Germany's media failed in their duty to cover the migrant crisis responsibly and treated anyone critical of Angela Merkel's open door policy as racist, an influential German institute study has claimed.

Researchers at the Otto Brenner Institute said they studied thousands of articles published by daily newspapers during the mass influx of refugees in 2015 and 2016.

Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers arrived in the country before the German Chancellor closed the border in March last year when Balkan states cut off the migration route.

Germany's media failed in their duty to cover the migrant crisis responsibly and treated anyone critical of Angela Merkel's open door policy as racist, an influential German institute study has claimed

According to Die Zeit, the study said newspapers appeared to take on the role of 'public educators' during the crisis instead of objective critics of public policy.

The report, to be published next week, said some publications had treated people who criticised government policy as being potentially racist.

It suggests some of the reporting 'massively contributed' to a split in German society and loss of confidence in the media.

Former Die Zeit editor Michael Haller, who led the research, told the newspaper: 'Most journalists failed in their job as someone who is supposed to objectively explain the world to readers.'

Opinions of experts, German citizens and asylum seekers themselves were often ignored, Haller added, according to The Local.

At the height of the refugee influx, thousands were crossing into Germany everyday having made their way up through southern and central Europe. Hundreds of migrants are pictured as they made their way north at the Slovenian-Croatian border in October 2015

At the height of the refugee influx, thousands were crossing into Germany everyday having made their way up through southern and central Europe.

At the same time, there was a rise in support for far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party which opposed Merkel's open-door policy.

But its support has recently plummeted as the refugee influx to Germany has slowed, and it is polling at around seven per cent nationwide.

Merkel's CDU party meanwhile has strongly regained ground, with polls showing it mustering close to 40 per cent of support, leaving the second most popular party SPD trailing at around 24 per cent.