Overview

• Klöckner spoke Sunday at a CDU Koblenz reception hosted at CompuGroup Medical’s site in Koblenz, whose founder Frank Gotthardt finances the online portal Nius.
• In her address she framed the visit as support for free expression, likened Nius’s methods to those of the left-leaning taz, and said she would not “cancel” media financiers.
• Criticism intensified on Tuesday as Linke parliamentary leader Heidi Reichinnek urged Klöckner to step down, with SPD’s Wiebke Esdar and Green politician Irene Mihalic calling the comparison inappropriate.
• The CDU and the Bundestagspräsidium defended her attendance as routine party practice, and organizers listed her as a member of parliament rather than as Bundestagspräsidentin.
• Nius, run by ex-Bild editor Julian Reichelt, has drawn censure from journalists and regulators, including a formal finding by the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg of a diligence breach in one case.