Maria ladenburger murder german broadcaster 'silenced migrant critics'

The Tagesschau show, produced by the world's largest public broadcaster ARD, said the story was "too regional", but critics have blamed the decision on political correctness

and trying to stamp out criticism of migrants. Medical student and migrant home volunteer Maria Ladenburger, who was the daughter of a high-ranking EU lawyer, was ambushed, raped and drowned

in a river as she cycled home from a party in October. Afghan-born Hussein K, 17, who came to Germany as an illegal unaccompanied minor last year, has been arrested over her murder. The

killing, revealed over the weekend, reportedly sparked frenzied new waves of hatred and fear of refugees in Germany which let in more than 1.1million migrants last year. Even the head of the

country's police union said her death would have been prevented had the open door asylum-seeker policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel been less lax. However, despite having a £5.5billion

and 20,617 employees, ARD decided they did not want to cover the story to bring it to national attention in Germany. ARD's editor-in-chief Kai Gniffke said they "very rarely report

on individual criminal cases". AFD DEMONSTRATION FOLLOWING DEATH OF MARIA-LADENBURGER After widespread outrage, Tagesschau eventually ran a report on Miss Ladenburger's murder

where they interviewed Mrs Merkel who told viewers although the crime should be condemned the act of one cannot be a reflection of a whole group. Ansgar Heveling, a member of Mrs

Merkel's CDU Party and chairman of the Bundestag Interior Committee, accused the broadcaster of trying to censor bad news about refugees. Getty German media has been criticised for not

covering stories which make migrants look bad He said: "I think the decision of the Tagesschau is wrong because it naturally gives the impression that you do not want to report because

the suspect is an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker. "Such an impression is fatal." German broadcasters have consistently been criticised since the migrant crisis began for not

covering stories which show migrants in a bad light. One of the main instances was when more than 1,000 woman were sexually assaulted, raped and robbed, mainly by migrants, on New

Year's Eve in Cologne. Most German media outlets only reported the horrifying incident after international media exposed the story. They were forced to apologise for failing to report

the attacks and leaked documents revealed police were told to keep quiet about attacks by migrants.