Söring’s Reponse: Old News (Literally), Team Söring Helps Memory-Hole the Lanz Interview

The eagle-eyed Söringologists at Allmystery have detected what is the first, and perhaps only, response from Team Söring to the corrective coverage of recent weeks: They have added a new section to the website called “The Story” (“Die Geschichte”).

You can visit it here. It’s just a collection of old stories and podcasts about the case (Jason Flom, Amanda Knox) from the pre-Wright Report era, some in English, some in German. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing older than 2019 except the “Dr. Phil” show, which was broadcast in 2020 but recorded in late 2019. And even that source isn’t linked to — the website administrators for Jens Söring have simply incorporated segments into the Söring webpage without providing links to the original.

Incidentally, Team Söring has linked to Dr. Andy Griffith’s statements on the Dr. Phil show about Sörings confessions, which Dr. Andy Griffiths himself probably profoundly regrets, since his report on those confessions was later shown to be misleading and based on false assumptions.

Söring is thus responding to new arguments and disclosures with…old news. Literally. This move unintentionally highlights something Söring is probably very disappointed about: Since the Wright Report and other critical coverage has become public, not a single one of his American supporters has come out with an official public statement defending their work on his case, or Söring’s innocence claims. Chip Harding, Jason Flom, Amanda Knox, the Söring-friendly Washington Post journalist Laura Vozzella — not a peep.

John Grisham did provide a blurb for Söring’s 2021 German book, but the blurb is undated. Grisham also gave a pro-Söring interview for the German talk-show host (and Söring jogging buddy) Markus Lanz. This interview was broadcast on the major German public TV channel ZDF in May 2021, but Grisham was not in the studio with Lanz and Söring, and his separate interview is undated. In any event, Grisham, as far as I know, has never bothered to read the Wright report and will surely never bother to do so.

In any event, the entire Markus Lanz ZDF interview with Jens Söring, which was the subject of complaints (g) and critical (g) coverage (g) for its bias, is impossible to find online. Every other Lanz episode is quickly posted in full to Youtube, but the one with Jens Söring is nowhere to be seen. In fact, it has also been scrubbed from the archive of the German TV broadcaster which originally aired it. Every other episode of this major German talk show (as far as I can tell) is in the online media archive except the 90-minute interview with Jens Söring.

ZDF is a public television channel, which means I and all German readers who possess televisions are required to finance it through license fees. Why can’t we enjoy the TV show we paid for?

Markus Lanz (or whoever makes decisions about the ZDF media archive) did not have the courage or professionalism to admit the Söring interview was a mistake. So he, or they, simply shoved it down the memory hole, and now pretend it never happened. This kind of stealth correction has, alas, been the typical response of German media people when they realize they made a mistake by broadcasting Söring’s claims without critical scrutiny. The only German media outlet which actually has broadcast an official apology for misleading Söring coverage is the private TV channel ProSieben, which was quite the honorable thing to do.

This is also why there is no link to the Markus Lanz interview of Jens Söring on Söring’s own website. Imagine that: You’re interviewed for almost 90 minutes by the most friendly host imaginable — a guy who you go jogging with — who helps you tell your entire story for a potential audience of millions, with no critical pushback. What an amazing coup! Surely you’d put that episode at the very top of your own promotional website.

But nope, it’s nowhere to be seen. Even Team Söring apparently doesn’t want you to see his 90-minute long interview on German primetime television. I wonder why? In any case, I of course recorded the entire thing, so anyone who would like to relive that journalistic train-wreck can contact me.

The Jason Flom and Amanda Knox podcasts are still available, but who knows for how long? They’re both full of false claims, insults, and defamation — Flom referred to Elizabeth Haysom as “the devil”, believe it or not. The Amanda Knox podcast also contains a passage in which Jens Söring, telephoning from prison, accuses his brother and father of improperly taking inheritance money which Söring wanted, and then sarcastically insults them both. Is that really the image Söring wants people to have of him now?

Söring’s fresh media campaign since September 2021 (when his new book was released) has focused new attention on the case on both sides of the Atlantic. Do Jason Flom and Amanda Knox still stand by their work? Or will they quietly “disappear” their podcasts, just like the ZDF did with its interview of Söring?

Only time will tell. The Söring media juggernaut seems to be stalled, and the corrective — i.e., the correct version of events — is taking hold. Surely by now everyone in the German media landscape realizes Söring’s story is damaged — and dangerous — goods. But still, as P.T. Barnum once may have said, “there’s a sucker born every minute”. Who will be seduced by Team Söring’s “Press Pack” next?