In general, it is actually an endless discussion about public broadcasting in Germany: for some, it represents a sprawling system in which those responsible stuff their pockets, politicians find lucrative jobs for their confidants and the program itself reaches its core target audience in Germany over the age of 60. year becomes less relevant. For advocates, the public broadcaster is an important democratic institution that stands for independent news and quality content. In the monthly survey we would like to know how you view it as readers of the blog.

The affair surrounding the (now) former RBB director Patricia Schlesinger plunged the public broadcaster into a serious crisis. Regardless of the outcome of the legal investigations, Schlesinger’s conduct was not moral. Lush and growing salary of over €300,000 per year with additional, variable salary components, while at the same time austerity measures in the program and freelancers sparked a heated debate. Especially since there are other aspects, such as alleged nepotism. All of this, of course, plays into the hands of public broadcasting critics, especially as they suspect that Schlesinger’s behavior could be just the tip of the iceberg and that the problem is the overall system.

In Germany (almost) everyone has to pay the monthly license fee of currently 18.36 euros. Of course there is dissatisfaction with many people who are not interested in the offer but still help to finance it. Especially now that ARD, ZDF, Deutschlandfunk are increasingly experiencing a relevance problem: their audience is getting older.

But does the ÖR really need to expand its internet business to potentially reach a younger audience? Do you have to look at the quota at all? Does it make sense that expensive entertainment and sports have their place in public programming to attract viewers? Or would it make more sense to focus solely on news and culture? Public broadcasters must regularly ask themselves these questions. The Schlesinger case has led to discussions about compliance, which are no longer considered sufficiently guaranteed internally.

All this is a good reason for the monthly poll around September 2022. To avoid a heated discussion in the comments, these have also been deactivated. Just vote. Because how do you see that:

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