Germany

Story gist: CDU leader Friedrich Merz delivered a New Year’s address titled ‘Hören wir nicht auf Angstmacher.’ He urged against heeding fear-mongers and called 2026 a ‘moment of departure.’

Bias summary: No left-leaning outlets covered the story, omitting Merz’s speech entirely. Center source tagesschau.de neutrally headlines the direct quote criticizing ‘Angstmacher’ (fear-mongers). Right-leaning N-tv frames Merz aspirationally as ‘Kanzler,’ emphasizing his forward-looking pledge to make 2026 a positive ‘Moment des Aufbruchs,’ with optimistic tone.

Story gist: Tatiana Schlossberg, Kennedy family granddaughter, died at age 35.

Bias summary: Left-leaning Spiegel uses blunt phrasing (‘is dead’) for stark tone. Center Ntv specifies cause (‘incurable cancer’) adding medical detail. Right-leaning Welt emphasizes young age (‘at 35 years’), mirroring title. Differences minor: left stark, center contextual, right age-focused; no major omissions across lanes.

Story gist: Reports emerged of an alleged attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence amid the Ukraine war. German media covered known details of the incident.

Bias summary: Left-leaning outlets like Spiegel frame the alleged drone attack on Putin’s property alongside sensational domestic stories such as ‘Gelsenkirchen and the chamber of horrors,’ emphasizing drama. Center outlets like Deutschlandfunk offer neutral, fact-based summaries of known details. Right-leaning coverage is absent, omitting that perspective entirely.

Story gist: Incidents among German Fallschirmjäger paratroopers involved a chant ‘Nein heißt Ja, und Ja heißt anal.’ Several soldiers were dismissed, and Defense Minister Pistorius called the events ‘erschütternd.’

Bias summary: Left-leaning taz.de uses the crude chant verbatim as headline, bluntly highlighting misogyny. Center tagesschau.de neutrally reports allegations and Pistorius’s ‘shocking’ label, emphasizing official response. Right-leaning WELT stresses dismissals and officials’ ‘speechlessness,’ focusing on swift accountability and outrage over the lapses. No major omissions across lanes.

Story gist: Thieves broke into a Sparkasse branch in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, potentially stealing up to 30 million euros from a safe. The bank remains closed after the burglary due to aggressive customers.

Bias summary: Left-leaning SZ.de frames the story as a sensational ‘Millionen-Coup’ with focus on dramatic safe-cracking thieves and police hunt. Center Ntv emphasizes investigative progress via a perpetrator tip and estimated 30 million euro haul. Right-leaning FAZ highlights aftermath, stressing bank closure due to aggressive customers, omitting crime details for operational impacts.