On Monday morning, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State Criminal Police Office of Hamburg visited the offices of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”, threatening the newsroom with a search. Consequently, the paper was compelled to release audio recordings of interviews connected to the podcast “House of Block.”
The German Journalists’ Association (DJV) strongly criticized the threatened search by the Hamburg judiciary. Mika Beuster, the Federal Chairman of the DJV, stated that the authorities’ actions, occurring precisely at the start of Hamburg Week of Press Freedom, raise serious questions regarding the protection of journalistic work. He argued that journalistic interviews should not be easily converted into an investigative tool for the criminal justice system.
Beuster emphasized that anyone who speaks with journalists must operate under the assurance that confidential conversation content will not be used for other purposes against the will of the editorial team. He affirmed that editorial secrecy and the protection of journalistic sources are fundamental pillars of press freedom.
According to “Die Zeit”, the associated order originated from the High Criminal Chamber of the Hamburg Regional Court, which was handling the “Block process” and looking for “evidence.” The investigators also requested alleged contractual documents between the interviewees and “Die Zeit”. However, the editorial office reported that no such contract exists.
