Why the state TV in Germany did conceal the Revolution
Date: April 3, 2011 | Author: Mark Winter
It's been a while since I left Germany, but to keep me informed about the German politics I watch sometimes German DW-TV via satellite which broadcasts from Berlin, in particular because of the detailed sport reports about Bundesliga. But mostly I prefer to watch BBC or CNN about the things that are happening in the world, because I feel DW-TV is promoting and advertising to obvious the German culture and considers itself as a distribution channel of the products "Made in Germany". Well over the past days and weeks, there was predominantly one topic on BBC and CNN, namely the demonstrations and unrest in Egypt. While CNN and BCC almost reported 24-hours about the demonstrations in Egypt, there was no live reporting whatsoever about Egypt on DW-TV apart from side notes about the events on the Tharir square. I can not really understand why not a single German TV station manages to initiate a live broadcast of the demonstrations in Egypt in contrast to the Anglo-American broadcasters. I also read in the FAZ.net online on 09th of February 2011 that the ARD and ZDF did not suspend their program and did not show any live broadcast of these events. This makes me believe that someone in the German state TV did not want to report about the historically unique happenings in Egypt and wanted to withhold the news from the public. Were they worried that the massive demonstration in Egypt could have destabilized the situation in their own country, or why would they restrict the coverage about Egypt? Well, the Germans are not recognized in the world as a cosmopolitan society, but I think that the German public deserved a reasonable live coverage of the events in Egypt. The ARD e.g. has acted after the FAZ article 09.02. 2011 and responded to the events in Egypt and interrupted their running program with TV moderator Kai Pflaume for several minutes. Once again it shows quite clearly how dangerous it is, that the public broadcaster can be influenced by politicians when they control the media. The TV station Al Arabia which the Mubarak regime controlled 100% provided the broadcast for the ZDF so that the German public could be informed about the ongoing in Cairo and Alexandria. While the demonstrators in Egypt were mostly heard via CNN and BBC it shows once again clearly that is absolutely necessary for a democracy and an open society the importance of an independent free press. Germany should, therefore, rethink the role of public broadcasting system, which had infiltrated politics and does not seem to be independent as it should be. A truly open and free society does not need a state owned broadcaster or at least not such dominating television and radio stations that exist in Germany. Germany has the most expensive public-service broadcasting in the world. Almost eight billion euros annually take ARD and ZDF to finance their programs. The bulk of the money comes from license fees, which collects the public institution GEZ. The change of the collection method for the GEZ fees in the future, does not make much of a difference and it cannot be ignored that there is something out of control. The public broadcasting in Germany must be cut back and rolled back to a niche in the media world. Anyhow, in the age of Facebook, Twitter, Google and others online media the state TV and radio will not be longer the leadership in the media field. It is better to realize this now than later, or otherwise the state TV and radio loose more of their already damaged credibility.
Schon GEZahlt?
