“No to Racism in Public Broadcasting”

1. “Ching Chong Chaang” on tax-funded daytime TV

On Sunday, July 12, 2026, the German public broadcaster ZDFaired a special episode on Fernsehgarten featuring Pokémon's 30th anniversary. The show’s host, Andrea Kiewel, interviewed two collectors who showcased their multilingual cards, with Kiewel reading the greetings on them one by one. When a Japanese card came up, however, she called it “the Chinese one”, followed by “Ching Chong Chaang”.

The clip went viral within hours, drawing widespread criticism on Kiewel’s remark as being racist. The Fernsehgarten Instagram account first responded with a simple comment. The following day, on July 13, a ZDF spokesperson issued a written statement to the German Press Agency (dpa), in which they stated that the remark was ‘due to the live situation’ and ‘by no means meant to be racist’. In the same statement, Kiewel stated that she “regretted her words”, and ZDF wrote that they "explicitly oppose any form of racism”. 

2. Why this is a structural racism 

Despite ZDF’s apology, as of today, the July 12 broadcast of Fernsehgarten remains available in an open-access streaming library, without any edits to the original footage (such as an apology or removal of the problematic segment). The fact that such a problematic comment aired live on one of longest-running flagship shows by a public broadcaster not only means that ZDF has violated its statutory mandate for non-discriminatory representation, but also that German citizens’ mandatory broadcasting fees are being used to perpetuate everyday racism.

Furthermore, ZDF’s framing of the incident as an “unfortunate live TV situation” amounts to a secondary microaggression, in an effort to minimize the harm they inflicted and to shift accountability. The statement issued on July 13 was nota live situation: the broadcaster had ample time to reflect and respond responsibly in written form.Inherent racist stereotypes are not technical accidents; they point to an underlying structural racist attitude towards non-German, non-European peoples and languages.

Racism is legally recognized in Germany as a structural social problem. Germany's federal government is currently updating its National Action Plan Against Racism (Nationaler Aktionsplan gegen Rassismus), as one of only 6 EU Member States to explicitly address anti-Asian racism as a form of discrimination. As a public broadcaster based in Germany, ZDF is bound by the following laws and regulations to protect the dignity of all regardless of race, ethnic origin, and language: The ZDF State Treaty, the Interstate Media Treaty of Germany, The German Press Code, The EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights [see full list in Appendix].

As of today, ZDF has not responded to questions regarding concrete actions including disciplinary consequences and/or sensitivity training for Andreas Kiewel and/or its Fernsehgarten show staff. 

3. ICYMI: Why saying “ching chang chong” is racist (in 2026)

Kiewel’s treatment of the European cards stands in direct contrast to her treatment of the Japanese card. All the European languages were treated as real and comprehensible. By contrast, the East Asian card, by contrast, was mocked with gibberish sounds. For over a century, the gibberish "ching chang chong" has been used to make fun of Asian languages, assuming that they sound “ridiculous” or “unintelligible”. Mocking a language marks the people who speak it as less civilized and fundamentally foreign, which is precisely why it is still used today as a derogatory comment.

Fernsehen’s airing of this segment is not a “technical error”, but a manifestation of a historically rooted pattern of racist mockery, a pattern that was already part of the speaker’s everyday language. This is the textbook definition of normalized racism: a racist comment has become so “unremarkable” that both Kiewel and the studio air the segment with laughter bursting all around them. Nobody around them intervenes, amongst a crew of producers, reviewers, editors, or leadership.

4. Our demands to ZDF: Name, Train, Do Better

We are asking ZDF to treat this as a structural gap, not a single presenter’s bad moment. We are not asking for a symbolic gesture. Specifically, we call on ZDF to:

4.1 Issue an apology addressing the structural racism inside ZDF

We ask ZDF to publicly acknowledge in writing that the harm here was twofold: the on-air remark itself, and the low-effort response that followed it through third party channels. This will set a precedent for ZDF from repeating the same institutional pattern in the future.

4.2 Conduct concrete, verifiable anti-racism training within 2026-2027.

General references to “opposing racism” are not a plan. We ask for specific measures and remedies: mandatory training for on-air talent, editorial staff, and production leadership involved in live and pre-recorded formats; delivered by qualified external experts, including practitioners with lived expertise in anti-Asian racism specifically; on a recurring basis; with a public monitoring engagement. We demand that this be initiated before the end of the calendar year 2026.

4.3 Publish a transparent protocol for addressing discriminatory content

We ask ZDF to publish a clear process on how discriminatory content aired during live broadcasts will be addressed, including timelines for responses, criteria for when content is edited or contextualized after the fact, and a named point of accountability within the organization. ZDF is funded by mandatory public broadcasting fees and operates under a statutory mandate that includes fair and non-discriminatory representation. That mandate carries a higher duty of care than a private broadcaster would owe its audience. We expect ZDF’s responses to reflect that on whether existing safeguards for live programming are adequate.

We look forward to a substantive response addressing each of the points above by July 31, 2026.

Signed,

Asian Voices Europe (Den Haag/Leipzig)

We demand accountability, action, and a public commitment to end anti-Asian racism in all forms.

We invite civil society organizations, institutions, groups, and individuals to endorse this open letter as co-signatories, after its publication.

Contact email address: asianvoiceseurope@gmail.com

Link to the open letter: https://forms.gle/6C61yk3nDAVnbCJ27