Digging Deep Into Big Media Groups Can Be Upsetting

Michael Hedges September 5, 2022 Follow on Twitter

These are not gentle times in the media world. Turbulence is everywhere and, quite expectedly, media is in the thick of it. Change isn’t just in the air, it is the air. Every wave, literally and figuratively, is disturbed. Humans are deeply affected. This is no revelation.

Public broadcasting, certainly that of the European model. has long been the picture of calm. Underneath, it has always been just as competitive and aggressive as its private sector counterparts. This has delivered to the public an amazing array of useful and stimulating content. At the same time, private sector media has been forced to raise its game. None of this is necessarily bad, except for those forays to the dark side of manipulation and propaganda.

German public broadcasting has been in near-constant evolution since emerging after the Second World War and Occupation. In total there are 21 regional television channels and 83 radio channels produced and distributed by nine regional broadcasters, all funded by the public through the “broadcasting contribution,” also known as the household license fee. Right-wing and populist politicians - and publishers that support them - have long challenged the funding of public broadcasting as well as its breath.

Since the beginning of summer investigations have mounted into several German public broadcasters. Allegations of financial impropriety, first reported by the German edition of Business Insider, a publication of Axel Springer, no friend of German public broadcasting, dramatically claimed the job of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) director general Patricia Schlesinger in August, dismissed with no notice, severance or pension. She also resigned from the rotating directorship of national TV network ARD. There were other resignations. The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating.

The RBB editorial committee called for the termination of all the broadcasters’ executives. "It's not fair to the thousands of journalists who are being held hostage for Frau Schlesinger through no fault of their own," said German Association of Journalists (DJV) chairman Frank Überall. Most damaging within the realm of German public broadcasting was the vote of “no confidence” in the RBB board from highly respected Westdeutschen Rundfunks (WDR) general director Tom Buhrow, who took over the ARD reigns once again. “I have to say that we, the directors of ARD, no longer have confidence that the station's executive management will be able to process the various incidents quickly enough,” he said, quoted by Der Tagesspiegel (August 20). Other public broadcaster directors general echoed the verdict.

A few days later a different “scandal” emerged, also courtesy of German Business Insider (August 27), of political interference at Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Documents from an internal NDR editorial committee alleging “favorable” decisions made toward the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) political party in 2020 were leaked. In essence, top NDR editors in Schleswig-Holstein spiked a story revealing “obvious proximity” between a State minister and a reporter with a local newspaper. One of the revealed complaints alleged NDR executives acted like “ministry spokespersons” and “brushed aside critical issues,” noted Bavarian daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (August 30).

The temperature in the Kiel offices rose to the point that three editorial managers took leave from their duties, reported Der Tagesspiegel (September 2). “The new thing at NDR is the systemic problem,” said regional DJV director Stefan Endter. “Journalistically unfounded decisions were made at the (headquarters). It is the media reports… on ‘political filters’, suppressed reporting and other forms of influence on work. The colleagues speak of a climate of fear. This goes far beyond an isolated case.”

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Germany

• Hot Topics - Public Broadcasting