Reporting on the far right: How do you cover the AfD, in eastern Germany and across the whole country?

State elections are coming up this autumn in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania. Developments are intensifying there that challenge Germany as a whole: the establishment of the AfD as a defining political force, the normalization of authoritarian and far-right positions, and journalists and media organizations increasingly coming under pressure.

What makes the AfD so popular in these federal states? Why are the democratic parties no longer getting through? And to what extent do the media themselves share responsibility for the shift in public debate and the AfD’s political success?

Publix director Maria Exner will discuss these questions with Ann-Katrin Müller, political editor in DER SPIEGEL’s Berlin office and one of Germany’s leading experts on the AfD. She has reported continuously on the party since 2019, including in 2025 for DER SPIEGEL on dairy billionaire Theo Müller’s birthday party with Alice Weidel, and this year on allegations of cronyism and nepotism within the AfD. Most recently, Müller successfully defended herself in court against an insult by an AfD politician.

At the center of the evening is the question of how to research and publish on a party that instrumentalizes journalists and portrays them as enemies—and that could soon, for the first time, appoint a minister-president. What lessons does Müller draw from her in-depth knowledge of the party?