“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed!” These are the words that were blasting through the radio on Halloween in 1938. “War of the Worlds” interrupted the news bulletin and music to declare that aliens were invading the earth. It was theatrical, melodramatic and spectacular. You could call it…
Being first is one of the driving forces behind journalism. Beating the competition is what many journalists strive for, but that sometimes means the work is not done properly. This has consequences for the media in general, as it undermines public trust. Yet there is another way for journalists to distinguish themselves from the competition,…
Does a ban on new internal combustion engine cars achieve nothing for the climate? This statement was made by German CDU politician Manuel Hagel in the context of the debate over the planned EU-wide ban on new registrations of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles starting in 2035. Hagel argued that the EU-wide ban on new…
On September 18th 2025, Svenja Schulze, a member of the German Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), made the following statement during the second reading of the 2025 federal budget: “Every two minutes, a person in Germany becomes a victim of domestic violence. Last year alone, there were more than 265,000 affected individuals.” This…
Dominik Kettner, entrepreneur and precious metals expert, and Dieter Bohlen claim in an interview published on 15 November 2025: “Over 270.000 Germans emigrated last year. And we know that these are high achievers: engineers, entrepreneurs, doctors.” (time stamp: 28:05) According to Bohlen, the reason for the emigration is the dissatisfaction of Germans due to the…
As part of the Dutch Formal Budget Presentation in September 2025, the Finance Minister of the Netherlands, Eelco Heinen, said that poverty in the Netherlands has gone down. Though still many people are at risk to slide into poverty and the severity of poverty increases, the claim turns out to be true. Behind this statement…
Combating fake news involves more than simply checking facts; it requires careful consideration of when correction is helpful and when it is counterproductive. Due to the illusory truth effect, people often remember the core of a message, while the nuances fade. When you scroll through social media, it seems as if everyone is speaking at…
In June 2025, Alice Weidel, leader of the radical right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), stated that mass migration had not helped the German labour market, had not alleviated the pension crisis and, on the contrary, had overburdened the social system. These statements are in line with the broader rhetoric of the AfD, and are…