Is Germany turning to the far-right? Inside the country’s battle for power

Published

3 days ago

February 18, 2025

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A battle for power is raging in Germany.

For the first time since the Second World War, a far-right party is expected to come second in a federal election and the country is divided.

“I come from Jewish heritage so I’m really worried about the safety of my family,” says Shoshana.

“I don’t want to believe that 20% of Germany is extremist,” adds Christian.

Shoshana and Christian are among hundreds of thousands of people who have taken part in demonstrations against the far-right in the run-up to the vote on 23 February.

But if polling is correct, around 20% of voters disagree – instead believing the Alternative for Germany Party or AfD offers Germans the best future.

So in the run-up to what’s expected to be a historic result, I decided to go on a journey through the AfD heartland to find out why some German voters are turning to the far-right.

In Saxony, the tension is palpable

On a chilly February morning under a bright blue sky, we head towards Saxony, our first stop.

It’s a state around two hours’ drive from Berlin in east Germany.

The far-right AfD is holding a rally there and we want to speak to supporters to find out what’s attracting them to the party.

There are four main parties dominating the current polls.

In the lead at the moment, the conservative block is made up of the party of former chancellor Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrats (CDU), and their Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) allies.

Their pick as the next chancellor, and the man widely expected to get the job, is Friedrich Merz.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) is fielding Olaf Scholz for another term as chancellor.

Their coalition partners the Greens have nominated Robert Habeck.

But the AfD is the party coming in second in most polls.

A party dogged by allegations of racism, Islamophobia and right-wing extremism, all of which it denies, is currently on track to get its best-ever results.

Its chancellor candidate is the former banker Alice Weidel, who lives in Switzerland with her wife and kids.

Under her leadership, the party has been endorsed by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who claimed: “You’re the best hope for Germany.”

It’s Weidel’s right-hand man, Tino Chrupalla, who’s holding the rally we are heading to, but when we arrive his opponents are ready and waiting.

A loud and agitated group of anti-AfD protesters have surrounded the building where the rally will take place.

Many wave signs accusing the party of being Nazis or fascists.

The AfD in Saxony has been officially designated as a far-right extremist group by the authorities but it’s still the state’s most popular party.

That terrifies some.

“I don’t want to have the AfD. I don’t want to live in a fascist regime,” says teacher Navina, who has joined the demonstration.

Germany’s Nazi history makes the discussion extremely sensitive.

The party rejects being called fascist, as well as opponents’ claims it will lead the country back towards a dark past.

It says it offers Germany a future.

Navina vehemently disagrees.

“They have no solutions. They just say if there’s less migration then everything will be fine,” she explains.

‘Society is so divided’

As the start of the AfD rally draws closer, the atmosphere becomes more tense.

A number of anti-AfD protesters have been hauled out of the crowd by the police and are being held by a fence.

Officers have parked a line of vans between supporters and opponents to keep them apart while covered black plastic screens have been erected to stop the two sides from seeing each other.

Even in AfD strongholds like Saxony, the tension is palpable.

Opponents know it’s unlikely the AfD will get into government as it isn’t predicted to get a majority and a so-called “firewall” against the far-right means no other party has agreed to work with it, but the fact a far-right party is polling second in Germany angers many here.

One of the key flashpoints is the debate around migration.

The AfD wants much stricter controls which would include mass deportations.

At the party conference in January, Alice Weidel spoke of “large-scale repatriations” to a delighted crowd.

“And I have to be honest with you: if it’s going to be called remigration, then that’s what it’s going to be: remigration,” she said.

Remigration is a buzzword among Europe’s far-right.

Last year, around a million Germans demonstrated after it was revealed some AfD members attended a meeting where the Austrian leader of the far-right Identitarian movement, Martin Sellner, reportedly proposed a project of “remigration” which would see “unassimilated” immigrants forced to leave Germany even if they had citizenship.

