Valerie Rhein, Dr. Stephan Dreyer and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz have published an opinion on the discussion draft of the Länder regarding the mandate and structural optimisation of public service broadcasting. In their expert opinion, they welcome the draft amendment to the State Media Treaty, which aims to make the mandate of public service broadcasting more flexible and to provide broadcasters with the means to further concretise the mandate.
You can download the paper here (pdf, in German)
Summary
The draft takes up the discussions on law and media policy, which deal with the continuing acceptance of public service broadcasting as well as the adaptations made necessary by digitisation and the accompanying changes in media use practices. In addition to changes to the legal programming mandate in § 26 MStV-E, the following are particularly noticeable
- Emphasising a joint platform strategy of the state broadcasting corporations which are members of the ARD together with the ZDF and Deutschlandradio (Article 30(1) of the Draft Interstate Broadcasting Treaty),
- Standardising the use and provision of recommendation systems which enable an open opinion-forming process and broad discourse on content (Article 30(4) MStV-E),
- Enabling pilot projects for telemedia offerings (Article 32(8) MStV-E),
- A procedure for the discontinuation of existing programmes or their transfer to a telemedia offering (Article 32a MStV-E),
- The planned stipulation of quality standards in terms of content and form in order to improve the guidance and verifiability of the acceptance of orders (Article 31 (2b) MStV-E), as well as
- Strengthening the importance of the decisions of the boards and their strategic responsibility in the assumption of functions by the broadcasters as a whole.
The HBI sees some of the scientific suggestions of recent years - also presented by the Institute itself - taken up in the draft presented and welcomes the fundamental movement in the reform efforts for public service broadcasting in general. However, it would like to point out points of criticism and the need for concretisation in several places.
Written Opinion on the Discussion Draft on the Mission and Structural Optimisation of Public Service Broadcasting. Hamburg, 13 January 2022.
Rhein, V.; Dreyer, S.; Schulz, W. (2022): Schriftliche Stellungnahme zu dem Diskussionsentwurf zu Auftrag und Strukturoptimierung des öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks [Written Opinion on the Discussion Draft on the Mission and Structural Optimisation of Public Service Broadcasting]. Hamburg, 13 January 2022.
