The broadcasting commission of the federal states gave itself a jolt on Wednesday at its meeting in Bonn and unanimously agreed on a draft of an amendment to the mandate for public broadcasting. Apparently, those responsible for media policy were too concerned about losing credibility by waiting and doing nothing. In the past few months, criticism of the apparent inability of the federal states to determine the function of public broadcasting in a timely manner has grown in the media, professional associations and public broadcasters.
The main point of the new contract is a reduced commissioning of television programs and thus the possibility for the broadcasters, in coordination with the committees, to decide whether and from when previous linear offers will be continued, converted into an online format or discontinued. In future, only the first, second and third programs are to be commissioned. However, the federal states want to continue to oblige public service providers to offer children services. A possible commissioning of Arte and 3Sat has not yet been decided, but it is likely, as international agreements exist here. If the state media treaty is confirmed in this way, the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation could transform ARD-alpha into a knowledge platform and Phoenix, together with offers from tagesschau.de and zdf.info, could possibly become an information platform.In the case of entertainment programs, a limitation should be made in the draft and entertainment should be defined as a format that primarily conveys culture and knowledge.
In addition to reducing the commission, the draft of the new State Media Treaty provides for the following important changes and additions: The public service broadcasters have the task of making a comprehensive offer for everyone. Participation in the information society should be made possible for all population groups and guidance should be offered. The broadcasters are obliged to guarantee independent, factual, truthful and comprehensive information and reporting as well as objectivity and impartiality. Recommendation systems in the telemedia offer should enable "an open opinion-forming process and broad content-related discourse". The reports from ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio on the fulfillment of their mandate are to be submitted to the state parliaments in future.For better verifiability, the broadcasting bodies should set targets for the broadcasters that make quality measurable and performance traceable. The paper also provides for a trial run for technical innovations.
In the order debate on the home stretch
Of the ten text passages on which no agreement could previously be found, two remain: On the one hand, the public service profile should be perceptible above all where the use of these offers is particularly high, and on the other hand, European and non-European productions could be in the case of telemedia offers can also be set as independent audiovisual content.
Saxony's media minister Oliver Schenk welcomed the agreement and called on the public broadcasters not to let up in the reforms. The FAZ said: “We are now on the home stretch in the order debate on public broadcasting. The meeting on Wednesday was marked by the strong will of all those involved to move the matter forward and thus give the broadcasters a secure perspective. The draft picks up on the important issues of commission, increased flexibility in commissioning, quality management and media libraries and thus creates the conditions for a strong and prominent public service broadcasting company. The agreement of the federal states on a joint draft to reform the contract is a clear signal for the further development of public service broadcasting in the digital age. I expect,that the directors also take up this signal and now resolutely advance the necessary reforms. It is important to find a good balance between development prospects and financing of the system. "
The public hearing is scheduled to start in mid-November and last for several weeks. The Broadcasting Commission intends to analyze the statements at the beginning of the next few years. The draft is to be presented to the Prime Minister's Conference in March 2022. The state parliaments will then be informed and, if possible, will have to vote on the new state media treaty by the end of the year. If this schedule is adhered to, the commission for determining the financial needs of the broadcasters (Kef) can still take into account the consequences of the reformulation of the mandate when calculating the new contribution from 2025. In a second phase, the federal states then want to address possible changes in contribution financing. This is where the decision is ultimately made as to whether the reform process will lead tothat the license fee will remain stable or maybe even decrease. The draft that has now been approved does not provide a secure basis for this.