Since 2025, several federal states, including Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein, have required their police authorities to state the nationality of suspects in press releases. The German Press Council views this as a source of further distortion rather than a corrective mechanism. This is because stating a suspect’s nationality could reinforce prejudices against the entire group. According to the Press Code, a person’s origin should only be mentioned if there is a justified public interest.

A study by media scholar Prof. Dr Thomas Hestermann analyses the frequency with which a suspect’s nationality is mentioned in newspaper reports. In the majority of newspaper reports, a suspect’s origin is not mentioned at all. This is the case in 67 % of the articles analysed. Where a suspect’s nationality is mentioned, 90.8 % of cases involve non-German nationals. In the Police Crime Statistics (PKS), this proportion stands at 34.3 %. This corresponds to an over-representation of almost three times the actual figure. Thus, when nationality is mentioned, it is almost exclusively in cases where the suspect is not German.

When origin is mentioned, and when it is not

For the analysis, newspaper reports published between January and April 2025 from five national daily newspapers (Bild, Süddeutsche Zeitung, FAZ, Die Welt and taz) were examined. A total of 330 reports on violent crimes committed in Germany were included in the analysis, from which 263 suspects were identified.

The imbalance is particularly pronounced in the case of individuals from predominantly Muslim countries of origin. They account for 70.1 % of suspects in newspaper reports, whereas in the PKS (Criminal Statistics) the figure is just 15.8 %, which corresponds to more than a fourfold over-representation in newspaper reports. A look at individual newspapers reveals significant differences. Die Welt and taz named only suspects without German citizenship, whilst the Süddeutsche Zeitung recorded the lowest figure at 72.7 %.

What the PKS measures and what it does not

When comparing figures with the PKS, it is important to note the following. The statistics list reported potential offences and record suspects rather than convicted offenders. They therefore allow only limited conclusions to be drawn about actual crime trends. This is because not every recorded case leads to a court trial. Offences outside the police’s jurisdiction, such as tax evasion, are not included at all.