COMMENT - There must have been some reason for his murder: The posthumous defamation of the conservative Charlie Kirk

A successful family man and conservative political influencer was shot dead in public in the United States, and even leftists condemned the act of violence. But anyone who follows the reports and special broadcasts closely will notice a hidden message: Charlie Kirk, it says, contributed to the violent climate in the country. He is therefore complicit in his murder.

This Friday, the Berlin newspaper "Tagesspiegel" headlined its report on the MAGA movement's mastermind: "Death of an Arsonist." On the front page, Kirk is depicted with his index finger raised, posing as a hate preacher. This opened up a broader range of associations for the reader. As if it were a welcome relief that his further political activity was now over. As if, in a political assassination, it mattered who it targeted. It's reminiscent of George Orwell and his masterpiece "Animal Farm": Murder is bad, but some murders are worse than others.

It's horrific that an influential political voice has been silenced by violence. It's even more horrific when the media seems to implicitly justify this violence. It's striking how deeply some journalists distort Kirk's statements.

This happened in a particularly drastic manner on ZDF, a flagship of German public television. To prove that Kirk was supposedly a particularly radical agitator, journalist Elmar Thevessen presented Kirk's views on a talk show. Kirk, he said, had called for the stoning of homosexuals.

That's wrong. Kirk never called for stoning homosexuals. The controversial statement was made in a podcast. A guest confronted him with the argument that the Bible calls for the acceptance of homosexuality. After all, it says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Kirk countered that the Bible also calls for stoning homosexuals. Kirk's reasoning was therefore a matter of principle: Anyone who argues with the Holy Scriptures should know them thoroughly.

Moreover, the idea that Kirk hates homosexuals, even calls for their death, is a malicious insinuation. Videos showing Kirk surrounded by students in open debate paint a completely different picture. In fact, in at least one case, he explicitly welcomed a young homosexual into the conservative movement.

German media aren't the only ones who indulge in such distortions. The Swiss newspaper "Tagesanzeiger," for example, listed particularly controversial statements by Kirk in an article on Thursday, including the following quote: "I'm sorry, but if I see a Black pilot, I'm going to say, 'Boy, I hope he's qualified.'"

This quote, while correct, is completely out of context. There are several videos in which Kirk explains his position in detail. His criticism was directed at a major American airline that wanted to employ 40 percent Black pilots within a few years. Kirk's point was: Such ambitious goals come at the expense of training quality. Companies either seek professional qualifications, completely independent of skin color or gender. Or they want to achieve a certain mix of pilots. In his view, the two are incompatible.

Not even the venerable New York Times did its job properly. It attributed an anti-Semitic quote to Kirk, even though he had only quoted it to criticize it later, as the newspaper itself has since reluctantly admitted. It just fit the bill.

Of course, you don't have to share Kirk's opinions. You can view them critically for many reasons, especially as a liberal. But you should report them accurately. The fact that the media can't even do this after such a cold-blooded murder fuels suspicions of malice. What simply can't be is unacceptable. That there's a conservative thinker who nevertheless reaches out to homosexuals. That someone offers caustic criticism of left-wing positions and yet values ​​open debate more than many others. In short: that someone doesn't want to fit into the category of the all-around evil right-wing MAGA movement.

It's not without irony: The very journalists who constantly warn against disinformation are themselves spreading it after the murder of Charlie Kirk. Left-liberal journalists regularly complain about a culture war in which facts are subordinated to their own worldview. If so, they shouldn't be involved in it themselves.