While Weidel distanced herself from the meeting, and the party has previously said it has no plans to kick out people with German passports, critics say the idea has echoes of mass deportations of the Nazi era.

Back at the protest, Richard tells me he thinks migrants are being scapegoated by the party. “It’s not a Syrian refugee’s fault that my wages are short or that crime is high,” he says.

Suddenly we are interrupted by Robert who is trying to get to the AfD rally.

It’s immediately clear just how divided voters are.

“I agree with the deportation thing because we definitely have too many foreigners and there’s too much violence,” Robert says.

He’s worried voters are so polarised that the country is heading towards “a situation of civil war”.

“Society is so divided into two parties there’s so much hate and so much violence, I have never seen a situation like this before,” he says.

‘We are being persecuted’

With that warning, we make our way into the hall where the AfD meeting is being held.

The foyer is filled with party flyers. Paper mugs bear their logo.

Upstairs, a crowd is enthusiastically listening to co-leader Tino Chrupalla’s speech.

Burly security guards keep an eye out for trouble, but aside from one heckler, the audience is adoring.

The standing ovation at the end suggests people agree with what they have heard but when we approach an audience member for an interview, he asks we keep his face hidden.

Peter tells us that he’s worried being identified as an AfD supporter could have repercussions.

“We are being persecuted by people like ANTIFA outside and they are not really democrats because they don’t accept different opinions,” he explains.

He says he is in favour of closing the borders and deporting criminals and believes Germany has become so unsafe that if nothing changes he will leave the country.

Migration isn’t what triggered the election but it’s now dominating the debate.

Just over a week before the vote, the issue was reignited when a car was driven into trade union protesters in Munich, killing a mother and her two-year-old daughter, and injuring others. The suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan national. His asylum application was rejected, but he had not been forced to leave due to security concerns in Afghanistan and he was in Germany legally with a work permit.

This was the latest in a number of alleged attacks carried out by migrant suspects.

In December, six people died and hundreds were injured after a Saudi doctor was accused of mowing down crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg.

The next day, as the city mourned, around a thousand members of the far-right rallied.

“Asylum seekers out,” they shouted as they marched behind a banner saying “remigration”.

Saxony-Anhalt: ‘Germany has radically changed’

Magdeburg is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt where around 31% of voters support the AfD.

As we arrive in the city, we meet Syrian-born Zaid.

He’s lived here for more than a decade but says since the Christmas market attack a division has opened up.

He runs through a list of assaults that he’s heard of in the last few weeks – including a migrant attacked at a bus stop or one of their children assaulted in a lift.

“People are very afraid,” he says.

The AfD held their own rally in Magdeburg after the Christmas market attack.

The rally’s organisers attempted to mobilise mourners behind an anti-migrant, anti-Muslim message while inaccurately claiming the suspect was an Islamic extremist.

Satish could hear the crowd from his restaurant.

He isn’t an AfD voter but on some points, he agrees with the party’s message. “Germany is well aware that you have to integrate, you have to bring skills here,” he says. “Immigrants should not be a threat to your country, there you have to draw a line.”

Satish moved to Germany from India in 2008.

In 2015, in response to the migrant crisis, the then chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country’s doors to around a million mainly Syrian refugees.

By this point, the AfD – which had initially formed a few years earlier as a eurosceptic, anti-euro party – was increasingly using anti-migrant and anti-Islamic language as it moved further right.

Satish says Germany has radically changed in the decade since the so-called open door policy was announced.

“I won’t say it was a mistake, but it was ignorance. They were ignorant about how the people would respond,” he says.

A recent poll showed around 60% of Germans think the country should take fewer refugees.

The government reinstated temporary border checks last year and while all the main parties have hardened their stance on migration, the CDU wants to go further.

Its plans include making border checks permanent and potentially rejecting some asylum seekers on arrival.

Despite this, the AfD remains the loudest voice on stricter controls.

Like many other populist parties, the AfD is really effective at converting discontent into support.

