The recent election victory of Die Linke in Berlin was supposed to be a mandate for change. Instead, it triggered an immediate and coordinated firestorm in the German media and political establishment.
The intensity and specific framing of the smear campaign and its coordinated nature suggest a deeper strategic goal: disqualifying Die Linke from government to protect the status quo of Berlin’s housing market.
At de:presse, we initiated an investigation across the German media landscape. The analysis was done quantitatively on 300 articles (three outlets) and qualitatively on 30 articles covering the period from 21st till 27th of September 2026. The articles were primarily focused on the media coverage of Die Linke during the Berlin State elections of 2026.
We have found the following four strategic patterns across almost all media outlets:
1. Criminalization of Pro-Palestinian Solidarity
The first line of attack has been to criminalize legitimate political solidarity with Palestine’s right of self-determination as antisemitism. Media outlets such as Bild and Welt have distorted the use of slogans at die Linke election parties, framing them as supposed evidence of a systemic “hatred of Jews” within the party.
By smearing the pro-Palestine solidarity movement as an existential threat to Jewish safety, this public discourse is trying to create a moral red line that makes coalition talks politically toxic. Linking this idea more firmly in the public’s imagination, this narrative also introduces the potential to be weaponized against the Palestine solidarity movement in Berlin when a new government comes into power.
2. Linking Leftists to Organized Crime
Simultaneously, a narrative that Die Linke is dangerously close to “clan circles” in Berlin is being pushed. Reports in Tagesschau and ZDF highlight warnings from potential coalition with Grüne and SPD who demand that Die Linke leave “no millimeter of space” for “clan criminals”.
By linking the whole party to the so-called “organized crime”, this discourse tries to undermine Die Linke’s credibility as a party that works on solving complex social issues from their root causes as opposed to the incumbent CDU’s platform of more surveillance and increased police budget over social expenses such as education and culture.
3. Conflation of Israel Criticism with Antisemitism
The third pillar of the smear campaign involves a broad-brush approach to antisemitism accusations although a significant movement of 150 Jewish Berliners has defended Die Linke, arguing that the accusations are instrumentalized and exaggerated, over violent threats that they have been targeted with personally for voicing their support publicly.
Bild and Tagesschau ignore this nuance, instead focusing on a narrative that Die Linke has a “persistent problem” with antisemitism that blurs the line between legitimate criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza confirmed by the International Criminal Court and genuine hating Jews.
This creates a permanent cloud of suspicion that opponents can invoke while dangerously watering down the criminal act of Antisemitism in the country that committed the Holocaust against 6 million Jews in Europe.
4. The Real Goal: Blocking Expropriation to Protect Corporate Landlords
Why is this campaign so urgent? The answer lies in Die Linke’s core economic promise: the socialization of large housing corporations like Deutsche Wohnen & Co. This program, demanded in a 2021 state-wide referendum by a majority of Berliners, threatens the questionable profits of major real estate landlords who do not contribute any meaningful value to Berlin’s economy but have rather evaded taxation.
The reaction from the business and political elite has been blitz. Chancellor Merz has already announced plans to ban such expropriations via federal law. Business-oriented outlets like Handelsblatt and FAZ have highlighted the “massive financial compensation” required and “panic” in the real estate sector.
By keeping Die Linke out of power through moral and legal smears, Corporate Landlords and their shareholders found the most convenient boogeyman to protect €30 billion+ assets out from public ownership.
5. The Hypocrisy of the Accusers: CDU’s Complicity in Erasing Remembrance
While the media spotlight remains fixed on Die Linke, a starkly different reality unfolds with the CDU. Historically the CDU is the party that actively invited so-called “Clan Bosses” – not to a mere celebration party but to Berlin’s House of Representatives.
In addition to that, in Heidenau, Saxony, CDU councilors recently joined forces with the AfD to ban “Stolpersteine” from public sidewalks, arguing that stepping over them is “undignified” – memorials of the atrocities committed by the Nazis.
Furthermore, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has faced huge criticism for saying that “The most insidious form of hostility towards foreigners is antisemitism.” which was interpreted to mean that German Jews are foreigners in Merz’ view.
Of particular note, CDU leaders, including Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Söder, attended the 2026 Axel Springer Award ceremony for Palantir CEO Peter Thiel in Berlin, despite his controversial claim that freedom and democracy are incompatible. Notably, Tagesschau did not even bother covering the event.
