If George Thiel is mentioned in the WDR, caution is advised these days. The 53-year-old from Borken has been in prison since February because he refused to pay the radio license for years – his debts now exceed 1,800 euros.

This is a topic that was initially reported by the right-wing daily newspaper “Junge Freiheit”, but was later increasingly picked up by “Bild” and “Bild am Sonntag”. Thiel also visited the Sunday newspaper in prison, where Thiel was allowed to vent his anger. “I make 14,000 euros a year, WDR boss Buhr 400,000 euros – but we both pay 17.50 euros,” the man was quoted as saying. He sees his detention as a “protest against the shameful GEZ fee”.

The online magazine “Übermedien” recently reported on the matter. and clarified that the man who was designated a “GEZ insurgent” by Springer Media could prevent his imprisonment himself – even without the WDR withdrawing the enforcement order and waiving the amount requested. . This would require them to “not even pay contributions and fines, but only to disclose their financial circumstances”, writes “Abermedian”. In this way, a court could ultimately decide what could be attached or whether there was any property. The proportionality of prison sentences has been confirmed by three courts, it is said.

© WDR / Ben Nabe
Jurgen Domian

But despite this, this topic is becoming a problem for WDR. It’s been less than two weeks since a caller wanted to talk to Jurgen Dominion about Thiel on his live broadcast, when he reportedly claimed in the initial conversation that Cardinal Marx was his subject. Dominion made short work and took the caller off the line.

the, So the talker said to “Kölner Stettenzeiger”, “was only and exclusively concerned with the fact that they had faked the show”. “If he had offered his subject honestly, I would certainly have talked to him about it.” WDR rejected the allegation of censorship. “There were no specifications on the WDR side and certainly it is possible to discuss broadcast fees or payment or non-payment of fees,” a broadcaster was quoted as saying.

“and man”

Another incident on Wednesday shows that the Thiel affair is not over. In the otherwise unexpected afternoon program “Here and Hate”, the two spectators were to play a quiz for a cup as usual – but the caller came to the show as Börken’s Hans-Georg Thielmeier, with the harmless main prize in his mind. Was more .

“How are you doing in the summer?”, moderator Miriam Lang started the conversation and received a less than satisfactory answer: “Not so good, I must say.” However, the heat was clearly not his problem. “My living conditions are not the best at present. I am feeling a bit stuck and I am also feeling very hungry. I feel that life is passing me by and that my living conditions may be better. It hasn’t been all that good in my life since the end of February.”

At this point, Lang clearly had no idea what it was about. “Oh man,” she said and tried to encourage him. “What’s more I hope now we can please you with a cup.” But that was not enough for the caller. “It would be enough for me if I could enjoy the summer in general,” he said and asked at last whether it was possible to send victory to the prison in Münster – “to the attention of Hans-Georg Thielmeier, without a swan and Without Meier” she called out soon after: “Hashtag free George Thiel! WDR, that’s enough. Kick George Thiel!”

Then suddenly there was silence. It is unclear whether the caller is actually Thiel. In any case, the apparently upset moderator clearly didn’t know what was happening to him. “I’ve just learned from the director that Hans-Georg has hung up,” she said, inadvertently naming challenger Jörg the winner of the cup and going into the usual “here and now” routine: “You’re in heat. how are you doing” ? “