ZDF television council

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Marlehn Thieme , Chair of the Television Council (2016)

The ZDF television council is the broadcasting council of the second German television . The committee is elected for four years and monitors compliance with the program guidelines and the principles set out in the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty.

He draws up guidelines for ZDF programs, elects the artistic director and advises him on programming issues. Furthermore, the television council elects 8 of the 12 members of the ZDF board of directors , they may not belong to any government or legislative body. The television council is also the point of contact for viewers.

The television council usually meets four times a year. The submissions to the television council are discussed in the standing committees of the body.

As confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2014, the ZDF State Treaty must “consistently focus on the principle of safeguarding diversity and consistently limit the proportion of state and state-related members in the supervisory bodies” - and thus the “state distance” of the television council itself. According to the information provided by the court, this remoteness of the television council is to be achieved through a new composition in which representatives of the federal government and the executive bodies of the states only appoint a maximum of one third of the councils.

On July 8, 2016, the television council elected Marlehn Thieme from among its members , replacing Ruprecht Polenz (2002-2016) in office. Wilhelm Schmidt was also elected to the presidium, which was elected for two years, as first deputy chairman and Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel and Achim Dercks as further deputies .

Composition until 2016

Meeting room of the ZDF television council

Before the reduction in 2016 to 60 members, the television council was composed of 77 members in accordance with Section 21 of the former ZDF State Treaty , including:

a. 31 representatives of the federal states, the federal government and the political parties

b. 5 representatives of the religious communities

The other representatives listed below were appointed by the Prime Minister at the suggestion of the associations and organizations named there. The associations and organizations had to include three times as many representatives in their proposals. The chairman of the Prime Minister's Conference (MPK) determined by what time the list of proposals had to be submitted. Women should be given due consideration. If at least two representatives of an organization or association belonged to the television council, a woman should also be appointed to the television council.

c. 25 representatives of associations selected by the Prime Ministers on a proposal

d. 16 councils appointed by the Prime Ministers from the fields

Judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court 2014

In March 2014, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that "the regulations on the composition of the TV Council according to § 21 ZDF-StV [...] violate Article 5 (1) sentence 2 of the Basic Law in various ways". In June 2015, the governments of the federal states decided to revise the ZDF State Treaty, in which the composition of the supervisory body was re-regulated. Following the stipulations of the Constitutional Court, the number of members rated as representatives of state-affiliated members was reduced to a maximum of one third, and party representatives were abolished. The total strength of the ZDF television council was reduced from 77 to 60. After approval by the 16 state parliaments, the amended ZDF State Treaty came into force on January 1, 2016.

The reason for the proceedings was a norms control complaint by the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hamburg to review the constitutionality of the ZDF State Treaty, the reason for the complaint was the "Causa Brender": An extension of Brender's contract as ZDF editor-in-chief was - mainly with Union Occupied by politicians - ZDF board of directors rejected; In 2010 this led to debates about the political influence of public service broadcasting. In connection with the dispute over his contract extension, Brender presented how party political influence was exerted on journalistic work. At the beginning of his term in office it was still customary for politicians to call simple editors to put pressure on the reporting. “At the time, for example, I found out by chance that the then CDU General Secretary Laurenz Meyer tried to prevent a report that he found unpleasant by calling the editorial office. […] As a result, I threatened the ZDF supervisory bodies, which are known to be made up of numerous politicians, to publish further calls. After that, it was quiet. ”Brender reported after it became known in October 2012 that the CSU press spokesman Hans Michael Strepp (who resigned shortly afterwards) had made contact with ARD and ZDF editors, which some of those contacted as well as ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey had perceived as attempts to exert influence by the CSU . According to Brender, attempts to exert influence by politicians were common.

However, after the amendment of the State Treaty, critics are of the opinion that the state continues to exercise too great an influence, the position of the governing parties towards the opposition is too strong, and important representatives of society such as non-denominational groups and human rights organizations are missing.

Andreas Paulus formulated a different opinion in the verdict of the court: The verdict does not meet its own standard that the opinions of society should be reflected in the broadcasting council. In his opinion, the participation of members of the executive branch is fundamentally harmful, a third quota too high. “If the supervisory bodies of radio and television are controlled by those whose control they are supposed to enable, among other things, their function is impaired. Through the possibility of sending executive representatives, the judgment redefines the state power from a threat to diversity to an element of precisely this guarantee of diversity. "In the judgment text, Paulus criticized this judgment as" a utopian, hardly verifiable standard for the exercise of the mandate given "for the ZDF- Bodies.

