Page 117 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

106 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

each channel has to be a fully comprehensive general interest channel.
This means it must contain a balanced mixture of the various opinion-
forming elements.
If the required number is reached, the so called externally pluralist
model applies. In this case, no specific rules for the internal balance of
each channel are written into the legislation. It is assumed, as for the
press, that the available range of all channels will automatically
represent pluralism.
The third model is one of internal pluralism. For this, each channel
must be provided either by an organization composed of many different
social and economic interests, or else contain an internal programme
supervisory council. Each channel must then be a general interest
channel and follow programme-content rules that approximate to those
of the public-service channels.
At the present time, despite the provisions of the Inter-Land Treaty,
there is insufficient advertising to support the anticipated broadcasting
revolution of the ‘new media’. The CDU is already discussing
directions for future change. In particular, it is proposing to review the
public-service concepts underpinning public broadcasting and
motivating the regulatory authorities for private broadcasting. Changes
to the licence fee system and a single federal regulatory authority are on
its agenda. 31

A NEW PROGRAMME ORDER?

As yet, the size and quality of the editorial output from private
broadcasting is almost as unclear as the pattern of regulation. Although
only a few content studies of private programme services have been
32
carried out, some general tendencies may be worth noting.
As in other countries, the hopes of some politicians of being able to
influence the editorial policies of private commercial broadcasters more
easily than those of the public-service corporations, have not been borne
out. In radio in particular, political information programmes have shown
their independence and a preference for investigative journalism which
has not spared party-political allegiances, especially when a political
scandal can capture audiences. Topical reports, if they are broadcast at
all, are frequently more subjective and stimulating than those on the
public stations, where reticence and balance can often create audience
indifference.
Unorthodox leftist views, which are often denied access to public-
service radio, now have at least the theoretical, if not necessarily