memes

I didn't mean to say it in a demeaning way. DW is certainly a better news outlet than many others, especially major US ones. And how much sway the government actually has is unclear to me as well. Nevertheless their conception from day one has been and still is to be a spokesman for the German state in its entirety.

Am 3. Mai 1953 geht die Deutsche Welle von Köln aus als Hörfunksender mit einer Radioansprache von Bundespräsident Theodor Heuss erstmals auf Sendung. Gegründet von der Bundesregierung, soll sie dem Ausland die junge Bundesrepublik vermitteln und die Wiederaufnahme Deutschlands in die internationale Staatengemeinschaft medial begleiten. Taken directly from their website.

Or for those not German speaking, paraphrasing loosely: Founded by the federal government their mission was to tell the world of the young federal Germany and to help reintegrate Germany into the international community of countries medially.

My goal was not to belittle their work - I really like their work from what I've seen so far. However I wanted to point out that the media outlet that was founded to paint Germany in a positive - though often critical- way, is now apparently more trustworthy than a majority of major (sort of independent) US news outlets and gets cited alongside the Guardian.

But because you're still correct on my style of writing to be quite a bit to placative, I will add a disclaimer to my initial comment.