Feeding on frustrations around migration, the economy or green policies has helped propel them up the polls.

In Thuringia, Elon Musk and Donald Trump get a special mention

No more so than in the state of Thuringia where last year the AfD was the first far-right party since the Second World War to claim victory in a state election.

The AfD is currently leading the current polls here with around 35% of the vote.

The man who helped lead them to success is Bjoern Hoecke, a former history teacher, who is now arguably Germany’s most successful far-right politician.

He’s anti-immigration, Russia-friendly and eurosceptic.

A man who once called Berlin’s holocaust memorial a “moment of shame” and has twice been found guilty of using a Nazi slogan.

A poster boy for the far-right who opponents label “dangerous” but supporters adore.

“When you have no arguments, especially in Germany, then you say Nazis,” says Carolin Lichtenheld, a member of the party’s youth wing when I put this criticism to her.

Carolin has gathered with a few hundred others in a shopping centre conference hall on a freezing Tuesday night to watch Hoecke speak.

In the foyer, party merchandise has been carefully laid out.

One table is a tribute to American and German populist icons: there’s Elon Musk’s biography, a magazine showing Hoecke, next to a couple featuring Donald Trump. The most eye-catching is an edition showing Musk dressed up as Superman carrying Alice Weidel.

The leaning towards the Trump administration is an interesting progression for a party whose supporters are often pro-Russia and anti-America.

Hoecke will later tell us that while he doesn’t know him personally, he “appreciates Donald Trump for his fight against wokeness… for his commitment to free speech”.

But before any of that, with every seat in the hall full, it’s time for the main event.

When Hoecke enters the room, cheers and applause erupt from the crowd.

For the next two hours, he and the local candidates lay out their vision for Germany.

Migration, Trump, Musk and Russia all get name-checked.

Hoecke, a man who once stood on the fringes of a fringe party, is now central to what’s likely to be the far-right’s most successful federal election since the Second World War.

After the speeches, fans queue up for selfies and autographs with Hoecke.

Many are young men and women who appear slightly starstruck.

This scene should serve as a wake-up call to anyone still questioning the power of populism.

When I put to Hoecke that his opponents call him a fascist and a racist who is a threat to democracy, he brushes it off.

He says the labels come from mainstream parties which he refers to as “a cartel”.

“They’ve merged into a cartel but now a competitor is emerging, a competitor who challenges their power,” he adds.

During his speech, he told the crowd that on the global stage, the political stars are now aligned in the AfD’s favour – with what he claims are administrations in America and Russia who support them.

It’s a new but potentially monumental message.

In the last 12 months, I’ve watched him at several rallies but in this hall, there’s a real feeling from him and his supporters that they’re on the brink of new power.

The extreme right in the ‘heart chamber of democracy’

Keeping an eye on the party’s rise is regional spy chief Stephan Kramer.

His branch of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified Thuringia’s AfD as right-wing extremists.

His team monitors a range of threats – from Islamic extremists to left-wing fundamentalists – but it’s the extreme right that he views as the severest threat to German democracy.

“What we see is that the extreme right has managed to get into what we call ‘the heart chamber of democracy’ and therefore is going after the roots of our democracy in our liberal society,” he says.

The AfD, at state and local level, deny they’re extreme or a threat but Stephan believes this election is the last moment for Germany “to change direction.”

“In the last ten years, the party has grown stronger and stronger. They are still growing, although we have put out the warning signs.

“I’m not saying the Federal Republic of Germany today is the same as the Weimar Republic of 1933, but you see similarities and that are very, very threatening,” Kramer says.

There’s no doubt Germany is divided, but on one point many agree: this election is a pivotal moment in German history.

Will the AfD gain power this time? That’s highly unlikely but they may get enough seats to cause serious disruption in parliament.

And if the next government fails, then the far right could easily seize victory in 2029.

World

Hamas names six Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday

Published

3 hours ago

February 21, 2025

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Hamas names six Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday

Hamas has named six Israeli hostages who are set to be released on Saturday while Israel is expected to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement between the parties.

