On Sunday night, 60 Minutes, the long-running weekly TV news brief from CBS News (Lean Left bias), aired a segment in which it accompanied German police on raids of those who have committed speech crimes in the European country.
The segment, titled “Policing the internet in Germany, where hate speech, insults are a crime,” comes just days before German elections and bears striking resemblance to a 2022 report from The New York Times (Lean Left).
60 Minutes interviewed three German state prosecutors – Svenja Meininghaus, Dr. Matthäus Fink, and Frank-Michael Laue – regarding the country’s speech laws and targeting of those it believes have violated them.
One widely shared clip showed prosecutors collectively informing host Sharyn Alfonsi that in Germany, insulting someone in public or online is a crime.
Alfonsi also visited a government office in Lower Saxony, where the state keeps thousands of printed papers chronicling potentially illegal social media posts. The prosecutor told her the office handles approximately 3,500 cases per year.
About four minutes into the segment, Alfonsi smiles while asking the prosecutors how those in violation of Germany’s speech law react when authorities confiscate their phones.
One of the prosecutors replies, “They are shocked,” as the four then share a laugh. Alfonsi, laughing, adds, “Because your whole life is typically on your phone now.”
Trump’s Team Takes AfD’s Side as German Elections Loom
This 60 Minutes segment aired at a heightened moment in German politics as the nation prepares for a highly-anticipated election on Sunday where the “far-right” Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is currently polling in second place.
And as American politics see a realignment of their own, President Trump’s coalition seems to be sympathetic to AfD’s platform.
Just two days prior to 60 Minutes’ coverage, Vice President JD Vance publicly addressed European leaders in Germany, criticizing the European Union for purportedly backsliding on free speech and democratic principles – he even criticized Germany’s stance on speech itself.
Shortly before this 60 Minutes segment aired, CBS’ Face The Nation host Margaret Brennan criticized Vance for meeting with an AfD leader while in Germany. Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who Brennan had on as a guest during the segment, defended Vance in response.
Echoing the position of the German government, that some speech is dangerous, Brennan claimed that in Germany “free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.
Previously, Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk had also engaged with AfD, appearing digitally at one of its rallies.
A Re-Skinned NYT Report?
X posts featuring clips from the segment received millions of views by early Monday morning and were particularly of interest to the right, which mostly criticized the coverage. Vice President Vance, doubling down on his comments made in Munich, described the interview as “Orwellian.”
In contrast, the segment was not widely discussed by commentators or media outlets on the left.
However, what commentators didn’t seem to notice is that the segment, which comes just days before a highly-anticipated German election, appears to be a partially recycled iteration of a report published by The New York Times in 2022.
On September 23, 2022, The Times published a report titled “Where Online Hate Speech Can Bring the Police to Your Door”. In the report, the Times interviewed and profiled Meininghaus and Laue – two of 60 Minutes’ principal sources. It also employed some of the same visual elements as CBS, most notably the wall of red folders containing printed documents at the Lower Saxony office.
Both reports were also themed around Germany’s “far-right” – a label both media and politicians use to describe AfD.
Central to each story was the assassination of German politician Walter Lübcke, who in 2015 defended Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration stances, and was assassinated by a gunman media have referred to as “far-right” or a “neo-Nazi.”
The New York Times editorialized Germany’s current efforts to regulate hate speech as “battling far-right extremism.” The term “far-right” then appears seven more times in its body.
CBS was more cautious with its language and only used the term once. The program said that Elon Musk is currently under investigation by the European Union for “using X to promote Germany's far-right party ahead of national elections.” Notably, it does not mention AfD by name.
While 60 Minutes provided a timely update on Germany’s speech prosecution efforts – just days before elections – its coverage mimics The New York Times report from 2022 and shares a common agenda.
The similarities in framing and sourcing raise questions about journalistic integrity and transparency from major legacy news sources.
Andy Gorel is a News and Social Media Editor at AllSides. He has a Center bias.
This piece was reviewed and edited by Olivia Geno, News and Bias Assistant (Lean Right), Andrew Weinzierl, Bias Research Manager and Data Journalist (Lean Left), and Henry Brechter, Editor-in-Chief (Center).