Members of the Television Council of the XVI. Term of office (2020-2024)

The television council consists of the following 60 members (as of July 10, 2020). At least 27 of these can be assigned to a political party.

16 representatives of the countries

2 federal representatives

5 representatives of the religious communities

37 other representatives

Members of the Television Council of the XV. Term of office (2016-2020)

The television council consists of the following 60 members (as of February 4, 2020):

16 representatives of the countries

2 federal representatives

5 representatives of the religious communities

37 other representatives

Committees

The following permanent committees are formed from the members of the television council:

  • Policy and Coordination Committee
  • Finance, Investment and Technology Committee
  • Program Committee Editor-in-Chief
  • Program Committee Program Directorate
  • Program Committee Affiliate Programs
  • Telemedia Committee

In addition to these permanent committees, other non-permanent committees can be formed whose tasks can be program advice, technical advice or review of complaints.

compensation

Membership in the television council is voluntary:

“According to § 24 of the ZDF statutes, the individual members receive reimbursement of travel expenses, attendance fees and allowance for expenses. The expense allowance amounts to 520 euros per month. The chairperson receives twice the amount, the deputy chairpersons and the chairpersons of the committees each receive one and a half times the amount. The attendance fee is 150 euros per meeting day. All payments are individually taxable.

In 2019, expense allowances totaling 402,069 euros and attendance fees of 81,900 euros were paid for the television council. "

Web links

Commons : ZDF television council  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ ZDF press and information: ZDF television council improves communication with viewers in the event of program complaints. March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  2. ↑ Norm control requests against the ZDF State Treaty mostly successful. Press release No. 26/2014 of March 25, 2014. Judgment of March 25, 2014. 1 BvF 1/11, 1 BvF 4/11. In: bundesverfassungsgericht.de, accessed on July 14, 2016 (ZDF State Treaty partly unconstitutional; also documents the dissenting opinion of Judge Paulus ).
  3. ↑ a b ZDF press and information: ZDF television council elects Marlehn Thieme as the new chairman. In: presseportal.zdf.de/pressemitteilung. July 8, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  4. ↑ biography. Marlehn Thieme. Chair of the ZDF television council. In: presseportal.zdf.de/biografie, accessed on July 14, 2016.
  5. ^ ZDF press and information: Ruprecht Polenz resigns from the ZDF television council. July 8, 2016, accessed July 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ Norm control requests against the ZDF State Treaty mostly successful. Press release No. 26/2014 of March 25, 2014. Judgment of March 25, 2014. 1 BvF 1/11, 1 BvF 4/11. In: bundesverfassungsgericht.de, accessed on July 14, 2016 (ZDF State Treaty partly unconstitutional; also documents the dissenting opinion of Judge Paulus ).
  7. ↑ Joachim Huber: Change in the ZDF TV Council - End of Party Council? In: Tagesspiegel . January 17, 2016, accessed June 1, 2016.
  8. ↑ Lisa Caspari: Conservative politicians are more brazen than others. In: zeit.de. October 25, 2012.
  9. ↑ Lisa Caspari: CSU threatening phone call: "Conservative politicians are more brazen than others" . In: The time . October 25, 2012, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed November 20, 2016]).
  10. ↑ Meedia editorial team: Scandal about Brender: Where is the ZDF? ›Meedia. February 23, 2010, accessed November 20, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Politicians continue to rule . ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed on November 19, 2016]).
  12. ↑ See Federal Constitutional Court (BverfG): 1 BvF 1/11 of March 25, 2014, paragraph no. 41
  13. ↑ Gerd Rinas: A new generation of peasant presidents . In: German farmers correspondence . tape 6 . Deutscher Agrar-Verlag GmbH, Berlin 2008, p. 18-19 ( repro-mayr.de [PDF]).
  14. ^ A b C. DU Waiblingen: CDU City Association Waiblingen - Rainer Wieland |. Retrieved February 28, 2021 .
  15. ↑ The Kissinger CSU elects Steffen Hörtler as its new chairman. February 2, 2011, accessed February 28, 2021 .
  16. ↑ Angela Spizig. Retrieved February 28, 2021 .
  17. ↑ See the list of ZDF 2016 in the section Weblinks .
  18. ^ Augsburger Allgemeine: Frank Werneke is the new head of the Verdi union. Retrieved April 6, 2021 .
  19. ^ ZDF: The members of the ZDF television council. Retrieved March 23, 2021 .