An apology: The blogster apologizes to its* readers for painfully working out the obvious.**
The obvious being that even simple news is rarely neutral.
Let's play a game with two headlines in today's German press. The blogster gives you two headlines and asks a question, okay?
Headline 1: Standard Hartz IV benefits to see partially significant increase in 2017***
Headline 2: Hartz IV - Younger children to receive 21 Euros more
The question:
Which of the two headlines would appear in a conservative paper?
If you said Headline 1, you got it right.
Headline 1 gives the impression - intended - that the residents who rely on the basic means tested government benefits are going to be better off in 2017. If you don't read the article, the headline is likely to leave the desired impression.
Headline 2 is about a single aspect of the change, and does not opine on the overall situation.
The reason for the unexpected increase of 21 Euros a month in benefits for children between ages 6 and 13 is stated, in both papers, as being the result of a new study by the federal statistics office, which found that children of this age group need more food and beverages than previously thought.
The blogster has anecdotal knowledge of a couple of German Hartz IV recipients and is in no way surprised by the "recent" findings. Even the more sedate generation of German kids needs a lot of food, and we have pointed out previously that there is hunger in Germany.
Another observation regarding the two approaches to the Hartz IV news is that the conservative paper decided to not turn on the reader comments, while the not conservative one did.
* Simply gender neutral, for principle and to tick of the tick-offable.
** Unnecessary Douglas Adams reference.
*** In German; Hartz-IV-Regelsätze steigen 2017 zum Teil deutlich
Jüngere Kinder sollen 21 Euro mehr bekommen
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