BERLIN: Fresh from his election victory, Tony Blair, the British prime minister, chose to give his first foreign interview to Germany's Bild Zeitung, a racy, colorful broadsheet newspaper that is known for reducing foreign policy issues to basics.
The occasion, the World War II anniversary, might have produced another interview reflecting popular perceptions in both countries. Namely, that the British think many Germans are still Nazis and the Germans think that Britons won't allow their stereotypes to be challenged.
But Blair leaped ahead of the perceptions and lavished praise on how "enemies have become friends."
"Britain and Germany," he said, "had played a leading part in building Europe as a continent of peace and prosperity." He added, "There may still be scars, but the wounds have healed. I think of the Germans as a friend, partner and ally."
Yet Blair also cautioned Germans to avoid "fostering a cult of victimhood." "Germany was responsible for starting World War II," he said.
"Present-day
Germany is a totally different country from prewar Germany.
"It is a powerful and secure democracy. What Germany has achieved since 1989 is remarkable and should be applauded."
Blair's Bild interview contrasted sharply with what the German ambassador to London, Thomas Matussek, told Britain's Sunday Telegraph. While Blair had praise for Germany for having come to terms with its past, Matussek chose to emphasize the Nazi stereotypes he found in Britain.
"Britain is still obsessed with the Nazi period," Matussek said. "I have found this great interest in and obsession with the Nazi period is still there. There are very few people who actually know Germany."
On Monday Matussek told BBC Radio 4 that his comments had been taken out of context, although his radio remarks bore full resemblance to what he told the newspaper.
Matussek criticized the British for an obsession with Nazism and referred to the widespread condemnation of Prince Harry, Charles's younger son, who wore a swastika armband at a party.
Matussek laid the blame on British education and travel. "They don't take holidays there. Youth exchange is a one-way street. Schoolchildren hardly learn German at school. History teaching about Germany post-'45 is practically nonexistent."
Another entry in the fray came from Peter Torry, the British ambassador to Berlin. "Relations have never been better," he said in an interview Monday with the International Herald Tribune.
"Germany is our most important ally in Europe and only second to the U.S. in trade," he said. "Germany last year had 3,700 enterprises in Britain, employing over 350,000 people. Germany is Britain's second-largest export market."
The list is endless. "Over 200,000 young Germans study English in Britain." And according to the British Council, the British government's cultural arm, Germany was one of the top countries after China when it came to students studying in Britain. Two years ago, over 12,642 German graduates and undergraduates were studying in British universities.
So why the persistent stereotypes? Torry said Germans should remember that British newspaper headlines are different from the text: "You need to understand about the press. Not everything needs to be taken too seriously. Look how the press deals with other countries and other people. If you think the press is horrid about Germany, look what it called Camilla Parker Bowles."
Yet Torry also said he worried because too few British teenagers were learning German or traveling in Germany. "I think it is an issue that young people in Britain don't have a very clear picture of Germany at all. One of the reasons is that they are not learning the language or they prefer to travel to Latin America or Asia for their holidays."
Should Germans then worry excessively over how the British see them? Torry would not be drawn on the issue.
One senior German TV editor who said it would be better if he remained anonymous this time, said he saw one of the problems in the British-German relationship as the following: "Germans are obsessed, unlike France, over how the rest of the world sees them. We need a thicker skin."
Sensational and full of 'thugs' - what Germans think of UK press
Sunday January 28, 2007
The Observer
It is a German view of a British press addicted to 'sensationalism, over-simplification and "emotionalisation"'. Research commissioned by Die Zeit, the country's leading weekly newspaper, finds that its Fleet Street counterparts are replacing reasoned analysis with emotive reporting, spattering news coverage with first-person accounts, and employing ever-more dramatic language.
According to consultancy Carma International, which based its research on more than 200 reports from six national titles, serious subjects are becoming increasingly personalised.
It examined health and crime coverage over a two-month period last year and found that two-thirds of reports placed individuals at the heart of the story, compared with less than half during the same period in 1996.
Relatives of 'victims' are more likely to appear in stories, it claims, with 14 per cent of reports including a quote from a family member, compared with 4 per cent 10 years ago. Journalists' own feelings were described in about a third of articles, Carma found, compared with just over 10 per cent a decade ago.
Emotive language was also more pronounced in the quality press as well as in the tabloids. The use of the word 'thug' has increased tenfold since 1996, and other buzzwords, including the use of 'caged' (in place of jailed), 'bloodbath' and 'frenzy' are commonplace.
Die Zeit's survey demonstrates that the British press continues to hold a unique fascination for foreigners. But the paper's UK correspondent, Jurgen Kronig, concedes that trends found by the research are evident in other countries, including his own. 'It's happening everywhere. The industry is governed by the same needs and laws.' Even German titles like Die Welt and the heavyweight Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung are not immune.
'Everyone's going down the same route. It has always been the journalistic approach: first simplify, then exaggerate,' he says.
There was a growing tendency to elevate parents of victims to the status of experts, often at the expense of academics or professionals, the research found. 'They are experts on grief, but someone with a personal grievance is the least qualified to pass judgment,' Kronig argues.
But there is still much to admire in a British press, which revels in its fearsome reputation, even in the pages of its most famous title. Kronig says the 'first paper he turns to every day is the Sun'
