How the world misunderstood Germany's 'Netzpolitik' affair

Nuance can be crucial when deciding who to blame in major scandals. Missing details and willful misinterpretations in the international coverage of the scandal that has preoccupied Germany for the past week has ensured that Angela Merkel's government, and particularly her Justice Minister Heiko Maas, got a much easier ride abroad than at home.

When the news broke late on Tuesday that Maas had sacked Germany's chief prosecutor Harald Range over his investigation of the bloggers from "Netzpolitik.org," it was greeted around the world as a victory for press freedom. US journalists, like Glenn Greenwald and Trevor Timm, two of the most prominent advocates of press and Internet freedom, were quick to celebrate Maas' decision:

But German journalists and digital rights activists were just as quick to dampen the euphoria of their American heroes, reminding them that Maas and Merkel, so quick to expound the virtues of press freedom over the weekend, had known and tolerated the investigation for several months before it became public.

The misinterpretation abroad was hardly surprising, considering that the English-language headlines distilled the affair into a straight conflict between Maas and Range, with press freedom as the bone they were fighting over - the crucial point that the former was the latter's boss, and therefore responsible for his actions, was lost.

German state prosecutor - not so independent

Range himself had caused this key misunderstanding - over whether or not the German federal prosecutor is independent of the ministry - in his defiant Tuesday morning statement. By condemning Maas' intervention in his investigation and invoking the freedom of the judiciary, Range portrayed the dispute as a constitutional battle between politics and the rule of law.

This was disingenuous. Inside Germany, many commentators - not to mention Twitter users - slammed Range's statement as a willful misdirection of his constitutional role. Citing the information on the prosecutor's official website, many pointed out that Range was not an independent member of the judiciary, but a political official, appointed by the Justice Minister and accountable to him. By openly criticizing his boss, therefore, Range was deliberately forcing Maas to dismiss him.

Why he would choose this belligerent path, rather than just resign, is another question - but it seems to have suited both himself and the minister. For Range, the defiant move meant he could go down fighting, portraying himself as a martyr to the cause of judicial independence. For Maas, meanwhile, the sacking could look like a victory for the cause of press freedom - as it was widely reported outside Germany.

Pawn sacrifice

In Germany's domestic media, meanwhile, both have been criticized for trying to cover up their failings. In its front page story on Wednesday, the newspaper "Taz" made much of the party-political background to the affair.

Range is a member of the Free Democratic Party, junior coalition partners in Merkel's last government, which ended in 2013, and was appointed by Maas' predecessor, the FDP's Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. "Without his FDP membership book Range would never have become chief federal prosecutor in 2011," the "Taz" wrote.

Maas, meanwhile, belongs to the center-left Social Democratic Party, which currently governs Germany alongside Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, and the political differences clearly exacerbated the friction between Maas and the prosecutor.

But Range's sacking has also exposed Maas' flank to an opposition broadside - that it conveniently deflects attention from his own role in the treason charges. And what of other top German officials - not least Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the German domestic intelligence agency, who pressed the treason charges, and Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, who is responsible for the intelligence agencies?

"The ministers Maas and Thomas de Maizière can't get away with making a pawn sacrifice of Range," Green party leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt told the "Passauer Neue Presse" newspaper.

Nowhere near over

Maas may have been hoping that the dismissal of Range may draw a line under the affair, but that won't happen as long as the political opposition, and "Netzpolitik.org," have anything to do with it. The Green party is keen to convene a special sitting of the Bundestag justice committee - chaired by its own Renate Künast - during the summer recess in order to investigate how the debacle unfolded, and clear up the eternal question: who knew what when? "I expect the CDU and the SPD not to refuse this investigation," Göring-Eckardt said.

Meanwhile, the conservative side of the political spectrum has also been heaping scorn onto Maas - not for doing too little to protect press freedom, but for stopping state prosecutors from doing their job. The Christian Social Union's Hans-Peter Uhl accused the Justice Minister of "hysterical actions" and said, "Mr. Range has to do his job - he has to assess whether a state secret has been betrayed."

Not only that, the actual substance of the scandal - the treasons charges against "Netzpolitik.org" journalists Markus Beckedahl, Andre Meister and their unknown source - remain unresolved. Range's departure does not mean the charges against them have been dropped, another fact lost on most of the international media. The website released a statement on Wednesday calling once again for the charges against them to be dropped. "Charges for treason against journalists doing work that is necessary in a democracy are a violation of the German constitution," it said.