The hostages due for release are Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Tal Shoham, Omer Wenkert, Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengisto.

According to Hamas’s prisoners media office, Israel will be releasing 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday, adding to the hundreds already released since the ceasefire took effect last month.

The release of the hostages on Saturday is the final one in this phase of the Gaza truce deal.

Mr Mengisto and Mr al-Sayed are civilians who entered the besieged enclave of Gaza a decade ago and have been held there since.

Israelis who survived being held prisoner in Gaza, where a powerful bombing campaign has left much of it destroyed, have been released in small groups since the first six-week phase began last month.

The start of negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire is expected in the coming days.

Israel and Hamas have been at war since the latter, a militant group ruling Gaza, carried out a massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 and took 251 hostage.

The latest list of hostages set for release comes amid heightened tensions between the parties after Israel claimed the body of hostage Shiri Bibas wasn’t actually hers and it had instead received the remains of an “anonymous body without identification”.

Hamas responded that Ms Bibas’s remains appear to have been mixed with other human remains in what it claims was an “Israeli airstrike”.

Her body was meant to be handed over on Thursday alongside the bodies of her two children, who the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed they received.

The body of journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted, was also returned.

The Bibas family has become a powerful symbol of the 251 Israelis kidnapped on 7 October 2023 – not least because Kfir was the youngest taken.

The children’s father, Yarden Bibas, was released on 1 February as part of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

Since the start of the war in October 2023, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

World

Hostage’s body not returned as remains ‘mixed’ in rubble, Hamas says – with Netanyahu warning group ‘will pay’

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3 hours ago

February 21, 2025

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Hostage's body not returned as remains 'mixed' in rubble, Hamas says - with Netanyahu warning group 'will pay'

Hamas says the remains of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas appear to have been mixed with other human remains in what it claims was an “Israeli airstrike”.

Israel said the body handed over by Hamas was not Shiri’s, saying it had instead received the remains of an “anonymous body without identification”.

Israel claimed today forensic evidence showed Shiri and her two children were murdered in captivity by Hamas. Sky News has asked the IDF to provide evidence for their claims, but they have refused to comment further.

The Palestinian group claims Shiri and her children were all killed in Israeli airstrikes near the start of the war.

Ms Bibas was kidnapped with her sons – four-year-old Ariel, and nine-month-old Kfir – from the Niz Or kibbutz during the Palestinian militant group’s incursion into Israel in October 2023.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it received the bodies of Ariel and Kfir on Thursday.

However, it said the body that Hamas had claimed was their mother was not her and the group had therefore violated the ceasefire agreement.

“During the identification process, it was found that the additional body received was not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other abductee. It is an anonymous body without identification,” it said in a statement.

“This is a very serious violation by the Hamas terrorist organisation, which is required by the agreement to return four dead abductees. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all of our abductees.”

Hamas said there was the “possibility of an error or overlap in the bodies” due to Israeli bombing. Hamas has said they were all killed in Israeli airstrikes near the start of the war. The group has never provided evidence to back this up. Israel says the Bibas family were murdered by Hamas in captivity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said Israel would make Hamas pay for failing to release Shiri’s body, calling it a “cruel and malicious violation”.

“We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement,” he said in a video statement.

The body of journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted, was also handed over on Thursday.

Hamas handed over the remains as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement which was reached with Israel last month.

The bodies were transferred in four black coffins in a carefully orchestrated public display as a crowd of Palestinians and dozens of armed Hamas militants watched.

Israelis lined the road in the rain near the Gaza border to pay their respects as the convoy carrying the coffins drove by.

In Tel Aviv, people gathered, some weeping, in a public square opposite Israel’s defence headquarters that has come to be known as Hostages Square.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to eliminate Hamas and said the four coffins meant “more than ever” that Israel had to ensure there was no repeat of the 7 October attack.

