Hartz and cordial: "Misery tourism" - the broadcaster defends itself against allegations
Created: 01/13/2022, 4:30 PM
From: Marten Kopf
“Hartz and cordial” - a journalist accuses the makers of the social documentary “misery tourism”.
They don't want to let that sit on themselves - the RTLZWEI editor-in-chief strikes back.
Certainly, opinions can be divided about the social documentary "Hartz and cordially" *, which has been broadcast on RTLZWEI since 2016.
The show has a lot of die-hard fans, audience ratings and a look at social media, but with a large number of fan groups and discussion groups, it speaks quite clearly.
Nonetheless, criticism continues to be heard, and the format is not infrequently referred to as voyeuristic.
The life of people on the fringes of society is being misused for entertainment purposes, so a popular accusation.
broadcast | Hard and warm - Benz barracks every day |
Channel | RTLZWEI |
Location | Benz barracks, Mannheim |
"Human zoo" and "misery tourism in front of a running camera" is what the journalist Hans Hoff calls it in a column on the media platform
dwdl.de
as early as 2020 , as reported by MANNHEIM24 *.
Of course, the "HuH" makers do not want to leave such allegations unaffected.
In a guest post entitled “Social Docs at RTLZWEI: That's why we want you to see that!”, Konstanze Beyer, editor-in-chief of the station, spoke on the same platform.
She wants to give “a reply to our critics”.
Criticism of "Hartz and cordial": Too little space for people from precarious backgrounds
“The problem is not the way the documentaries are made, but rather the refusal of the critics to accept the harsh realities and simply listen to poor people
,” writes Beyer.
"Judging by how many people in Germany live in precarious conditions, they still take up far too little space in the TV program"
, is her credo. The broadcast was originally planned as a one-off project with the location Duisburg. She was surprised and shocked, however, that on closer inspection, people in almost all regions of Germany were living in similarly precarious situations.
"So we are not showing an extreme or marginal topic, but a widespread social reality that has almost no points of contact with the middle class (except for the employees in the job center) and is therefore apparently unknown to many."
Beyer also states that it is Obviously, it is completely self-evident that “experts and authors” make decisions about socially disadvantaged people, but the latter themselves are not heard:
“It is often said that the poor have no voice, no lobby, and do not have a say.
If they do it themselves, as with us, then that is apparently undesirable because it is embarrassing or not so polished. ”
The contributors in the social reports are not shown or exposed.
"Hartz and cordial": life stories and strokes of fate
And that “Hartz and cordial” does not come across as simply voyeuristic, but on the contrary even extremely empathic, there are in fact countless examples of this.
The life stories and strokes of fate of the participants are one of THE topics *, but are not just shown, but classified.
And the fans suffer too, take part, most recently for example in the death of the cult barracks Dagmar * - the “good soul of the Benz barracks”, as they were affectionately known - who surprisingly at the end of last year at the age of just 67 years Died after a stroke.
RTLZWEI even honored them with a special at the time.
(mko) * MANNHEIM24 is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA