The claim

The screen capture of an online search is intended to suggest that ZDF has deleted articles about Corona or the COVID vaccination from its website.

Our conclusion

As a public broadcaster, ZDF is obliged by the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty to remove content in the “news or information” category from its website after 12 months.

This accusation is currently being made by some social media users. A video of the screen recording of an online search is intended to suggest that ZDF is making contributions to Corona or the COVID vaccination disappear.

Screenshot screen capture
Screenshot screen capture

Example: How well do corona vaccines work against Delta?

We have picked out a topic that is shown in the video and which has also posted and linked to on its Facebook page The Facebook post is from July 5, 2021. It was about the effectiveness of the corona vaccines in relation to the Delta variant.

The link leads to the associated article on the station's website .
When you open the link, the page displays: “Unfortunately, this page was not found.
The content you requested is no longer available.”

Oh dear, is this actually proof that Corona-specific content has been removed? – One question comes to mind: Wouldn’t they have also gone to the trouble of deleting the associated Facebook post?

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Second example: Hansi Flick becomes national coach

We have now fished out a topic that has nothing to do with Corona and was also posted in 2021 : “Football, DFB: Hansi Flick becomes national coach”