Mr Netanyahu said: “Our loved ones’ blood is shouting at us from the soil and is obliging us to settle the score with the despicable murderers, and we will.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said: “Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts – the hearts of an entire nation – lie in tatters.”

United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, called the parading of the four bodies “cruel” and “inhumane” in a statement on Thursday.

He said: “Under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families.”

The Bibas family has become a powerful symbol of the 251 Israelis kidnapped on 7 October – not least because Kfir was the youngest taken.

The children’s father, Yarden Bibas, was released on 1 February as part of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

Sombre moment for Israelis – as Hamas uses opportunity for propaganda

Diana Magnay

International correspondent

@DiMagnaySky

The return of the bodies of four Israeli hostages is a “sombre moment” for everybody in Israel and Jews across the world, our international correspondent Diana Magnay says.

She says the two young boys, Ariel and Kfir, “really became a symbol of the tremendous suffering 7 October caused”.

“Now, to have them returned back in this way is tragic.”

Referring to the scenes of coffins being transferred to the Red Cross, Magnay says Hamas has chosen to use this “as a propaganda opportunity”.

“They have missiles on the stage where the four coffins were, saying they were killed by US bombs,” she explains.

She says Hamas’s main message is “this was caused by you, you should take responsibility for it”.

She adds that 7 October was caused by Hamas, and has brought “untold suffering to both Israel and Palestinians”.

Meanwhile, six living hostages, the final due to be freed under the first phase of the Gaza truce deal, will be released on Saturday, according to Hamas.

Israelis who survived being held prisoner in Gaza have been released in small groups since the first six-week phase began last month.

The deal has provided a vital pause in the fighting that’s devastated Gaza and left tens of thousands dead.

At least 1,200 people were killed in the attack that started the war.

Since then, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

World

German election: From AI influencers to Russian disinformation, the far-right is getting a leg up online

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3 hours ago

February 21, 2025

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German election: From AI influencers to Russian disinformation, the far-right is getting a leg up online

Voters in Germany are being exposed to copious far-right narratives online from AI-generated content and Russian disinformation campaigns.

Experts monitoring social media say Russian-based groups are involved, including “Doppelganger” and “Storm-1516”, which US officials found to be active in America’s election last year.

Some of these campaigns are using artificial intelligence to spread their messaging ahead of Sunday’s vote, which will see Germany elect a new Bundestag.

Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) has been more active on social media than other parties during the campaign and is in second place in opinion polls.

Methods are said to include creating fake TV news stories or deep-fake videos of apparent “witnesses” or “whistle blowers” fabricating stories about prominent politicians.

For example, in November 2024, shortly before the snap election was called, a video was published that claimed one parliamentary member who is an outspoken supporter of Ukraine was a Russian spy.

Dr Marcus Faber, a member of the Free Democratic Party and head of the government’s defence committee, was targeted in a video which used AI to suggest a former adviser was making the claim. We asked Dr Faber for his reaction to the video but he was unable to comment at this time.

In another video an 18-year-old woman accused a German minister of child abuse – the accusation was false, and the video was made using AI.

A recent report from the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy, or CeMAS, a non-profit thinktank specialising in the analysis of disinformation and right-wing extremism, and Alliance 4 Europe which aims to combat digital disinformation, has linked both stories to the Russian disinformation campaign Storm-1516.

The researchers have also been tracking the Doppelganger campaign, run by a Russian PR company Social Design Agency, widely reported to have links to the Kremlin.

They have found the group’s main tactic is to create fake news articles, which often resemble well-known publications. A network of social media accounts then share and spread those articles across different platforms.

Posts will often appear to be from a worried citizen, like the one below that reads: “I am concerned that aid to Ukraine will impact our ability to invest in our own infrastructure and social security systems.”

The post links to a fake news article criticising Germany’s funding for the war in Ukraine, on a fake website resembling the German newspaper Der Spiegel.

