Police officers and Interior Ministry employees in Austria should keep "critical media" at arm's length, according to a leaked internal memo.

The email to staff accused the established dailies Der Standard and Kurier and the weekly newsmagazine Falter of "very one-sided and negative reporting about the ministry and the police."

"Facts and explanations are not relevant anymore, they are just ignored because the articles are negative anyway, as demonstrated by many articles in recent past," Interior Ministry spokesman Christoph Pölzl wrote in the email. The author urged staff to run their responses past him if they concern more than one department.

Read more: Austria's public broadcaster sues far-right vice chancellor over 'fake news' post

"In other cases, may I suggest limiting communication with these media outlets to the (legal) minimum and not providing them with additional perks, such as exclusive access," he writes. An exception can be made "if you see real additional value, for example, a possibility of neutral or even positive reporting."

'Suggestions' about media

When contacted by DW on Tuesday, Pölzl confirmed the email was authentic. However, he described the message as "suggestions and comments" which "had no mandatory or even instructional character."

"Obviously, it is the right and even duty of all media to cast a critical light on the work of the police, the Interior Ministry, and the minister," he told DW in an emailed statement. "However, it is also the right of the people in charge of communication to form a picture based on the information they have provided and the reporting resulting from it, and to draw conclusions on the quality."

The controversial email aims to stimulate "a more uniform presentation of the police and the Interior Ministry in certain areas of cooperation with the media," he added.

Read more: Six men attempt suicide in face of deportation from Austria

Watch video 03:51 Share Austrian "Grandmas against the Right" Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/33s2x Austrian "Grandmas against the Right"

More on sex crimes

The email also recommends police "proactively" send out more information on sex crimes, "especially with crimes committed in public with considerable degree of violence or coercion or when there is no connection between the perpetrator and the victim."

Also, the ministry advises the employees to explicitly state the suspects' citizenship in all cases when dealing with the media. If the suspect is a foreigner, the police should state "their status of residence and whether they are an asylum-seeker," according to the email.

Read more: Austria to ban asylum-seekers from taking up apprenticeships

"This comes from the background of maximum transparency and the existing, justified interest from the population and the media," Pölzl wrote.

According to Der Standard, the recommendation clashes with a guideline by the Justice Ministry, which says that a suspect's ethnicity or religion "should only be indicated when it is absolutely necessary for understanding the event in question."

EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep Strache wants to end sanctions Austria's Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache has repeatedly called for EU sanctions against Russia to be lifted. Strache, who is also the leader of the populist FPÖ party, criticized NATO expansion to the east. "It wasn't Russia who was the aggressor in recent decades, who was trying to spread its zone of military influence towards the border of the European Union," he said in 2015.

EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep Jean-Marie Le Pen, Russia, and the 'white world' Far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen got into trouble in 2015, when, in addition to saying gas chambers were a "detail" of history, he claimed that France should get along with Russia to save the "white world." These statements prompted his daughter Marine to push him ouf of the Front National party.

EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep Marine Le Pen denies claims of Putin influence French nationalist leader Marine Le Pen has described sanctions against Russia as "completely stupid." She also claimed Crimea "has always been Russian." Her party admits to taking loans from Russian banks, but Le Pen rejected claims of Moscow's influence as outrageous and harmful. The photo shows her meeting with Vladmir Putin in the Kremlin in 2017.

EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep AFD's Alice Weidel, Alexander Gauland, and Russia - it's complicated Germany's anti-migrant AFD party is relatively popular among German voters with Russian background. Senior members of the party, including then-leader Frauke Petry, meet Putin's ruling party lawmakers in Moscow in 2017. The AFD also believes the EU sanctions are a "farce." However, party co-leader Alexander Gauland denies that the party supports Putin and "his authoritarian regime."

EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep Viktor Orban and the special relationship with Putin Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban often hosts Russia's Vladimir Putin in Budapest and the two leaders share many similarities in their ruling style. Orban has complained that politicians in Brussels must "demonize" Putin in order to be considered good Europeans. However, Hungary also joined the UK-led diplomatic offensive by expelling Russian diplomats over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.

EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep Geert Wilders under fire for visiting Moscow Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders slammed Russia after flight MH17 was shot down in 2014 and backed sanctions against the country In 2018, however, he sparked outrage from relatives of MH17 victims by decrying "russophobia" during a Moscow visit. Wilders describes himself as a "a big fan of NATO and of the Americans" but says Russia could be an ally against migration and Islamic terrorism.

EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep Matteo Salvini and the new rulers in Rome Italy's populist League and the Five Star Movement form a ruling coalition in Italy. Both parties oppose sanctions on Russia and NATO's "aggressive" buildup in Eastern Europe. Following the elections, the League's leader Matteo Salvini said he wanted "to work for peace, not for war. I do not want to assemble little tanks like the game of Risk.” Author: Darko Janjevic



Kurz rejects 'limitation of press freedom'

The leaked message prompted harsh criticism, with media outlets accusing Interior Minister Herbert Kickl from the far-right FPÖ party of trying to muzzle the critics and fan prejudice against foreigners. The FPÖ is the junior partner to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's ÖVP conservatives in Austria's ruling coalition.

In a statement to DW, Pölzl slammed the attacks on the minister, saying that the politician "neither commissioned nor received this message, and neither did the members of the Ministry's cabinet."

Pölzl added that his ministry was preparing a "new guideline for transparent communication with the media," which would soon be presented to the public.

Commenting on the event on Tuesday, Chancellor Kurz seemed to side with the critics.

"Parties and government institutions carry a high degree of responsibility for free and independent journalism in the country," he said from the sidelines of a UN event in New York, according to the DPA news agency.

"Any limitation of press freedom is not acceptable," he added.

Watch video 03:57 Share Populists prey on young Austrian voters Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2TkeR Populists prey on young Austrian voters

Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.