Employee reveals: ARD and ZDF are on the verge of extinction
An anonymous employee of the ARD is convinced that the public service broadcasters are doomed. In their opinion, ARD and ZDF cannot be reformed and are being destroyed by continuous cuts. She accuses management of having a champagne mentality.
ARD employee: Transmitters are at the end
An anonymous ARD employee gave free rein to her frustration in the RBB media magazine. she raises serious allegations against the leadership of the public broadcaster, the broadcasters themselves can no longer be reformed. ARD and ZDF would resist structural changes and real reforms. Legitimate demands from politics and society cannot be implemented.
The employee describes public broadcasting in Germany with a huge tanker, the tour “drinks champagne, eats canapés and feels very important”. Below deck would be the “galley slaves” “rowing for their lives”. Now and then water and bread would be handed down to them. The broadcasters would have saved themselves despite record income from the broadcasting fee.
If problems come to light – as in the case of the dismissed RBB director Patricia Schlesinger – then “a few slaves are simply thrown overboard”. But according to her, it will now it won’t be long before “that thing” goes under. The leadership team would then “get into their waiting lifeboats and row somewhere into the sunrise”.
This is how much public service broadcasting really costs:
Analogue television “as good as dead”
The employee thinks nothing of the regional variety of programs on television and radio. A single TV and radio station with “regional windows” would suffice. Analogue television is “as good as dead” anywayARD and ZDF should concentrate on their media libraries (source: ARD Audiothek).
