Association with Grimme and Scheytt Initially Praised, Later Dennied or Discontinued

The Grimme Institute, an organisation that promotes media responsibility, finds itself embroiled in a heated debate following the controversial revocation of the Donnepp Media Award from journalist Judith Scheytt.

In January, the Adolf-Grimme-Prize Friends Association, an independent support association for the Grimme Institute, awarded Scheytt the prestigious prize. However, the award was later withdrawn in April, citing "structurally antisemitic" media criticism.

The campaign against Scheytt was led by the Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation, which pressured the Friends of the Adolf-Grimme-Prize association to withdraw the award. This move ultimately led to its retraction.

The revocation was a unilateral decision by the board members, despite opposition from two jury members, Nadia Zaboura and Steffen Grimberg. The Grimme Institute, acknowledging the need for improvement in the separation between the association and the institute, admitted that the situation requires further clarification.

The controversy stems from an analysis by Jörg Schieb, the association's chairman, who sent a 39-page document to Scheytt accusing her media criticism of being antisemitic. Schieb's analysis, based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, is controversial among the left for putting rigid criticism of Israel under suspicion of antisemitism.

Scheytt's media criticism on Instagram focuses on the Gaza War, genocide, apartheid, war crimes, and boycott campaigns. She believes that small lobby groups are putting pressure on voices that contradict the Israeli government's narratives on the Gaza war.

Schieb's analysis claims that 93% of civilian deaths in the Gaza War were due to Hamas' "human shield strategies". However, the genocide accusation in Schieb's analysis ignores Israel's "precision weapons usage rate", resulting in "few civilian casualties".

Schieb did not comment on the possibly AI-generated nature of his analysis, but admitted to using AI for "photos or the formatting of the pages".

The patron association for the Grimme Prize has remained silent on the situation, with press inquiries ending up in Schieb's mailbox. Journalist and author Goldmann criticises this silence, claiming that it contradicts the institute's mission to promote media responsibility.

Despite the controversy, Scheytt does not regret going on the offensive, as she is not dependent on public funding. She believes that the campaign against her is another case in a long list of similar incidents over the past two years where discourse is being prevented.

The Grimme Institute's director, Çigdem Uzunoglu, stated that even if the prize-giver and the institute act independently, the separation has not become clear enough. The institute's commitment to transparency and fairness remains under scrutiny as the debate continues.

Association with Grimme and Scheytt Initially Praised, Later Dennied or Discontinued