MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF THE PROTESTS AGAINST THE G20 2017 SUMMIT. AN ANALYSIS OF THE GERMAN MEDIA

Abstract

In 2017, Germany has had the presidency of the G20 and organised the annual summit between the 7th to the 8th of July. The chosen location for this event was Hamburg, and it was disputed because of the high difficulties to secure the city accordingly to the security requirements. Police from all around Germany were positioned in Hamburg for the days of the summit to protect the city from the rioters. The first protests that took place were rather peaceful and without major crimes, however starting with the „Welcome to Hell“ demonstration on Thursday, the 6th of July, rioters began throwing glass bottles, burning down cars and aggressing the police. But this is only one side of the truth. Peaceful protestors were also aggressed by the police. In this article we intend to analyse if the ethical reporting standards were respected by the German media, in their coverage of the G20 summit protests.