of zombie newspapers in two states, one in the Western and one in the Eastern part of the country. Analyses of existing literature through the lens of institutional political economy and of interviews with key informants show that Germany, despite its strong federalized system, is following in US footsteps by creating journalist-free zones. A network of hard-to-follow corporate collaborations is endangering the foundations of post-war Germany’s media system: pluralism and media diversity.

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