The mass sex-attack in Cologne last week caused an increased outpouring of anti-refugee rhetoric, with those opposed to immigration citing it as a reason not to accept migrants. Media outlets have inevitably covered the incident in different ways, but it appears that two German news publications took it too far after images used to illustrate their views were called out as racist and sexist.
The Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), one of the country’s top liberal news outlets, published a picture of a black arm reaching over a white female’s legs. The picture was illustrating an article which includes an analysis by a psychologist which claims that every meeting between a Muslim man and a woman is a sexualised encounter. The editor of the paper, Wolfgang Krach, apologized on Sunday after admitting that the picture may be interpreted as sexist and racist, according to news agency thelocal.de.
See the picture below, via Twitter.
This @SZ cover perfectly if unconsciously illustrates racist sentiment underlying much outcry over #rape in #Cologne pic.twitter.com/Uv6navGouF
— Cas Mudde (@CasMudde) January 10, 2016
In addition to this, the conservative news magazine Focus came under fire for its picture of a naked white female body covered in black handprints. Focus defended the photo, saying that it wanted to symbolically represent the attack, according to thelocal.de.
Ulrich Reitz, editor of the magazine, reportedly said that anyone calling it racist or sexist was “afraid of the truth.”
LT, but this German/Arab feminist felt most shame at the sight of this racist & misogynistic magazine cover. pic.twitter.com/YNWz1OHupb
— Lexi Alexander (@Lexialex) January 8, 2016
