Good to see DMK alive and kicking (some Spiegel butt).

Stephan, you admit there was a "really nasty" anti-American sentiment in Germany. Saying that "others did it too" is lame. It doesn't matter who did what, what matters is what Germans did. I was living in Canada before the Iraq war started and during the first few months of the war. Their coverage was heavily one-sided. Then I moved to Germany. The coverage was far worse in Germany. It was truly vicious at times. That stain remains in the annals of German journalism. Pretending it doesn't exist doesn't make it disappear. Maybe, hopefully in the future some courageous German journalists will dare to deal with what I consider a dark page in the history of German journalism. I'm not sure what you mean by "unreflected Anti Anti Americanism". First there was anti-Americanism, and then there was anti-anti-Americanism. Simple. Were some driven also by anti-Europeanism? Maybe, possibly, but irrelevant. It doesn't excuse the excesses of German journalism. Yes, there is little to no activity on DMK nowadays. I don't see how one can call that "no progress". What "progress" are you talking about? DMK doesn't have to "progress" anywhere. Where "progress" is needed is in the German media. For me one sign of "progress" would be journalists dealing with the excesses of the past. No sign of that yet. Bush invaded Iraq, killed Saddam and pacified Iraq. (Obama might lose the peace, but that's a totally different topic). Pretty much all of Bush's anti-terror policies are still in place. People have come to terms with this (unwelcome) new reality and have adapted. The anti-American sentiment of the past hasn't achieved anything. Not one single thing! It was a shameful explosion of hate disguised as a peace movement. DMK did a tremendous and invaluable job. There were others as well. I know that the majority of Germans never heard of them. Yet, it showed that not all Germans were blinded by the propaganda machine.

PJM has an article about the treatment that the Tea Party got in the European media, including the German media. Now I'm totally confused... Years ago, when this site was buzzing with activity, defenders of the German media kept repeating their (only) argument: "there is no anti-Americanism in the German media, it's all because of Bush's wars that you see/read the venom". OK, Bush is gone, "his" wars are not an issue in those elections, and yet you read biased reports in the German media. I keep asking myself what the reason could be and can't find an answer... Hmmm, could it be that there is a streak of anti-Americanism in the German media after all...? I don't know...hard to answer...that question keeps me awake at night...

Congratulations, Helian! Will visit you.