German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Wednesday called for journalists to be able to work freely in the United States after Washington unveiled plans to slash the length of their visas.
The German government expects media professionals “to be able to work freely and independently all over the world, including, of course, with our allies in the United States,” Wadephul told the German parliament.
“The German government is committed to press freedom and free reporting worldwide,” Wadephul said.
“We will therefore be watching very closely to see to what extent German journalists can work in other countries… This applies to China as well as to the United States.”
President Donald Trump’s administration last month trailed plans to slash journalists’ stays to a renewable 240-day period — or just 90 days for Chinese media workers — alongside a four-year limit on student visas.
Current rules allow journalists to stay in the United States for up to five years.
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More than 100 international media groups and industry bodies have urged Washington to reconsider the plans, saying they would hurt its image abroad.
Shortening journalist visas would “reduce the quantity and quality of coverage coming from the US” and “damage, not enhance, America’s global standing”, AFP news agency and 117 other signatories to a joint statement wrote.
A row has also erupted in Germany after a US official demanded the withdrawal of a German journalist’s visa over comments he made in a video podcast about the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Richard Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany and now an envoy for special missions in the Trump administration, said Elmar Thevessen from the ZDF broadcaster was an “agitator” and “radical leftist”.
The German government is in talks with the United States about the pressure being exerted on foreign correspondents, government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said Wednesday.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz “naturally supports a free press, including the ability of foreign journalists to report freely”, Kornelius said.
AFP
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