Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen e.V. (NdM), founded in Berlin in 2009, campaigns for newsroom diversity alongside its stated position of “False Balancing: Keine Bühne für Demokratiefeinde” (“No platform for enemies of democracy”). Since 2016 it has run Germany’s strand of the Council of Europe’s No Hate Speech campaign, financed through successive grants from the federal Demokratie leben! program: €234,695 (2016) and €253,966 (2017) in the first phase, €160,000 (2018) and €121,000 (2019) in the second, followed by “Die Würde des Menschen ist unhassbar” [The dignity of the human being is unhateable] (2020-24) receiving €957,000 in five annual tranches. NdM also co-runs Toneshift, the national network against hate speech and supposed disinformation, and its BetterPost desk spotlights racist framing in migration coverage. The 2023 activity report lists total income of €5.85 million, 94 percent from public sources. Toolkits on “false balancing” urge editors to deny airtime to what NdM labels democracy-hostile actors, while the Get the Trolls Out! partnership tracks anti-Muslim memes across Europe.
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New German Media Makers [Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen e.V.]
German Federal Program 'Living Democracy!' [Demokratie leben!], Robert Bosch Stiftung...See all
German Federal Program 'Living Democracy!' [Demokratie leben!], Robert Bosch Stiftung See less
BetterPost
Toneshift - Network Against Online Hate and Disinformation...See all
Toneshift - Network Against Online Hate and Disinformation See less
Commentary:
NdM illustrates Germany’s subsidy-driven speech economy. Annual federal transfers approach €200,000 yet deliver mainly style guides – ten "golden rules" for handling online hate and a blacklist of "false-balancing" pitfalls. The injunction "Keine Bühne für Demokratiefeinde" [No Platform for Enemies of Democracy] implicitly targets AfD politicians, revealing how an anti-hate mandate slides into partisan gatekeeping. With 94 percent of revenue from public coffers, editorial neutrality yields to ministry talking points. Projects such as BetterPost and Toneshift publish monitoring briefs but no error metrics, leaving readers to trust curatorial judgement. Meanwhile, NdM’s diversity agenda risks instrumentalization: reporters are trained to correct newsroom vocabularies rather than challenge substantive political constraints on journalistic independence. Supporters see essential watchdog work, critics will see a taxpayer-funded civility brigade. Without transparent audits showing reduced harassment or demonstrably fairer debate, the association’s growing influence may entrench a gatekeeper model that curbs antagonistic speech while leaving social and political enormities untouched.
NdM illustrates Germany’s subsidy-driven speech economy. Annual federal transfers approach €200,000 yet deliver mainly style guides – ten "golden rules" for handling online hate and a blacklist of "false-balancing" pitfalls. The injunction "Keine Bühne für Demokratiefeinde" [No Platform for Enemies of Democracy] implicitly targets AfD politicians, revealing how an anti-hate mandate slides into partisan gatekeeping. With 94 percent of revenue from public coffers, editorial neutrality yields to ministry talking points. Projects such as BetterPost and Toneshift publish monitoring briefs but no error metrics, leaving readers to trust curatorial judgement. Meanwhile, NdM’s diversity agenda risks instrumentalization: reporters are trained to correct newsroom vocabularies rather than challenge substantive political constraints on journalistic independence. Supporters see essential watchdog work, critics will see a taxpayer-funded civility brigade. Without transparent audits showing reduced harassment or demonstrably fairer debate, the association’s growing influence may entrench a gatekeeper model that curbs antagonistic speech while leaving social and political enormities untouched.
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