Page 113 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

102 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

wary of simply following the party line. Even so, many representatives
are also criticized for lacking the necessary professionalism to reach
independent and informed conclusions. 23
The political majorities on the boards determine the choice of
Intendant and his departmental directors, which frequently results in
24
political manoeuvring at senior levels. Appointments are often made
by trade-offs between the CDU and SPD, while smaller parties, such as
the Greens and the FDP, tend to be excluded. Editorially, politicization
means that party politicians can exert an indirect influence upon
programmes. This is done either retrospectively by reprimand, or in
advance through contacts on the councils and in the organization.
Internal self-censorship plays a critical role. As a correspondent of the
German weekly, Die Zeit, has noted,

The system of party-political membership in public-service
television has been refined for many years. This is one of the
reasons why television journalists think of themselves, wrongly,
as ‘microphone stands’. 25
This potential for direct transmission of political power to programming
is inherent to the public-service system, whereas the private sector is far
less open to influence from the regulatory authorities. It is not
surprising, therefore, that even those politicians who were recently
railing against the public-service system and its weaknesses are now
trying to increase their influence on the public sector.
The best barrier against political influence is a strong Intendant. This
is probably why the two ARD corporations where this is the case, HR in
Hessen and SDR in Baden-Württemberg, have recently found their
statutes under attack. In Hessen, the CDU tried, unsuccessfully, to cut
back the wide-ranging powers of appointment of the HR Intendant and
chairman of the ARD, who, although elected by the council because of
his alleged CDU bias, displayed a surprising independence. Similarly
the CDU Ministerpräsident of Baden-Württemberg tried hard to merge
the SDR into SWF, the other corporation which covers part of Baden-
Württemberg. Unlike SWF, there are no government representatives on
the SDR broadcasting council, and the SDR’s Intendant, a former
chairman of the ARD, is very independent.