(de-news.net) – According to a federal government response to a parliamentary inquiry submitted by the Left Party, Germany has experienced a pronounced and sustained increase in politically motivated offenses directed at journalists and media organizations in recent years. Police data transmitted by the Länder to the Bundeskriminalamt as of December 31 show that, between 1 April 2024, and 30 November 2025, a total of 818 politically motivated crimes were recorded nationwide with media or media professionals as the primary target. Of these incidents, 89 were classified as violent offenses, underscoring the severity of a substantial subset of the reported cases.
In comparative terms, the figures point to a clear escalation relative to earlier periods. During the reporting window, the data correspond to an average of approximately 41 cases per month, compared with roughly 24 cases per month recorded in 2023, representing an increase of about 71 percent. A large share of the incidents was attributed to the right-wing spectrum, which accounted for 244 cases, while 78 offenses were associated with left-wing motivations. In addition, authorities assigned 153 cases to the category of religiously motivated crime and 31 cases to foreign ideologies. A further 312 incidents were placed in a residual classification, reflecting politically motivated acts that could not be unambiguously allocated to any of the established ideological groupings. The geographic distribution of the reported offenses was highly uneven across the federal territory. Berlin alone accounted for 406 cases, amounting to roughly half of the national total, while Saxony, Bavaria, and North Rhine–Westphalia recorded substantially lower figures by comparison.
Beyond physical-world incidents, the data also point to a notable increase in online offenses. The Bundeskriminalamt documented 217 internet-based crimes against media in 2024, a number that rose to 333 in 2025, with many of these cases involving hate postings and similar forms of digital abuse.
The findings prompted expressions of concern within the political sphere. David Schliesing, the Left Party’s media policy spokesperson in the Deutscher Bundestag, characterized the figures as alarmingly high and warned against becoming accustomed to such levels of hostility toward the press. He argued that the scale and persistence of criminal acts and violent attacks targeting journalists demonstrated an urgent need for both federal and state authorities to strengthen protective measures and to more effectively safeguard the conditions necessary for independent journalistic work.
