FPÖ Minister Kickl rejects media warning

vienna - The Austrian Minister of Internal Affairs Herbert Kickl has distanced himself from a leaked e-mail, in which a spokesman for his department warns the police about certain media. 'The wording with regard to handling critical media does not have my approval,' Kickl said on Tuesday. 'Freedom of the press is untouchable and an essential pillar of a democratic society.'

Kickl, a member of the right-wing populist FPÖ, has conducted an 'enlightening conversation' with the author of the message, information officer Christoph Pölzl. Pölzl assured him that restricting freedom of the press 'was absolutely not his intention in the mail to the communication heads of the police districts. '

Pölzls' warning involved a number of liberal and progressive newspapers and magazines, including Kurier, Der Standard and Falter. He advised the police to keep cooperation with these media to a minimum because they would report unilaterally and negatively about the ministry and the police.