taz calls Die Linke's Berlin win 'a victory for democracy'; Welt leads with a 'terror supporter' at the party's election night
Die Linke came first in Berlin's state election on 20 September. We hold ten reports from four countries, and the ones that state a winner agree on it. They do not agree on what the story is: the vote, the coalition, the candidate, or who came to the party.
The result. taz, HotNews.ro, Efimerida ton Syntakton and Frankfurter Allgemeine each report that Die Linke won. HotNews says the party has a good chance of taking over from the Christian Democrats. None of the reports we hold gives vote shares.
What each outlet leads with.
| Outlet | Its lead | In whose voice |
|---|---|---|
| taz | "ein Sieg für die Demokratie" | taz's own |
| Welt (3 reports) | guests at the Neukölln party | Welt's own; Gysi quoted once |
| Welt | "Das Houellebecq-Szenario": "urban-migrantische Zentren" turn "dunkelrot" | Welt's own |
| HotNews.ro | "stânga radicală", heir to the SED | HotNews's own |
| Efimerida ton Syntakton | is Elif Eralp "the female Mamdani"? | a question |
| FAZ | Eralp rejects an Olympic bid | FAZ's own |
What both of our readings found. 3 of 10 reports lead on guests at the party, not on the vote. One Welt headline calls a guest a "Terror-Unterstützer" and does not say who makes that charge. Another Welt report says "published messages" suggest a link between MP Ferat Koçak and the Remmo family. It does not say who published them. Only one of the three quotes the party: Gregor Gysi says "Das ist für uns indiskutabel".
What is not settled. - Only Welt reports that Issa Remmo was at the party. - Only taz reports that the Greens have committed to Eralp. - The SPD has not decided. taz says it faces a power struggle. - We hold no vote shares and no seat count.
What this is about. Berlin has elected a new state parliament, and Die Linke is the largest party in the German capital for the first time.
How it got here. Berlin is one of Germany's sixteen states. It is a city-state: its parliament, the Abgeordnetenhaus, elects a Governing Mayor, who runs the city government. Die Linke was founded in 2007. It merged the PDS, successor to the SED that ruled East Germany, with WASG, a western left group that had split from the SPD. Die Linke has governed Berlin before, but only as a junior partner: with the SPD from 2002 to 2011, and in an SPD–Greens–Linke coalition from 2016. That coalition ended after the 2021 election was re-run in February 2023 because of voting irregularities. The CDU came first in the re-run, and since then it has governed with the SPD under Kai Wegner.
The actors. - Die Linke and its lead candidate, Elif Eralp. Efimerida ton Syntakton describes her as the daughter of Turkish leftists. - The Greens. taz says they lost every directly elected seat in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, which used to be their stronghold. - The SPD. It governs with the CDU today, and it decides whether a left coalition can happen. - The CDU, the senior partner in the outgoing government. - Gregor Gysi, a long-serving Linke member of the Bundestag.
What is at stake. If the SPD joins the Greens and Die Linke, a Linke politician would lead a European capital for the first time. If the SPD says no, the city may keep a CDU-led government. The result also feeds a wider argument, made by Welt, that cities and the countryside are voting in opposite directions.
Where it stands. The vote was held on 20 September. Coalition talks have not produced a government yet. None of the reports we hold gives vote shares.
