DESG president defends house ban, ARD reacts indignantly

“What happened is the greatest shame. Anyone can talk to me except Jörg Mebus and Hajo Seppelt,” said Große at the press conference in Berlin’s Müggelturm. The partner of five-time Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein spoke of a “hate game” against the association, himself and also his partner.

At the beginning of the Winter Olympics, a “Sportschau” report reported alleged irregularities at the DESG and a strained relationship between some athletes and the association’s top management. Seppelt and Mebus played a key role in this report. “ARD and Hajo Seppelt crashed the Olympic Games for us and we won’t let that happen. It doesn’t work that way,” said Große.

ARD sports coordinator: “One-off process”

ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky reacted with outrage to the exclusion of Seppelt and Mebus. “The non-admission of selected reporters to an official press conference blatantly violates the principles of free and independent reporting and is, in our view, fundamentally unacceptable.”

It was an unprecedented case for a German sports association, said Balkausky. “It is a one-off event that also leaves us with questions about the attitude of the federal government and other institutions that finance the DESG.” The process raises “significant legal questions that we will examine,” Balkausky continued.

The German Olympic Sports Confederation as an umbrella organization criticized the DESG’s house ban. “We expect our legally independent and autonomous member organizations to respect press freedom in the same way that we do,” it said in a statement. Freedom of the press is an “essential asset of our democracy, which the DOSB naturally respects and values”.

The German Journalists Association is also outraged

Regarding the house ban, the German Association of Journalists (DJV) explained that it was a given that critics would also have to be invited to the press conference. “The house ban against ARD colleagues is an incredible process,” said DJV federal chairman Mika Beuster. “It is not acceptable to organize a press conference like a closed shop.”

The Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) also protested. “We see the non-admission of colleagues as a clear infringement on press freedom,” the association wrote in a letter that was available to the German Press Agency. “Your community is supported with public money, and we would like to urgently remind you of the responsibility that arises from this.” The attempt to regulate critical sports journalism is “vehemently opposed,” wrote the VDS.

At the press conference, the DESG around the controversial President Matthias Große wanted to take a position on the report. The Berlin Müggelturm belongs to Große.