Non-commercial broadcasting

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As a non-commercial radio is called radio and television stations that do not involve profit- operate and not state or part of the public service broadcasters are.

The third pillar

In the dual broadcasting system of Germany and other countries, non-commercial broadcasting (better citizen broadcasting or citizen media) is identified in all its forms alongside public broadcasting and private broadcasting as a “diversity reserve”, “broadcasting of the third kind” or as a “third pillar” because the function and (legal) tasks of this media sector are regularly significantly different from those of public and private program providers.

A frequent goal of the non-commercial radio and television broadcasters is to give all interested parties access to the means of production and programs of the two electronic media . They are usually ad-free and non-profit. Local radio means that the broadcasting areas of the stations are limited locally, possibly regionally. It should be noted that country-specific regulations entail considerable differences in the design of non-commercial broadcasting.

The programs can be received terrestrially via antenna , via cable or via the Internet.

Organizational forms

Non-commercial broadcasters include:

  1. Free radios (non-commercial local radios)
  2. Open channels (open TV and radio channels)
  3. Citizens Broadcasting (Bürgerfunk) in Bremen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia
  4. University radio (university radio, campus radio)
  5. Education and training channels

as well as mixed forms of it.

Non-commercial local radios or free radios are self-organized projects. They are financed from their own funds (contributions) and locally acquired third-party funds (donations and other public or private support services). Most of the state media authorities also subsidize them from their share of the license fees. The amount of funding varies considerably from country to country. Like every private broadcaster, every NKL / Free Radio in Germany needs a license from the respective state media authority . Most of them come from the alternative subculture.

In some federal states, open channels are direct institutions of the state media authorities. Most of the open channels (50 of 63, as of 12/2005) are, however, registered associations. Like other non-commercial local radio projects, they are partly financed by the respective media outlets.

The citizen broadcasting in Lower Saxony and Bremen tried typical NKL elements (journalistic orientation) and unite OK principles (open access for everyone) together.

The NRW community radio integrated into commercial local radio, a nationwide unique community radio model, is currently (2006/07) subjected to a comprehensive evaluation.

In Thuringia, the open channels have the majority. Among other things, there is the special form of non-commercial local radio (NKL), which can exist where an open channel radio is present. In contrast to open channels, the non-commercial local radio stations (NKL) have a program mandate and are therefore more restricted in their freedom of design than the OK. In future developments, it is more likely that the NKL in Thuringia will approach the OK more than the other way around. While some basic elements in the OK are in need of overhaul, the NKL is subject to a program mandate. Thus, an OK has and offers considerably more possibilities and degrees of freedom than an NKL. This corresponds much better to the requirements of today's media society. This can also be seen in a comparable way with some private as well as public broadcasters. These involve the consumer and recipient more and more actively in the program. He is almost in the role of a user, which in turn corresponds to the basic idea of ​​the open channel.

Uniradios are mostly institutions of the respective university and are financially supported by them. Not all universities operate a university radio, but primarily those with their own journalism course (or similar). Some university radio stations, on the other hand, are organisationally and financially independent of the university as an association . In some cases, university radios are also part of training and further education channels and have slots on free radios.

Training and further education channels are program organizers founded by some state media authorities together with a large number of organizations and media companies, which are intended to train, promote and test young journalists in practice, especially for private broadcasting . In Hamburg, the TIDE training and citizens' channel, as the successor to the Hanseatic city's open channel, has been linked to a private media university, and in the state of Saxony there are the SAEKs and in Bavaria the AFK .

Similarities

The different concepts of non-commercial broadcasting have in common that they function largely through unpaid, voluntary work and that broadcasts can be produced and broadcast out of interest or fun in the medium, which in commercial private broadcasting for economic reasons and in public broadcasting for reasons of content would not be possible.

Despite all the differences in the organizational models in detail, at least four common and essential structural features can be described that make non-commercial local radio and so on. identify the citizen media in Germany across the board:

  1. All forms basically grant all interested parties open access to the station and the program, even if the access rules differ in detail. In doing so, they make a significant contribution to realizing the fundamental right to freedom of expression - in (electronic) mass media. This is the main difference to traditional broadcasting, regardless of whether it is of a public or private commercial nature.
  2. The broadcasters and programs are close to the citizens, which is underlined by the local, if necessary regional, distribution of the programs.
  3. Citizens' media convey comprehensive media skills by giving ordinary citizens, and that means lay people in matters of television and radio, the opportunity to publicize their own ideas or to make specific programs. That is their most important task and central achievement at the same time.
  4. The broadcasters are non-profit and non-commercial, they are committed to the common good - the “community” - and free from economic interests.

See also

Web links

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