Large portions of the population didn‘t have trust in what is disparagingly called “quality media“ long before the Corona pandemic. Public networks are often not seen as neutral any more, but rather as mouthpieces for the system, as the voice ‘from up there.‘ In these times of mistrust and fake news, journalists have a special responsibility - which news magazine “Monitor“ has been trying to uphold for over 60 years. Miguel Müller-Fran shows how they do this in his documentary WITH ONE‘S OWN EYES. In classic direct cinema manner, reserved, as neutral and objective as possible, he observes the world of the “Monitor“ editorial team surrounding head editor and moderator Georg Restle during what happens to be a very exciting journalistic phase: during filming Kassel district president Walter Lübke was killed by a right-wing extremist, an event which rattled the republic and dominated the news. The “Monitor“ team was also focused on the murder, of course, researching the background, followed the first traces of the perpetrator, wanting to beat the competition to the punch and make no mistakes.
You can see how segments emerge in detail, how new information changes what was seen as facts, how incisive yet precise formulations are fought over, how good journalism is made. It is often tenacious, which is what makes it thrilling, because during WITH ONE‘S OWN EYES it becomes very clear how valuable this kind of journalism is. When an editorial team has the time and possibilities to research well and isn‘t forced to be quick and imprecise because of a headline, when it‘s not about drama but about information.

Michael Meyns

Translation: Elinor Lewy