Public service broadcasting falls within the competence of the federal states, and decisions are made in the Bundesrat, not in the Bundestag. Nevertheless, the parties’ election programs are also devoted to some points on ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio.
Two camps are emerging: the parties who want strong public service broadcasting and those who want to purge it.
The FDP is pushed ahead with their radio criticism in May. At their party congress at that time, the Liberals included the demand for “order and structural reform” in their election manifesto. They want a “more modern and leaner public broadcasting service, which is to concentrate primarily on news, culture, political education and documentaries”. In addition, there should be fewer public television and radio channels, because “competition with every Internet offer from private press and media companies is not the task of the ÖRR”. As a result, the license fee should also decrease.
The AfD goes one step further: the party wants to completely abolish the broadcasting fee. Paying for the “basic radio”, as the right-wing populists call the planned economy version of the public broadcasters, are to be paid for by “technology groups that distribute audiovisual content and video streaming services”. Means: Netflix, Disney and Co. should finance ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio, which according to the ideas of the party will then only have “about a tenth of the previous size”. The “Grundfunk” would therefore only be responsible for neutral content in the areas of information, culture and education, while a “Heimatfunk” would serve as a “showcase for the regions”.
Union, SPD and Greens want to strengthen public broadcasting. But how?
In contrast to the FDP and AfD, the Union, SPD, Greens and Left Party are clearly committed to strong public service broadcasting in their election programs.
In view of the technical progress and the changed usage behavior, the CDU and CSU want to reform the public service mandate. How this should be done in detail is unclear, it just says: “We want to stimulate and enable broadcasters to enter into cooperation and create further synergies.” The announcement that the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle “wants to develop the strongest foreign broadcaster in Europe” is clearer.
The most striking demand of the SPD also revolves around Europe. The Social Democrats advocate a common platform “for the quality content of Europe’s public media”. Similar plans can also be seen in the programs of the Union, the Greens and the Left. At home, the SPD wants to support the federal states in “further developing the mission in a digital world”. Details are also missing here.
The Left Party is most concrete in its election manifesto
In their program, the Greens make it clear that public service broadcasting must broadcast for everyone if everyone pays for it. “Broadcasting councils should better reflect the diversity and different perspectives of our society today” and act “more assertively and remote from the broadcaster and the state”. In the past it has been discussed again and again whether politicians and church representatives should sit on the control bodies of ARD and ZDF.
The demands of the Left Party largely overlap with those of the SPD and the Greens, but in some places the program is more concrete. For example, the process of exemption from contributions is to be made easier, and the party wants to involve East Germany more closely. New ARD community facilities are to be set up there, and they also speak out in favor of more people with an Eastern biography in management positions.