Newspaper under fire | "More context, please!"

Kalle Kunkel is a busy man. In 2015, as a union secretary at Verdi, he co-organized the first – and successful – strikes over staffing levels at Berlin's Charité hospital . As part of the "Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co. " initiative, he advocates for the implementation of the referendum on the nationalization of large housing corporations. He earned his doctorate on the side and writes regularly for magazines such as "Analyse & Kritik." In his main job at Verdi, he closely monitors the media landscape in the press and public relations department.

Kunkel's duties therefore include regularly studying daily newspapers: What is the general political climate? Which issues have a particular impact on the working population? How are unions and their struggles perceived by the public? Daily reading is very important for forming internal union opinion – "to make what's happening outside visible for internal debates."

Kunkel scans the headlines on the websites of major media outlets – of course, the "nd" is one of them for him. There are few daily newspapers that report on labor disputes and union politics as consistently as the "nd," he said last week at the editorial review event , to which he was invited. Kunkel noted that the reporting differs significantly from that of other media outlets: While it primarily focuses on prominent union members and executives, he appreciates that the "nd" also gives space to the voices of employees.

Conflicts between the grassroots and the official level are not ignored, but presented in a nuanced manner. The paper distinguishes itself through its knowledgeable reporting. Even in critical reports – such as unsatisfactory collective bargaining agreements – "the 'nd' doesn't try to dig in the mud to discredit the unions. You can see that the 'nd' wants strong, assertive unions – not their weakening." This also characterizes the collaboration: "With some media outlets, I ask myself with every sentence: Is this person trying to smear me? Here, you have confidence that quotes aren't arbitrarily taken out of context."

Kunkel advocates for enlightening journalism. A newspaper shouldn't simply list the events of the previous day, but should contextualize them, offer new perspectives, illuminate backgrounds, and make relationships transparent. Who's pulling the strings? What interests lie behind an event? Who benefits, who loses? This kind of contextualization and classification is the core of a good political newspaper. And in this regard, he also welcomes well-researched, longer articles, such as those often found in the editions of "nd.DieWoche." One shouldn't aim to recount the most important facts of the previous day as comprehensively as possible. Other media outlets are faster with the bare news anyway.

Even in the capital, which he is particularly interested in as a local activist, he often finds context lacking. "There are certainly critical reports about an event, but the background and context are still missing. Instead of following the major political conflict lines in the capital over the long term and in depth, a quick report about the next event follows." So there's still room for improvement.