RBB crisis intensifies broadcasting reform debate

Created: 2022-09-02Updated: 2022-09-02 16:14

Tom Buhrow, chairman of the ARD, speaks to members of parliament in the plenary hall of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt.

© Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa

The crisis in the RBB is now leading to debates in many places about the structures of public broadcasting in Germany.

What will the countries make of it?

Magdeburg - The crisis at the ARD broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) due to allegations that it was felt has intensified the reform debate about public broadcasting.

In the past few years, the federal states that are responsible for media policy had worked out a step towards reforming the basic structure and the task that ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio are supposed to fulfill.

Although voices from politics are now getting louder after a larger and more fundamental step, the countries are probably sticking to the implementation of this reform step.

ARD boss Tom Buhrow, ZDF director Norbert Himmler and Deutschlandradio director Stefan Raue came to the state parliament in Magdeburg on Friday to report on the economic situation in the houses.

State parliaments can make use of this at intervals.

The RBB crisis surrounding allegations of nepotism against the director Patricia Schlesinger, who was fired without notice and which also rubs off on public broadcasting as a whole, was the dominant topic.

While ZDF and Deutschlandradio were hardly questioned, questions rained down for hours on ARD boss and WDR director Tom Buhrow and MDR director Karola Wille.

The state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt is not easy terrain for the public broadcasters anyway.

Years ago there were heated discussions about increasing the license fee.

The whole thing culminated in Saxony-Anhalt temporarily blocking - the CDU had been a driving force in the protest.

The Federal Constitutional Court put the increase from EUR 17.50 to EUR 18.36 into effect.

Annually, more than eight billion euros come together for the financing of the broadcasters.

The current committee debate seemed more moderate than at the time.

In his opening statement, Buhrow addressed the current crisis: "We are concerned about RBB and its stability." So far, no interim boss has been appointed to lead the ARD broadcaster in Berlin and Brandenburg out of the crisis.

To put it bluntly, it was a "fire brigade operation," added Buhrow.

The ARD houses recently announced in an unprecedented campaign that they had lost confidence in the current RBB management.

Meanwhile, the federal states are working on the broadcasting reform.

In the fall, the Prime Ministers could sign the amendment to the State Media Treaty, after which the whole thing has to pass through the state parliaments.

For example, it is about strengthening station control and enabling the media companies to act more flexibly when expanding their digital programs apart from the ongoing TV and radio programs.

A second step in the reform will deal with the financing at a later point in time.

Public service broadcasting in Europe has been under a lot of pressure for a long time.

Media policy in this country is a matter for the federal states.

The federal states determine the framework and structure of public service broadcasting in state treaties.

It is not about specific editorial program content, that is solely in the hands of the broadcasters with regard to the constitutionally protected freedom of the press.

Although calls for more fundamental reform will now increase, countries are likely to stick to their current roadmap.

The State Chancellery of Saxony-Anhalt stated on Friday that it would make sense for the reform step to take place.

Of course, reforms could always go further, but this is now a good step in the midst of the transforming media world.

In response to a dpa request, it was also said from Thuringia that the signature of Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) was planned subject to the referral in the Thuringian state parliament.

The independent finance body KEF emphasized the role of politics in broadcasting reforms in the committee.

KEF member and State Audit Office President Kay Barthel said with regard to the amount of the broadcasting fee: "You have to know what you are ordering." It is economically impossible to rule out increases in the fee - as is currently being demanded from politicians in isolated cases - and at the same time to leave everything as it is .

The KEF determines the financial requirements of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio at regular intervals.

MPs in turn asked about the willingness to reform in the broadcasters.

There are always debates like this.

Broadcasters are accused of not initiating reforms energetically enough on their own, which they deny.

When asked whether nine ARD broadcasters would still be needed, ARD boss Buhrow said: That is a question that must be answered politically.

Political mind games are now increasingly appearing in the midst of the RBB crisis.

It's about, for example, the containment of power at the top of the stations, the merger of stations or changes to the programs.

After the committee meeting of the German Press Agency, Buhrow said when asked whether politics in the direction of the broadcasters in the midst of the RBB scandal had become sharper: "Partly yes, but I don't think it's unfair.

This is a legitimate need: we must now draw conclusions from it.

They are legitimate questions: How can we make the system better?”

Regarding the specific next steps in the ARD under the impression of the RBB scandal, Buhrow went into the compliance structures.

Compliance means monitoring a set of rules that an organization has in place to prevent corruption, for example.

"We conducted a survey in the ARD houses on compliance structures.

The query is complete.

We want uniform standards.” He promised that these could be drawn up by the end of the year.

ZDF director Himmler also said for his house that the compliance rules would be put to the test again internally.

dpa