DE: Federal Supreme Court decides on statements on a satire show
Ingo Beckendorf
On 10 January 2017, the German Federal Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) has rejected the libel actions of two journalists of the German weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” against the public service broadcaster „Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen” (ZDF).
On 29 April 2014, the TV station transmitted a satire show. In that programme, two cabaret artists claimed, that the plaintiffs had connections to organizations that deal with security policy issues. With their action, the journalists tried to get an injunction against the transmission of the show by the broadcaster. The satire show contained a dialogue between the two cabaret artists. The central theme of…