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The Berlin commissioner for data protection and freedom of information, Maja Smoltczyk, has criticized the procedure for the official disclosure of journalists' names to Jens Spahn (CDU).

Data from reporters should therefore not be released without verification.

Because: The "constitutionally protected freedom of the press" must be taken into account when providing information.

That emerges from a reply from Smoltczyk to the request of the Berlin MP Tom Schreiber (SPD).

WELT AM SONNTAG reported for the first time on the process.

For months, reporters from various media have been researching Spahn's private real estate deals.

This includes the purchase of a villa on the outskirts of Berlin for just over four million euros, as Business Insider reported in summer 2020.

The financing covered, among other things, a loan from the Sparkasse Westmünsterland.

At the bank, Spahn was on the board of directors until 2015.

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The Schöneberg District Court - where the land registry is also located - had passed on both the names and letters of researching journalists to them months ago at the request of Spahn's lawyers.

Since then, Spahn has been charged with researching critical journalists.

The health minister also took legal action against the media that reported on the villa purchase.

In fact, at the end of 2020, the Hamburg Regional Court prohibited the specification of the exact purchase price for the Berlin villa.

A few days ago, however, Spahn's lawyers announced a waiver of rights, according to “Tagesspiegel”.

Accordingly, the purchase price can now be stated.

With the new letter from the Berlin data protection officer, the procedure of the Schöneberg District Court is once again coming into focus.

Smoltczyk makes it clear that the journalists concerned “must be heard before they can provide information”.

If they could name legitimate interests, they would have to be protected from their data being passed on.

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This could be the case, for example, if the "editorial and research secrecy" was endangered by information.

Or if journalists had to expect to be excluded from future interviews or background discussions due to information provided.

It is necessary to weigh up “between Mr. Spahn's basic right to informational self-determination” and freedom of the press.

The Berlin district court contradicts this representation.

At the request of WELT, a spokesman refers to the land register regulations (GBO).

Accordingly, the owner's right to information is clearly regulated.

There are no special rules for reporters, "so that requests for access to files / information from journalists with their reasons must be included in the land register file and can be viewed there at any time as part of an inspection by the owner and, if necessary, by third parties."

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General press law or general data protection rules played no role in the assessment, according to the district court.

Spahn's lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, defended his client's actions on request.

Ultimately, owners would have "the right to inspect their own land register at any time and without further justification and the right to information about the handling of the data concerning them."

DJV insists on editorial confidentiality

Do journalists still have to expect that their data will be passed on by land registry offices during ongoing research?

Hendrik Zörner from the German Association of Journalists (DJV) criticizes the practice: "It is absolutely clear that there is an editorial secret that government agencies have to protect." This includes, for example, with whom journalists speak and what they research.

"The behavior of the Federal Minister of Health," says Zörner, "is just as inappropriate as the willingness of the land registry to cooperate with Spahn."

The Berlin MP Tom Schreiber shares this criticism.

"The old Kohl method of listing unwelcome journalists on the basis of research does not correspond to a sovereign way of dealing with the fourth estate." 

Meanwhile, Smoltczyk announced that he had contacted the president of the Schöneberg District Court.

Her recommendation: “Another briefing and sensitization of your press office, so that in future“ the protection of the rights of all those involved ”is guaranteed.