Public broadcasters: cancel entertainment, cut sports? Debate about the restructuring of ARD and ZDF

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After the temporary halt to the increase in broadcasting fees, voices within the CDU are also getting louder calling for a radical departure from the current system of public broadcasting.

In an internal discussion basis of the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion (MIT) of the CDU and CSU, the authors propose that all entertainment formats in ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio be deleted, and sports reporting should be significantly restricted.

Even more: the broadcasters should merge, only one institution should remain in the end.

Some voters would like it.

In an INSA survey at the end of November, a narrow majority of citizens were against an increase in the contribution, which has so far given ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio a budget of eight billion euros a year.

But MIT was stopped in its advance, not even the basis for discussion has yet been approved.

This is to be discussed again in January.

It is quite possible that the preliminary end of the debate was ordered from above.

The party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer condemned internally the stop of the fee increase.

The former parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder agrees: “The radio license fee should be increased moderately.

Public broadcasting is one of the pillars of our democracy and our culture.

That is why I have absolutely no understanding for the attitude of the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt. "

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Naturally, one sees it quite differently in the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt, the state in which the increase was made impossible for the time being.

The media policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group there, Markus Kurz, considers a fundamental debate about reforms in public broadcasting to be overdue, and he has made policy accordingly.

He criticizes the fundamentals: "Why does the public service not manage to offer our students even more sustainable educational television in the second Corona lockdown, instead of almost 40 cooking shows, many similar talk shows and thrillers with countless murdered people?" That the Federal Constitutional Court also refused, To make an urgent decision and to approve the increase before the end of the year, Kurz sees victory on points: "The first round went to us."

"Good arguments for conversion"

And now well-known CDU members agree with their colleagues from Saxony-Anhalt.

The Mecklenburg member of the Bundestag Philipp Amthor says: "The main features of our broadcasting constitutional law come from a time when frequencies were scarce and the provision of a broadcasting program was financially very costly." individual broadcasters towards a "promotion of formats and content".

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Christoph Ploß, member of the Bundestag and chairman of the CDU Hamburg, is no less critical: "Formats such as the 'Tagesschau' or the 'Tagesthemen' are justified, but there can be numerous sports and entertainment formats just as well on private radio today." Hamburg's CDU boss is annoyed that the fee debate is only about increases "Especially in times of Corona, which is associated with enormous burdens and restrictions for numerous citizens, a criticism of expenditure by the public services would have been a good sign."

Amthor says he is certain that many contributors would “appreciate an open reform discussion rather than the dogma of a connection between telenovela and political reporting”.

He adds: “I feel that especially with many voters in the East.” Mario Voigt, CDU parliamentary group leader in Thuringia and top candidate in the state elections, is also bothered by the “content representation of East Germany on public broadcasting”: “The distorted images of the East , which many people rightly bother about, will only disappear if the report is consistently reported from a perspective that corresponds to the reality of life on site. "

This indicates a crack in the CDU.

In any case, a potential coalition partner of the Union shares the assessment of those who want the debate.

“A discussion about the program mandate and structures should be conducted.

There is overstretching that makes the institutions more expensive than necessary.

There has to be fairness in competition with private and non-subsidized offers, ”says the chairman of the FDP, Christian Lindner.

He criticizes that “the plurality of opinions” in public law “could be greater.

The BBC seems to me to be exemplary. "

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At the same time, the head of the Liberals warns: “The public broadcasters are nevertheless a pillar of our media landscape.

In the debate, you shouldn't throw the child out with the bathwater. ”So far, however, it doesn't look as if you want to change the bathwater at all in the current leadership of the CDU.

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG.

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Source: WELT AM SONNTAG