6. Disproportionate framing: Die Linke Attack vs Housing in news headlines
We also analyzed top news headlines from three major news outlets (Tagesschau, Tagesspiegel, and Die Welt). For each site, we extracted 100 search results using the keywords “Die Linke Berlin Wahl.” We then counted the number of headlines that contained the “attack” topic (such as antisemitism, clan, hamas, intifada, islamist, extremism, etc.) and the “housing” topic (such as rent, housing, expropriation, affordable, etc.).
Strikingly, Die Welt reported the “attack” topic 4.2 times more often than the “housing” topic, Tagesspiegel reported it 3.6 times more, and tagesschau reported it 1.4 times more. Given that the housing topic was a major election theme that attracted voter interest, this significant post-election narrative distortion is quite remarkable and suggests a top-down smear campaign.
Call to Action: Hold The Media of the Rich Accountable
We do not have to remain passive observers of this coordinated media campaign. The narrative that Die Linke is unfit for government is being constructed and coordinated on a large scale to protect unproductive private property interests. Here is how you can push back effectively:
- Starve the Algorithm: Do not comment on their articles on social media platforms. Even negative comments boosts their visibility in algorithmic feeds. Instead report their posts to the platform (ex: misinformation, smear, spam, ..etc).
- Send a Formal Complaint: Contact the newsrooms of the outlets listed below and send a concise, firm email criticizing their biased coverage and their alignment with corporate landlords over the democratic will of Berlin’s voters!
- Die Welt: redaktion@welt.de
- Der Tagesspiegel: leserservice@tagesspiegel.de
- der Freitag: verlag@freitag.de
- Der Spiegel: spiegel@spiegel.de
- Süddeutsche Zeitung: redaktion@sueddeutsche.de
- Tagesschau: redaktion@tagesschau.de
- Deutschlandfunk: hoererservice@deutschlandradio.de
Sample of Article reviewed:
ZDF/rbb24/Deutschlandfunk/Tagesschau:
- SPD-Spitze schaltet sich in Debatte um Antisemitismus ein
- Debatte über Regierungsfähigkeit der Linken reißt alte Wunden auf
- Das Ringen mit Antisemitismusvorwürfen
- Warnungen vor Koalition mit der Linken
- Reichen die Zusagen gegen Antisemitismus?
- Kann die Linke in der Hauptstadt regieren?
- Grüne Politiker fordern Positionierung der Berliner Linken
- 150 jüdische Berliner verteidigen Linke gegen Antisemitismus-Vorwürfe
Tagesspiegel:
- Ausschlussantrag gegen Palästina-Aktivistin
- Koalitionen hatten ihre Zeit, genau wie das Faxgerät
- Clan-Boss im Parlament: CDU-Politiker lädt Issa Rammo ins Abgeordnetenhaus
FAZ: Berliner:
Zeit:
- Antisemitismus-Debatte belastet Regierungsbildung in Berlin
- Liebe Nachbarn, was habt ihr da bitte gewählt?
- Grüne: Linke muss problematischem Teil Grenzen setzen
Axel Springer (Welt/Bild):
- Druck auf Berliner Linke steigt
- Merz im Berlin-Wahlkampf: „Die perfideste Form der Ausländerfeindlichkeit ist Antisemitismus“
- Wo beginnt Antisemitismus? Blick auf eine komplexe Debatte
- Antisemitismusbeauftragter: Linke-Spitze sieht Problem nicht
- Berliner Linke-Kandidat ruft zur „Wahlintifada“ auf
- Linke in Berlin: Streit um Antisemitismus und Enteignungen vor Parteitag
Handelsblatt:
- Israels Botschafter sieht nach Berlin-Wahl Gefahr für Juden
- Linke will Wohnungskonzerne enteignen – worum es genau geht
- Morgenpost: Gemeinsam gegen Stolpersteine? Warum ein Antrag von AfD und CDU für Kritik sorgt
- Berliner Zeitung: Der importierte Antisemitismus
- Freitag: Antisemitismus
- Süddeutsche Zeitung: Antisemitismus-Debatte belastet Regierungsbildung in Berlin
- Merkur: Hamas-Netzwerke in der Berliner Politik
This article first appeared in German on the de:presse Website. Reproduced with permission
