Multi-country institution
A multi -state broadcaster is a public broadcaster in Germany that is subject to the sovereignty of several federal states . The regulations for a multi-state institution are negotiated between the federal states involved and set out in a state treaty .
background
After the Second World War , Germany was divided into four zones of occupation . After the experience with propaganda in the Third Reich , a central state radio was rejected by the occupiers. Since post-war Germany did not have the economic strength to organize broadcasting under private law, the three Western powers agreed that broadcasting should be organized under public law along the lines of the British BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). While the Americans founded their own institution in each of the newly created federal states of their zone of occupation, the British and French decided on only one institution each in their zones of occupation. Since the British and French occupation zones were divided into different federal states, broadcasters were created that served several federal states (NWDR and SWF).
Since broadcasting in Germany is under state sovereignty, the federal government is not allowed to broadcast broadcasting. After the Adenauer government tried to found Deutschland-Fernsehen GmbH, a radio broadcaster under private law in majority state ownership, the federal states brought an action before the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG). In the first broadcasting judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of 1961, state sovereignty was confirmed and the federal government (or an individual social group) prohibited from broadcasting.
Multi-country institutions in Germany
- Deutschlandradio : all 16 federal states
- Central German Broadcasting (MDR): Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia
- North German Broadcasting (NDR): Hamburg , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein
- Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) (until December 31, 1955): Berlin (until 1954), Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia , Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein
- Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB): Berlin and Brandenburg
- Südwestfunk (SWF) (until 1998): Rhineland-Palatinate and the parts of Baden-Württemberg, which until 1952 belonged to the federal states of Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern .
- Südwestrundfunk (SWR): Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate
- Second German television (ZDF): all 16 federal states
history
Before the reunification in 1990 there were only two multi-country broadcasters in addition to the ZDF: the NDR and the Südwestfunk. On the other hand, there was even a state broadcaster, Süddeutscher Rundfunk , which was only responsible for part of a federal state. In total, there were 9 state broadcasters in the 11 states of the old Federal Republic. In 1991 Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania joined the NDR, which made it the only four-state institution. The MDR was founded in 1992 as a three-country institution. In 1998 the Südwestfunk and the Süddeutsche Rundfunk merged to form the new two-state broadcasting company Südwestrundfunk. Finally, with the merger of the Sender Freies Berlin and the Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg to form the new Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg in May 2003, another multi-country broadcaster was created.
Exceptions
The German wave is an exception. It is a public institution under federal law and is subject to the Federal Government . In order to preserve the freedom of the press in accordance with Article 5 of the Basic Law and to do justice to the rulings of the Federal Constitutional Court, the Federal Government is prohibited from performing technical supervision. It only exercises legal supervision.
Individual evidence
- ^ Dussel, Konrad (2010): Deutsche Rundfunkgeschichte. 3rd revised edition. Constance: UVK, pp. 179-201.
- ^ See Dussel, Konrad (2010): Deutsche Rundfunkgeschichte. 3rd revised edition. Constance: UVK, pp. 226-231.
- ↑ See Section 61 of the Deutsche Welle Act