Reporting on refugees - Between proximity and distance
“We can do it”: Angela Merkel coined this sentence five years ago when thousands of people came to Germany every day to apply for asylum. There was extensive coverage in the media - a challenge to keep journalistic distance.
Ulrike Schenk has been working for "37 Degrees" on ZDF for many years, a TV format that has received numerous awards for its reports. A show that says about itself to tell “stories from the heart of life, authentically and close to people”. Stories like this:
“Having completed secondary school and just found a qualified apprenticeship position - the young Afghan Samir came to Germany alone at the age of 15. We accompanied him for five years, years between hope and fear. "
Five years, about which the author Ulrike Schenk says today: “Of course you also have a higher level of responsibility, because at some point you come to a point where you have to answer questions and sometimes give advice. And then at some point I was in a position where I had the feeling: This is going to be too much for me. "
Schenk is not just a journalist during this time. At the beginning, after the first report, she stays in contact with the young person. As a private person, as she emphasizes - and helps Samir to find his way in contact with the authorities in his attempt to obtain permanent asylum. When she decides to report on the case again, these experiences help her research.
Information after the end of shooting
"Because: I often heard such small marginal comments after the shooting ended, I got to know his Afghan guardian and was able to research both his escape route and his family history very carefully."
It is not unusual for Schenk to come closer to a protagonist as a journalist: “At '37 degrees' we almost always have the situation that we accompany people as authors for several months. And of course relationships are created there. "
Anything else would not be human, she thinks. But also says clearly: Journalistically, she still had to do her homework and research carefully.
As a journalist, Katrin Elger also regularly reports on refugee stories. For “Spiegel” she repeatedly explores the question of how integration can succeed. Long stories. The editors have clarified in advance whether the report maintains sufficient emotional distance from the topic.
“We have standards at 'Spiegel' that tell us how we should work. There is also a chapter called 'Proximity'. It says, for example, that we show understanding for the difficult situation of protagonists, but we do not advise them, we do not give therapy or even become their allies. We maintain professional journalistic distance. "
Closeness to people
In theory, this is a good instruction, but it is often difficult to implement in practice, says Elger: “The lyrics thrive on getting very close. And you can't get close to people without getting close to them. "
Elger writes again and again about families who are separated on the run, about fates that affect them personally. And sometimes contact is maintained beyond the story when it is written down. As in the case of a Syrian couple who meet for the first time after years of separation.
“For me it was also an emotional moment because I wrote about it, because I felt sorry for it. You don't turn that off as a journalist. You're not just a journalist, you're also a person. "
Clear motifs on both sides
In most cases, however, it remains purely professional contacts. She doesn't feel guilty when she leaves people to their fate and doesn't get in touch. The relationship, clearly defined for her: As a journalist, she pursues her job - and refugees also have certain expectations of these encounters.
“Why else should they talk to us? When someone decides to contact us or agrees to speak to me, then of course there is often the motive behind the fact that the person hopes that through the attention that he or she achieves something, that the authorities become aware that this speeds up a procedure. "
That was also the case with Samir, whom Ulrike Schenk only accompanied privately for a short time and mainly as a journalist. The now 20-year-old has successfully completed an apprenticeship as a refrigeration system engineer. But he has been waiting in vain for a secure residence status to this day: "It is exactly what we would be accused of for acting there, that didn't help at all, that didn't impress the courts either."
The ZDF journalist said that with her reporting she neither harmed nor really helped the Afghan refugee.