“Different Russian campaigns are trying, on the one hand, to discredit established parties,” says Julia Smirnova, a senior researcher for CeMAS. “They’re also trying to boost the far-right AfD.”

“It’s not about just one fake video or one fake article. There’s a systematic effort to constantly create this flood of false stories, flood of propaganda stories, and continue spreading them,” she says.

From mid-December 2024 to mid-January 2025, CeMAS found a total of 630 German-language posts with typical Doppelgänger patterns on X alone.

For Ferdinand Gehringer, a cybersecurity policy adviser, Russian interference online isn’t a surprise.

“There are clear objectives for Russia to interfere and to also manipulate our public opinion,” he says.

From the party’s plan to stop sending arms to Ukraine to their calls to ramp up imports of Russian gas, he says “Russia sees within the AfD’s program and ideas the best options for future cooperation”.

CeMAS has found at least one case where a fake story that originated from a Russian campaign was spread by an AfD politician.

Stephan Protschka, a parliamentary member, posted on his social media channels that the Green Party was working with Ukraine to recruit people to commit crimes and blame them on the AfD, a narrative researchers say originated from a Russian disinformation campaign.

Sky News asked Mr Protschka for comment, but he did not respond.

We also reached out to Social Design Agency to respond to the allegations against the Doppelganger group. They did not respond. We were unable to contact anyone behind the Storm-1516 campaign for comment.

Inside Germany

Beyond the extremes of Russian-led disinformation campaigns, far-right groups within Germany are also ramping up their online presence. Take Larissa Wagner, an AI-generated social media influencer.

“Hey guys, I’m just on my way to the polling station. I’m daring this time. I’m voting for AfD,” she said in a video posted to her X account on 22 September 2024, the day of the Brandenburg state election.

Her accounts on Twitter and Instagram were both created in the last year and her regular videos espouse far-right narratives, like telling Syrian immigrants to “pack your bags and go back home”.

She even says she interned with the right-wing magazine Compact, which was banned by the German government last year.

It’s unclear who created Larissa. When Sky News messaged to ask her on Instagram she replied: “I think it’s completely irrelevant who controls me. Influencers like me are the future…

“Like anyone else, I want to share my perspective on things. Every influencer does that. But because I’m young, attractive, and right-wing, it’s framed as ‘influencing the political discourse’.”

Ferdinand Gehringer notes that her posts have become more radical over time. “The potential for influence is significant-especially since the presence of a young, attractive woman increases audience engagement,” he adds.

The far-right’s use of generative AI on social media goes beyond characters like Larissa. A report this week from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue assessed the scale of its use, identifying 883 posts since April 2023 that included images, memes and music videos made using generative AI.

The posts came from far-right supporters as well as the AfD itself – party accounts published more than 50 posts that contained generative AI content in October alone.

The AfD is using AI more than other parties, says Pablo Maristany de las Casas, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who co-authored the report. “They’re clearly the one actor that is exploiting this technology the most,” he says.

The messaging in the far-right content they sampled falls into two categories: attacking narratives, like AI-generated images of migrants portrayed as violent criminals, and narratives that glorify traditional German values.

When these two narratives are combined, “the far-right community feels more united in the so-called cultural fight against these groups that they’re attacking,” says Mr Maristany de las Casas.

Take Remigration Song, a promotional song and music video commissioned by the now-disbanded youth wing of the AfD. It was produced using AI and advocates the mass deportation of immigrants – known as remigration.

It’s this home-grown content that some experts say could affect public opinions.

A recent survey by the Bertelsmann Foundation, a thinktank which promotes social reform, showed that 80% of Germans consider disinformation on the internet to be a major problem for society and 88% agreed that disinformation is spread to influence political opinions.

“Just the foreign information itself is probably not going to shift attitudes” says senior researcher Cathleen Berger. “I think the impact only comes when it is being picked up by domestic actors”.

Additional reporting from Olive Enokido-Lineham, OSINT producer; Mary Poynter, Data and Forensics producer.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.