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The German Press Council issued a formal reprimand to the website of the German Bild newspaper over its coverage of the killing of Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera correspondent in the Gaza Strip, stating that the reporting constituted a serious breach of journalistic ethics and a grave disregard for the duty of accuracy and due diligence.
Anas was widely recognized for his frontline reporting from northern Gaza during the Gaza War. He became known for his coverage of massacres and the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe despite repeated threats.
He was killed on Aug. 10, 2025, in a direct strike on a journalist's tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The attack drew widespread international condemnation. Al Jazeera denounced the killing as an assassination and described it as a blatant and deliberate assault on press freedom.
The decision came after the council received 328 collective complaints over an article published by the newspaper in August titled “A terrorist disguised as a journalist killed in Gaza,” which adopted the Israeli army narrative claiming that Al-Sharif was a Hamas cell commander.
The newspaper editorial team failed to provide sufficient objective evidence to substantiate the claim, triggering widespread criticism. The editorial team later changed the headline.
The Complaints Committee of the German Press Council unanimously ruled that the coverage constituted a flagrant violation of journalistic ethics, citing Article Two of the Code of Journalistic Conduct, and a serious infringement of the journalist's personal dignity under Article Nine of the same code.
Given the severity of the violations, the council decided to issue a formal reprimand to the newspaper, the strongest disciplinary measure available under its authority.
By contrast, the committee found that other reports addressing the case under headlines such as “Israel kills correspondent in Gaza, journalist or terrorist?” did not violate the press code, as they presented the allegations without endorsing them.
The council, an official body tasked with monitoring German media adherence to professional standards, stressed that its decisions are based exclusively on the ethical criteria set out in the Press Code, without regard to political or personal considerations.
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