MWith proposals for reforms and fundamental considerations on the mission and function of public broadcasting, the CDU-Germany wants to make its contribution to the current discussion about the future of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio. The position paper, which was created by a commission headed by Reiner Haseloff, Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, has now been approved by the CDU federal executive board.
The CDU, it says in the introduction, supports a strong public broadcasting service that must provide a plural, diverse and neutral offering. On the one hand, plurality consists of diverse realities of life, but on the other hand, it must also be representative of the people in our country. The paper summarizes that acceptance of public broadcasting is declining. Tasks, structures and costs need to be examined in order to eliminate deficits in quality, balance and diversity of opinion in the program offerings.
“More digital, less linear”
Public broadcasting needs reform so that it can fulfill its important tasks for our democracy. The CDU expects ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio to concentrate more on information, education, advice, culture and entertainment that corresponds to a public service profile. In doing so, they would have to take the needs of all population groups equally into account.
What is required is a more cooperative network of correspondents and reporters from ARD and ZDF at home and abroad, the expansion and intensification of EU reporting, strong regional anchoring and regional diversity, more documentation and more event reporting.
The CDU policy paper emphasizes that the limits of growth have been reached. New developments would have to be counter-financed through savings in other areas. It literally says: “The focus of the reform of public broadcasting must be the restructuring of existing structures, including the contemporary further development of distribution channels, not an expansion of offerings: more digital, less linear. Existing resources in the overall system of public broadcasting and synergy effects must be used effectively in the interest of as far as possible stability of contributions to minimize the financial burden on citizens.
However, the CDU does not fundamentally reject contribution increases and is committed to the role of the KEF fee commission. However, an increase in contributions would only be considered “if and to the extent that, according to the findings of the KEF and taking into account the principle of exchange development, it is really necessary to fulfill its legal mandate.”
No more press-like reporting
The CDU calls for all community facilities and subsidiaries of ARD and ZDF as well as their supervisory structures to be examined. The development of a common digital platform is of central importance, which replaces the multitude of existing online portals and, in the future, centrally bundles all public value content. The CDU paper calls for more self-restraint when it comes to sports reporting. Public broadcasting should not contribute to a competition that makes acquiring the rights more and more expensive, but should only report news if the live broadcast on free-to-air television is guaranteed.
One of the CDU’s central media policy positions is that press-like reporting should not be a matter for public broadcasting now or in the future. Compliance with this limit is a question of existence for many private media. He therefore has to concentrate on moving image and sound reporting in his telemedia.
At the end of the 12-page policy paper, the Union considers a change in the coordination of media policy, which has been the responsibility of Rhineland-Palatinate for decades, to be essential: “Coordination by a state and the permanent chairmanship by the Prime Minister of the same state are outdated fallen. In this sense, we call for a regular change of chairmanship, as is usual in the Prime Minister’s Conference and specialist ministerial conferences.”
Clear reservations about increasing the contribution
Reiner Haseloff (CDU), Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt and Chairman of the ÖRR Commission in the CDU, also expressed to “Welt am Sonntag” the need for further development of the directorate constitutions in order to ensure that the institutions are run according to modern management principles. He emphasized that salaries are aligned with comparable public institutions. Haseloff emphasized the particular importance that diversity in Germany – both in terms of people and opinions – needs to be better represented.
Not only Haseloff and the CDU share this view, but it also finds support in the results of a survey by NDR at the beginning of the year. Only half of those surveyed found the political orientation of the ARD programs to be “balanced”, while 22 percent rated them as “leaning towards the left”.
On Monday, the commission will present its report to the CDU federal executive board; changes to the paper are considered unlikely.
#CDU #restructure #public #broadcasters