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WDR round »The last instance«: Who controls what is broadcast and streamed?
Accusations of racism against the WDR have been raised twice in the last few weeks.
In the talk show "The Last Instance" a group of exclusively white media professionals discussed whether one should still use racist words such as "Gypsy schnitzel".
In the carnival program »Jet zo fiere!
The best of being awarded the order “Against Animal Seriousness” ”was a passage with people in black make-up.
The criticized scene was an excerpt from a program in which Désirée Nick can be seen as a handcrafted speaker in pharaoh disguise - flanked by two white men painted black.
The material comes from a carnival session in 2010, where the awareness that the technique of blackfacing has a racist origin may not have been so pronounced in this country.
The "Against the Animal Seriousness" program was a compilation of excerpts from old programs.
So while one has to continue to discuss the question of whether the WDR has a racism problem, one can safely say that it has a control problem.
The company is the largest within the ARD network, so it has to deliver the largest output.
The WDR has to furnish its third program with content, supply the linear display area Das Erste with information and entertainment programs - and of course it has to take over most of the ARD media library filling.
The back catalog of the program is huge.
The question arises of who keeps track of it;
Who subjects the shows, reports and fictional formats, which for reasons of exploitation law have different lengths of stay in the media library, to the examination and review - and also with regard to the fact that social agreements such as the one on the subject of racism have shifted.
At the request of SPIEGEL, a spokeswoman for WDR explains: “We have had well-functioning control mechanisms for several years, but unfortunately they have not worked in the current cases.
Of course, the most recent discussions have made our editorial offices even more aware. ”She emphasizes that the cases in question were exceptions from the WDR's point of view - but adds that they are thinking about“ expanding the control mechanisms ”.
Permanent inventory of the archive contents?
In addition, the WDR spokeswoman emphasizes that the editorial responsibility for the content lies with the commissioning editors.
"This responsibility includes the editorial approval before the linear broadcast and the online position, but also keeping an eye on whether there are aspects during the length of stay that make changes to productions available in the media library necessary."
In other words: In the future, WDR will have to develop an even greater awareness of the mechanisms with which it allows its employees to search old and still available material as well as new programs made available for broadcasting and streaming for problematic scenes.
An aspect that will become more and more urgent in the next few years, because the ARD has prescribed a massive growth spurt for its media library in order to be armed against the steadily growing competition from streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
The aim will be to fight for ever longer exploitation periods for digital distribution for productions.
And with that, the task of keeping a kind of permanent inventory of the archive content up and running also increases.
For March, the WDR has announced a program focus on the subject of racism.
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