Compiled by Munich-based analyst Irma Petraitytė-Lukšienė, our weekly bulletin shows how the main German-language outlets are covering Baltic security issues: what they stress, what they get right — and what they get wrong. It is made possible by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Vilnius.

Take a look, and let us know what you think — we can be reached at contact@securebaltics.org

The bulletin includes an English-language summary and a more comprehensive assessment in German.

November 6, 2026

Bouquets this week go to Viktoria Großmann (Süddeutsche Zeitung), who let young Lithuanians campaigning for universal conscription speak at length, and to Florian Naumann (Frankfurter Rundschau) for his Riga interview with Latvian analyst Māris Andžāns: “We need more Germany here.”

The November 6 English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

October 30, 2026

This week’s bouquet goes to BR24 for investigating and mapping Russia-linked hybrid attacks (16 other European public broadcasters, including Lithuania’s LRT and Latvia’s LSM did the same).

A brickbat goes to Berliner Zeitung for interpreting a cultural project on Thomas Mann and Kant as a sign that Lithuania no longer needs to distance itself from the “Russian cultural space”, and without explicitly identifying the Soviet occupation. FAZ and Tagesspiegel both incorrectly assigned Lithuania to the German-Netherlands Corps rather than Multinational Corps Northeast. It’s high time that Germans stopped confusing “Lettland” (Latvia) with “Litauen” (Lithuania). We’ve written asking for a correction.

The October 30 English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

October 23, 2026

Bouquets go to FAZ for revealing Russia’s build-up of surveillance and eavesdropping sites in Kaliningrad from an unpublished Iceye report, and to SPIEGEL for reporting that the suspected Russian agent arrested in Brandenburg was also interested in the Lithuania Brigade.

Brickbats go to t-online for dating Crimea’s “little green men” to October 2014 instead of February, and to FOCUS for attributing to SPIEGEL details that SPIEGEL never published. Full analysis in this week’s BISC briefing on Baltic security in the German press.

The October 23 English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

October 16, 2026

This week we have two bouquets. One is for Maximilian Popp and Jan Puhl of Der Spiegel for their interview with Lithuanian prime minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius.

The other is for Viktoria Großmann of the SZ for her on-the-ground reporting about Lithuania’s vigilance and readiness.

But a brickbat for the Berliner Zeitung for its alarmist, patronising and one-sided coverage.

The October 16 English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

October 9, 2026

The October 9 English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

It featured two bouquets. One was for Daniel Sagradov of Die Zeit for his interview with Lithuanian foreign-policy guru Margarita Šešelgytė (briefly: we need deeds not words to deter Putin).

The other was to Carolina Drüten of Die Welt. She took brickbats earlier this year for her paper’s much-criticised “Ernstfall” podcast, in which German leaders hesitated while (voiceless) Lithuania was reduced to a bystander. But hats off for her well-researched piece on air defence in the Baltics, datelined from the Nato air base at Šiauliai.

October 2, 2026

The October 2 English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

For two weeks running, our bouquet for good reporting in this edition went to Thomas Gutschker and Friedrich Schmidt of the FAZ, this time for their piece on Kaliningrad (link in German).

September 25, 2026

The September 25 edition featured a bouquet to Thomas Gutschker, Friedrich Schmidt and Stefan Locke of the FAZ for their piece on Baltic security (link in German).

The English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

September 18, 2026

The September 18 edition featured a bouquet to Kirsten Kielon of MDR for her excellent reporting (link in German). The English-language summary is here, and the full German version here.

September 11, 2026

The September 11 edition features bouquets to FAZ and brickbats to taz. The English-language summary is here, and the German version here.

September 4, 2026

The September 4 English bulletin is here, and the German version here. Strongest coverage: taz and FOCUS online

August 28, 2026

The August 28 English bulletin is here and the German version here. Strongest coverage: t-online and Frankfurter Rundschau,