Just in time for the European election campaign, the party headquarters of the left has distributed a guide on how to be photographed correctly. The quick course in pictorial language went to promising list candidates. He was produced by the public relations team in the party headquarters for internal purposes. Headline: "Lousy pictures? Not with us!" The course is available to SPIEGEL.

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Under point 1 the question is raised: "What do we want to broadcast?" Answer: "We are the best of the parties, with the coolest people, we have a lot going on and everyone is always fun."

This is illustrated with a photo of the party leaders Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger in the election campaign in a pedestrian zone. The photo is marked with a green tick: everything is correct.

Photos, as one learns in the manual, can document more than a moment. "You can tell stories." The same is true of the manual itself, which says a lot about the power struggle on the left.

Thus, under point 3 is an explanation of the spin doctors from the Karl Liebknecht House, as it should be done under no circumstances: Heads of people never place in the middle of the picture, but in the top third. Gestures are enormously important, as is the correct facial expression.

As a negative example, provided with a red cross, serves a photograph of the group leader Sahra Wagenknecht. Wagenknecht, who is actually considered photogenic, has been in dispute with the party leadership for years and had last announced to shorten in the future for health reasons. Her followers had complained of bullying against her.

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