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75 years of the Toy Fair. An anniversary that is supposed to stand for openness, industry diversity and international visibility. We would have loved to showcase the latest products from leading brands such as Steiff, Playmobil and Märklin again this year – as well as young start-ups looking to conquer the toy market with new ideas. This year of all years, Messe.TV is excluded from reporting. Two freelance journalists with valid press passes are not granted accreditation. The decision was made by one of the most widely read visual trade media outlets for trade fairs in Germany – and raises fundamental questions. This is not a case of a formal error or missing documentation. Accreditation was denied on grounds that, even upon closer inspection, appear hardly tenable.
The reason given for the rejection was that there was a risk that third parties could gain the impression that Messe.TV was producing reports on behalf of the Spielwarenmesse. This had allegedly already happened in the past. However, despite repeated requests, no concrete examples, reliable cases or comprehensible situations could be cited. It has always been part of Messe.TV's journalistic practice for our teams to explicitly point out that we work freely and independently. This is done both in direct conversations with exhibitors and in the editorial context of the articles themselves. Messe.TV reports nationwide on trade fairs in all industries, consistently maintaining editorial separation between the interests of organisers and journalistic work. The accusation is therefore not only unsubstantiated, but also contradicts the actual practice of our reporting. A blanket assumption that is sufficient to exclude an independent trade media outlet from reporting. Especially for an organiser that claims to be a leading international trade fair, this argument seems surprisingly weak – and politically motivated.
The timing is particularly controversial. Messe.TV has reported on the Spielwarenmesse six times. Without complaints. Without conflicts. Without any indication that the content was misleading or incorrectly classified. On the contrary: in the past, the editorial team has produced reports on companies whose managing directors largely make up the supervisory board of Spielwarenmesse eG. The interviews were conducted partly with employees of the companies and partly directly with the respective managing directors. All reports were researched independently, edited and published transparently. In addition, several interviews were conducted in the past with the then CEO of Spielwarenmesse eG, Ernst Kick. These discussions were also conducted independently, without any content guidelines or influence from the organiser. Examples from previous reports on companies whose managing directors are members of the supervisory board of Spielwarenmesse eG:
Messe.TV was subsequently offered accreditation – but only under certain conditions. Specifically, filming dates had to be set in advance and planned contacts with exhibitors had to be communicated openly. This is not acceptable for a free journalistic medium. The editorial team deliberately works differently: from a thematically relevant framework, those products are selected on site that are really worth reporting on from a journalistic point of view. Many exhibitors send PR information in advance, and the editorial team also conducts its own research. From around 30 to 40 potentially interesting companies, around ten editorial articles are produced in the end. This decision is made on site – not at the organiser's desk. Pre-scheduling would undermine this core aspect of editorial work. That is why the offer was rejected.
In addition, it was suggested that there had been no interview requests to Spielwarenmesse eG in recent times. This also raises questions. On the one hand, an interview request cannot be a yardstick for press freedom. On the other hand, the statement is simply false. Interviews with the board were requested in both 2020 and 2024. Both times, it failed due to scheduling conflicts – not a lack of willingness.
This case is more than an isolated incident. It shows how quickly independent reporting comes under pressure when organisers begin to attach conditions to access that are effectively equivalent to content control. We consider it scandalous that an established specialist media outlet such as Messe.TV – with years of experience, a clear editorial line and proven industry relevance – is being excluded. To this day, we cannot see any objective reason why independent journalistic reporting should suddenly no longer be possible at the 2026 Toy Fair.
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