From the BZ editorial team
Reunification was exactly 33 years ago on Tuesday, but there are still clear differences between East and West in public broadcasting.
A new study by the research institute “Media Tenor” now comes to a stark conclusion: “Even 30 years after the fall of the Wall, East Germany remains a region that is being warned about by ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandfunk.”
The media experts examined the “topics of reporting on East Germany” between 2012 and 2023 (until April 30).
► Especially the topic Security/Crime is therefore predominantly assessed negatively in reporting on East Germany.
► Also about the topics Accidents/disasters and refugees/asylum is reported negatively or without judgment, but rarely positively.
Media Tenor’s conclusion: The Germans on ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandfunk “are presented with the supposed reality between Greifswald and Erzgebirge primarily as a series of threats to security, party disputes, accidents and catastrophes”.
East German experts? None
In addition to the topics in the news programs on ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandfunk, Media Tenor also examined how often the stations interview which experts in their programs.
► The result: East German expertise is rarely requested, even if there are renowned institutions with qualified researchers there.
The Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Halle an der Saale, for example, is “one of the most renowned addresses when it comes to the scientific assessment of economic development, especially in eastern Germany,” according to Media Tenor.
But, according to the media experts: “If in doubt, call the editorial teams of the ‘Tagesschau’, the DLF 7 o’clock news or ‘ZDF today’ at the ifo Institute in Munich, at the DIW (German Institute for Economic Research, ed .) in Berlin or at the IW (Institute of German Economics, editor) in Cologne.”
According to Media Tenor, this selection of – mainly West German – experts is in no way based on a lack of specialist skills in East Germany. In Halle, financial policy and transformation research, as well as modernization policy, are core research topics.
This expert knowledge is “withheld from the audience in the front row,” according to the media researchers in their conclusion.
(yep)