Too much “minority opinion”?

CDU state association wants to abolish ARD - outrage follows

Created: 01/18/2022 11:43 am

By: Stephanie Munk

ARD under criticism: The CDU Saxony-Anhalt wants to abolish the station in the long term.

© Marius Becker/dpa

The CDU in Saxony-Anhalt wants to abolish the ARD in the long term.

The public broadcaster does not represent the “majority opinion” enough. 

Magdeburg – ARD, ZDF and the so-called third programs – these three pillars, together with Deutschlandfunk, have formed public broadcasting in Germany for around 70 years.

If it is up to the CDU* in Saxony-Anhalt, the ARD main program will be abolished in the long term.

This is a "long-term vision," said the parliamentary manager of the CDU parliamentary group, Markus Kurz, of the

, which first reported on the initiative.

ZDF would then be the only national broadcaster.

The CDU parliamentary group also wants to keep the third programs, such as MDR, BR and SWR, in place.

CDU Saxony-Anhalt wants to switch off ARD: "That is our long-term goal"

The closure of the first is a long-term vision. “We know that we cannot implement this politically at the moment. But that is our long-term goal

" He cites climate protection as an example: there should be less reporting about those "who still want more and more climate protection" and more about those "who have to pay for it".

Media portals and politicians took up the report.

The federal manager of the Greens, Michael Kellner, wrote on Twitter: "The CDU Saxony-Anhalt is once again turning freely to the right - an intact public broadcasting service is a cornerstone of our democracy".

Petra Sitte, member of the Left Bundestag, commented: "Anyone who wants to lay the ax on public service programs and then justifies this with politically undesirable reporting has understood nothing of the constitutional mandate of public service broadcasting."

CDU Saxony-Anhalt criticizes gender language in public broadcasting

, Kurz is also bothered by

the so-called genders in public broadcasting.

Journalists sometimes use phrases such as "spectators" to address men and women at the same time.

"The broadcasters should refrain from gendering and focus their energy on the core mission," criticizes the CDU politician.

CDU Saxony-Anhalt has not criticized public broadcasters for the first time

The then black-red-green government of Saxony-Anhalt was almost broken at the end of 2020 in a dispute about increasing the broadcasting fee.

The CDU strictly rejected the increase, but the coalition partners SPD and Greens wanted to support it.

In order to prevent the CDU parliamentary group from blocking the increase in the state parliament with the votes of the AfD, Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) had withdrawn the decision from the state parliament and thus ensured a veto by Saxony-Anhalt without the parliament having voted on it.

The CDU now governs with SPD and FDP.

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