What is being argued about
- Whether the result is a win for democracy or a story about the party's guests
- Whether the SPD will join a left coalition under Elif Eralp
- The Greens losing Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
- How outlets label the party: radical left, heir to the SED, a German Mamdani
Claims and verdicts
Wahl in Berlin: Mit der Flex ans Hufeisen
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Read it at taz →
What we have measured
Actor named names both coalition parties as the sides of the conflict ×1Actor named Makes the Constitutional Court the actor that overturned the Supreme Court's argument. ×1With no actor named critics The pressure comes from 'the internet', with no critic named. ×1Asserted in the outlet's voice a motive assigned to an entire electorate, no source and no evidence ×1
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HotNews.ro
HotNews.ro
🇷🇴RO ·
digital · independent
Efimerida ton Syntakton
Efimerida ton Syntakton
🇬🇷GR ·
newspaper · independent
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Frankfurter Allgemeine
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
Welt
Welt
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
Welt
Welt
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
Koalitionsbildung in Berlin: Die SPD steht vor einer Zerreißprobe
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Read it at taz →
What we have measured
Actor named names both coalition parties as the sides of the conflict ×1Actor named Makes the Constitutional Court the actor that overturned the Supreme Court's argument. ×1With no actor named critics The pressure comes from 'the internet', with no critic named. ×1Asserted in the outlet's voice a motive assigned to an entire electorate, no source and no evidence ×1
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Who wrote it
Welt
Welt
HotNews.ro
Coverage, outlet by outlet
Welt
Welt
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
Wahl in Berlin: Mit der Flex ans Hufeisen
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at taz →
What we have measured
Actor named names both coalition parties as the sides of the conflict ×1Actor named Makes the Constitutional Court the actor that overturned the Supreme Court's argument. ×1With no actor named critics The pressure comes from 'the internet', with no critic named. ×1Asserted in the outlet's voice a motive assigned to an entire electorate, no source and no evidence ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
—
Welt
Welt
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Frankfurter Allgemeine
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
Welt
Welt
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
HotNews.ro
HotNews.ro
🇷🇴RO ·
digital · independent
Koalitionsbildung in Berlin: Die SPD steht vor einer Zerreißprobe
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at taz →
What we have measured
Actor named names both coalition parties as the sides of the conflict ×1Actor named Makes the Constitutional Court the actor that overturned the Supreme Court's argument. ×1With no actor named critics The pressure comes from 'the internet', with no critic named. ×1Asserted in the outlet's voice a motive assigned to an entire electorate, no source and no evidence ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
—
Welt
Welt
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
Ehemalige Grünen-Hochburg: Selbst Berlin-Kreuzberg ist jetzt pink
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Read it at taz →
What we have measured
Actor named names both coalition parties as the sides of the conflict ×1Actor named Makes the Constitutional Court the actor that overturned the Supreme Court's argument. ×1With no actor named critics The pressure comes from 'the internet', with no critic named. ×1Asserted in the outlet's voice a motive assigned to an entire electorate, no source and no evidence ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
—
Efimerida ton Syntakton
Efimerida ton Syntakton
🇬🇷GR ·
newspaper · independent
Deník N
Deník N
🇨🇿CZ ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor named The headline names speculators as the actors who evicted a grandmother, stated flat. ×1Asserted, and a government judged A wave of Russian state terrorism is stated as fact and Germany is rated on its response; the piece is labelled a comment ×1Asserted, not attributed Washington's refusal and its reasoning stated flat, with no source ×1Assessment stated flat Says in its own voice, with no source, that Russian air defence worked well. ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
El Mundo
El Mundo
🇪🇸ES ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor named The dispute is between named Spanish officials over who was warned. There is no figure of Moroccan personnel. ×1Actor named The dispute is between named officials, and the report carries no figure. ×1Asserted, not attributed defiance of a named president is stated flat as what the meeting was ×1Asserted not attributed States Moscow's own reason, retaliation, as fact ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Brussels Signal
Brussels Signal
🇧🇪BE ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Asserted vs attributed cause and effect on services asserted in the reporter's voice, no figure attached ×1Asserted vs attributed States record diesel prices flat, with no source; another report says there is no shortage ×1Asserted vs attributed The figure of 72 is stated flat, with no named source or document. The report's own inference is 'significant infiltration'. ×1Asserted vs attributed record diesel prices stated flat, with no figure and no source ×1
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Dagens Nyheter
Dagens Nyheter
🇸🇪SE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Accused label flat accused is labelled far-right without attribution, and not named ×1Affected counted Only report to count the residents affected ×1Asserted or attributed the majority stated flat, with nobody credited for the count ×1Asserted or attributed the demand is written as the report's own flat sentence before it is attributed to anyone ×1
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Observador
Observador
🇵🇹PT ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Accusation attributed The fuel retailers' charge is attributed, 'accuses'. No government response is carried. ×1Affected person unnamed the woman is not named, and no cause of the eviction is given ×1Analyst verdict as headline one commentator's judgement on European mood is the headline ×1Asserted or attributed the charge against two foreign states is carried as the prime minister's view, not the report's ×1
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Telex
Telex
🇭🇺HU ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actor framed as giving The headline makes the government the actor, and what it does is support drivers. ×1Actor named NATO is named as acting; it 'chased them off' ×1Adopted term Uses the government's own phrase 'targeted support' without quotation marks ×1Asserted vs attributed 'under cover of night' attributed to Mária Schmidt, with the ministry's 8pm set beside it ×1
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Rzeczpospolita
Rzeczpospolita
🇵🇱PL ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Accountability The only report to say prosecutors are investigating ×1Asserted not attributed Hungary's need for more time is stated as fact, not as the government's claim ×1Claim asserted flat says EU law has never known such an offer, with no lawyer, official or text cited ×1Correction carried the correction is in the lede, attributed to Lithuania ×1
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Le Figaro
Le Figaro
🇫🇷FR ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Asserted, not attributed the capture of the strait and a "lightning offensive" are stated flat, with no source and no date ×1Asserted vs attributed The mayor's account and his opponents' charge are both attributed. ×1Asserted vs attributed The capture of the strait is stated flat, as settled background to a different story, with no source and no date for the claim. ×1Attacker identified by nationality in the headline ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Politico Europe
Politico Europe
🇧🇪BE ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actor named vaguely The opponents are 'other capitals', with no country named ×1With no actor named accusation The coup accusation is in the passive; the accuser is not named ×1Asserted vs attributed The contradiction is stated as fact by the report, sourced only to unspecified official notes ×1Asserted vs attributed the stall stated flat in the headline, with Athens named as the actor that rejected ×1
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NOS
NOS
🇳🇱NL ·
public broadcaster · public-service
What we have measured
Actor label The backers are labelled politically; the opponents, all other major parties, get no label ×1Actor named Names the Supreme Court as the court that withdrew the warrant. ×1Actor named and attributed Construction workers are named as having damaged a cable by accident, and the report attributes this to the aviation regulator. ×1Actor named, in passive Israeli airstrikes are named as what destroyed the building, but the sentence puts the building first ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Svenska Dagbladet
Svenska Dagbladet
🇸🇪SE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Attributed context The Iran link is hedged and credited to another newspaper ×1Hedged context Base's use for strikes on Iran is hedged and attributed to another paper ×1Hedged or flat a directional claim about the race stated flat, with no poll figure behind it ×1Loss stated flat, size not given a large loss asserted with no figure, and a coalition demand named in the same line ×1
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Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
🇵🇱PL ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor named Russia is named as acting against the bridge, in active voice ×1Asserted cause Voters' reason for backing the AfD is stated flat as a fact about the mainstream parties. ×1Asserted, not attributed the three-year gain is stated as what the deal would have secured, with no source ×1Asserted versus attributed the link between the pardons and the US talks is stated flat in the headline ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
ABC
ABC
🇪🇸ES ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Figure chosen 80,000, stated flat and unsourced; every other report we hold says about 70,000 ×1Figure chosen 80,000 crossed, stated flat, no source for the number ×1How hard the claim is stated Calls it an invasion in the outlet's own voice, unattributed, inside a sentence about the judge. ×1Which figure is used same two days, no figure at all: thousands ×1
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Die Presse
Die Presse
🇦🇹AT ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Who is named as acting Calls the party right and its people the far right in the outlet's own voice; three reports use only its name. ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Il Giornale
Il Giornale
🇮🇹IT ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Euractiv
Euractiv
🇧🇪BE ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Measure chosen the only report we hold that breaks the result down by voters' age ×1Measure chosen the only report we hold that publishes how the age groups split ×1Which figure is used about 80,000 stated flat and unsourced — an order of magnitude above every other figure we hold ×1Which figure is used Puts 80,000 across the border in two days with no source for the figure and nobody attributed for it. ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Le Monde
Le Monde
🇫🇷FR ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Anyone hurt named or counted the only death toll we hold; a round number, hedged, nobody named ×1Anyone hurt named or counted the only report we hold that gives a death toll; it counts, does not name ×1Who says the label flat in the headline, no source, no hedge ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
El País
El País
🇪🇸ES ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Figure chosen more than 70,000 crossed, the higher figure not mentioned ×1Word for the event invasion, in quote marks and put in a party leader's mouth ×1Word for the event, attributed same word, but in quotation marks and inside a politician's accusation ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
la Repubblica
la Repubblica
🇮🇹IT ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Süddeutsche Zeitung
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Hedged or stated states flat that police do not know whether the person seen is the man they want ×1Suspect identified how age and home town only, and the sabotage is what police attribute, not what the report asserts ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →