The federal states want to reform public broadcasting in Germany and win back people’s trust after affairs, especially with rbb. This was explained by the coordinator of the media policy of the federal states, the Rhineland-Palatinate state secretary Heike Raab (SPD), and the Saxon media minister Oliver Schenk (CDU) after a two-day meeting of the broadcasting commission on Friday.
“The rbb crisis also destroyed trust in the summer, which must be regained,” said Raab, referring to Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (rbb). It must be a matter of bringing public broadcasting into the digital age and improving quality at the same time.
Furthermore, the structures and cooperation between ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio are to be improved. Transparency and good corporate management (good governance) are important here, said Raab. In addition, the broadcasters would have to become leaner, operate more efficiently and save. A future council should quickly draw up recommendations for reforms.
The content of the broadcasters should reach the users regardless of the distribution channel, said Raab. Digital platforms are playing an increasingly important role in this. “Our goal is a joint public service platform that could also be expanded to include 3sat and ARTE in Europe.”
Schenk said: “We want ARD and ZDF in a journalistic competition, but on a common technical platform.” In addition, they want to eliminate duplicate structures and avoid parallel work. Raab added that the broadcasters should contribute a three-digit million amount to a one-off special reserve. This would then have to be used in the future against the background of fee financing “of course with a reduced contribution”.
Both politicians did not want to comment on the future broadcast contribution. Here, the Commission for reviewing and determining the financial needs of the broadcasters (KEF) will make a recommendation in the future. (Reuters)
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