A total of 818 crimes against journalists or media were reported to Germany’s investigative federal police force between April 2024 and November 2025. Just over 10% of them were violent in nature.
A response to an inquiry from the opposition Left Party shows a steep increase in politically motivated crimes against the media in Germany over the last couple of years.
Figures released by the Interior Ministry showed that a total of 818 crimes targeting “media” were registered with the BKA, Germany’s federal investigative police force, between April 1, 2024 and November 30, 2025.
That averages out at roughly 41 cases per month over a 20-month period, and compares to 290 crimes, for an average of roughly 24 per month, in the calendar year 2023. The increase equates to roughly 71%.
The Left Party’s spokesman on media politics in the Bundestag parliament, David Schliesing, said the figures had reached a “shockingly high level.”
“The federal and state governments must urgently take action and do considerably more to protect journalistic work,” he said.
How did the statistics break down?
Authorities attributed roughly 30% of the cases, 244, to the right wing of the political spectrum and 78 cases, just under 10%, to the left.
A “foreign ideology” was deemed the motivating political factor in 153 cases, and a “religious ideology” was singled out for 31 cases.
The plurality of the politically motivated cases, 312, were not assigned to any of these four pigeon holes by investigators.
More than 10% of the crimes, 89 in total, were violent in nature. This included 73 cases of assault or causing injury, 13 so-called “resistance crimes” (for instance when violently resisting arrest or detention), two cases of arson and one robbery.
A total of 211 took place in the context of public demonstrations, including the vast majority, 73, of the violent crimes, the Interior Ministry figures said.
Other common offenses included 101 cases of coercion or threats, 53 cases of incitement to racial violence, 47 propaganda offenses as well as 43 cases of damage of property.
Where did the crimes take place?
Berlin — home to many media outlets’ headquarters, as well as being a notoriously politicized city and a magnet to demonstrators from across much of the country — dominated the figures.
Almost half the crimes, 406 in total, took place in the capital and city state, as did 51 of the violent crimes.
Perhaps surprisingly, second in line was the largest eastern state of Saxony, despite it being only Germany’s seventh most populous state, with 82 cases.
Bavaria was next in line with 64, while the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which is also home to Germany’s unofficial media capital of old Cologne, logged 55.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery
DW News
