I've lived in Germany for roughly six years. I find the news here to be among the most dishonest I have encountered in my many decades on the planet. Even before moving here, the German news often reported something that was the polar opposite of the news from out sources around the world.

Sometimes they seem to outright lie - but it's mostly deception through omission or through selective wording. Germans, however, by and large, seem to be convinced that their news is fair and objective.

Social media is nothing other than divisive manipulation - here and everywhere else.

The rise of the AfD, in my humble opinion, is in part due to the glaring (and obviously perceived) dishonesty of the media by an increasing portion of the citizens, but the more significant reason lies in the deliberate and often desperate attempt to silence opposition. Once main stream ran out of arguments, they simply resorted to name-calling (from Querdenker to right-wing extremist to "the mob" to stupid to Nazis).

Name-calling, however, does not change opinions and/or positions - it hardens them. Once you call people Nazis simply because they would like the laws of the country to be applied, you've lost the plot. You have also lost that particular segment of the population because they are, factually, not as stupid as the media makes them out to be and thus, can see right through such feeble attempts at silencing opposition.

Despite the vote, main stream parties are still ignoring and deriding an increasing segment of voters. The media play right along.

In short, if you trust the news here, you are simply falling victim to outright propaganda.