THE RUDOLF REPORT

GERMAR RUDOLF · THE RUDOLF REPORTno recourse under current law.The District Court of Stuttgart sentenced Germar Rudolf to 14months imprisonment without probation for the reasons that Rudolfwas deeply marked with anti-Semitism, that he was entangled in a revisionistand right-wing extremist environment, and that he was obviouslya fanatical, politically motivated criminal. In that moment, thecourt gave the media license to vilify and malign Germar Rudolf withoutlet or hindrance, since in the Federal Republic of Germany, anyonelabeled as an anti-Semite or right-wing extremist is a de facto outlaw.That the court did not find that Rudolf was a right-wing extremist,merely that he had had dealings with supposedly “right-wing extremist”persons, was of secondary importance and in view of the mediapractice of imputing guilt by association no cause to hold back. Rudolf’sapplications for rebuttal in the press were denied out-of-hand,since in the meantime the version of the story spread by the press hadbeen confirmed by the courts.In a democracy, the people are the sovereign. Should the voice ofthe people become the voice of God not only with respect to power,but also partly with respect to infallibility, care must be taken that thepeople are comprehensively and truthfully informed. In this moderninformation age, the media play the central role in forming the publicwill. For this reason, it must be guaranteed that the people are comprehensivelyand truthfully informed.The intentional presentation of false and one-sided information tothe public must automatically lead to false conceptions of reality andthence to unwise political decisions. The intentional presentation ofdisinformation through suppression of news or spreading of false newsshould be considered one of the most serious crimes of a political naturethat can be committed in a democracy.The question of the executive and judicial means by which thepeople can be guaranteed to be kept comprehensively and truthfullyinformed is bound to be a difficult one in view of the fundamentalfreedoms of press and speech. It would be necessary to require, forexample, that the media be subject to democratic control in that theformation of political or economic monopolies would be prevented.One proposal would be to allow access to the media in their area ofoperations to political parties proportional to the vote they received orto socially-concerned organizations (such as religions) proportional totheir membership, without a limiting minimum percent.402