[Fake News] How the public broadcaster in Germany frames the public - The mandatory Fee 2019-05-03

In 2017 Elisabeth Wehling wrote framing manual on behalf of the public broadcaster ARD in Germany in four parts. This framing manual gives instructions on how the public service broadcasting can be shown in positive light. Framing comes from communication science and describes how statements can be embedded in a context to evoke certain associations. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

1. Teil 1 Unser Rundfunk ARD (Legitimation) [1,p.23]
2. Teil 2 Freiheit (Unabhängigkeit) [1,p.43]
3. Teil 3 Beteiligung (Beitragsakzeptanz) [1,p.51]
4. Teil 4 Zuverlässigkeit (Reform & Zukunft) [1,p.64]

[1,p.6] In February 2019 the framing manual of Elisabeth Wehling was leaked by Netzpolitik.org. However the manual does not intend to turn the staff of the public broadcaster into better journalists. The manual serves to better defend the fee for the public broadcaster and to sell the reporting more effectively. In addition the handbook confirms the allegations that there is an internally agreed newspeak and language rules with wich are argued rather than facts and objectivity. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

In Germany, there are two broadcasters that are considered to be public. The group from ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio (German-Radio) as well as Deutsche Welle (German Wave).

The Deutsche Welle (German Wave) is funded directly by the state and is actually the foreign broadcaster. The annual budget amounts to 301.8 million euros per year. [6] The ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio (German-Radio) group is funded by a monthly fee of 17.50 euros and is actually the domestic broadcaster. The annual budget amounts to 8.1 billion euros per year. [7]

Due to the extensive coverage Deutsche Welle (German-Wave) is almost a full-fledged national broadcaster. And countering the criticism of these costs is an explicit part of the framing manual.

In short, within the payment frame the legally required contribution payment becomes a compulsion to conclude a sales contract: Compulsion to enter into contracts for things you do not want to buy; Forced to pay for things that you do not use yourself but other customers.
...

In fact participation in the ARD is an act of cultural and democratic self-care: We ensure (caution: not "afford us"!) through our monthly participation the free media infrastructure ARD which is the basis of our daily private and economic life. Through participation we obtain the shelter within which free, genuine information work and long-term educational and meaningful entertainment can live and thrive. Every month we contribute to this protection against the influence of profit and political influence - for a media infrastructure that guarantees our democratic, private and economic freedom of movement. [1,p.53]

However the framing manual is not about saving money or using the money as good as possible. It is only about the reinterpretation for the public service broadcasting to reinterpret.

Let's get to the fifth and final term the "fee". Among other things it became prominent in the context of the ARD through the introduction of the concept of "democracy fee". While the frame activated here in turn puts the issue of money in the foreground (we "pay" fees) the bigger problem lies somewhere else. Namely it semantically profiled the frame of the transfer of an object (here: money) from one entity (here: citizen) to another entity (here: the ARD). In this way due to its inherent frame semantics it directly opposes the moral concern of joint participation in ARD: the participation and joint organization and design of a free media infrastructure with the participation of all those who depend on this infrastructure as individuals business people and members of German society. [1,p.56]

...
In addition it is important to say goodbye to a language that makes the ARD otherwise understandable as an entity detached from the citizen. For example the ARD "does not finance itself" from the contributions of the citizens". It "does not spend the broadcasting fees for administration and program". Rather it manages and uses our common broadcasting capital and does so in a way that does not exclude, leave out, or neglect, according to the principle of equivalency any citizen involved in broadcasting or any region involved in broadcasting. [1,p.56]

It is advisable to reinterpret the levy as a membership although there is no forum for participation for the public and the contributors. It is advised to use euphemisms such as the democracy fee.

So the citizens contribute to the joint broadcast ARD. We all contribute to our joint ARD broadcasting. These formulations are strong partners of the participation framework. [1,p.57]

For the purposes of the ARD a good semantic comrade at the side of the participation framework (and implicitly also the participation framework) is the concept of "contribution". It generates similar to the 'participation' automatically a frame that puts the collaborative effort in the foreground. Because: You can not contribute to something that others do not contribute to. Who says: "I contribute to the house cleaning", who does not clean the house alone. [1,p.58]

Die Debatte um die Kosten sind besonders interessant, wenn man diese mit der Bezahlung der Mitarbeiter vergleicht. Einerseits verdienen die Intendanten und Direktoren der Landesrundfunkanstalten enorme Gehälter. Diese Reichen von 170.000 bis zu 380.000 Euro pro Jahr. Andererseits sind die Bedingungen für die übrigen Mitarbeiter eher prekär. Nur etwa die Hälfte der übrigen Mitarbeiter hat eine Festanstellung und werden von Gewerkschaften vertreten. [8] [9] [9,pdf]

Landesrundfunkanstalt	BR	HR	MDR	NDR	RBB	RB	SR	SWR	WDR
Jahresgehälter 2017 der Intendant/in p.a. in Euro	373.000	272.000	275.000	345.000	255.000	271.000	242.000	343.000	379.000
Durchschnittliche Monatsgehälter 2017 der Direktor/innen in Euro	18.454	15.831	14.773	18.827	15.593	14.171	14.133	18.200	18.731

[8]

[1] Öffentlichkeit - Wir veröffentlichen das Framing-Gutachten der ARD 2019-02-17
https://netzpolitik.org/2019/wir-veroeffentlichen-das-framing-gutachten-der-ard/
https://cdn.netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2019/02/framing_gutachten_ard.pdf
[2] Elisabeth Wehling zu Gast bei ORF Zeit Im Raum 2016-03-03
https://youtu.be/xc7gZ_c65HU
[3] Elisabeth Wehling: Politisches Framing - Wie Deutschland sich politische Wahrheiten einredet 2016-03-04
https://youtu.be/r8Radhef5eI
[4] re:publica 2017 – Elisabeth Wehling: Die Macht der Sprachbilder – Politisches Framing 2017-12-07
https://youtu.be/mrFtMGLPosc
[5] re:publica 2017 – Elisabeth Wehling: Die Macht der Sprachbilder – Politisches Framing ... 2017-05-11
https://youtu.be/3tuaXaXJ02g
[6] Deutsche Welle erhält mehr als zehn Millionen zusätzlich 2015-12-01
https://www.horizont.net/medien/nachrichten/Etataufstockung-Deutsche-Welle-erhaelt-mehr-als-zehn-Millionen-zusaetzlich-137721
[7] RUNDFUNKBEITRAG : 8.131.285.001,97 Euro 2016-06-14
http://www.faz.net/-gqz-8i8dv
[8] Gehälter und Vergütungen in der ARD - Feste Mitarbeiter und außertariflich Vergütete 2019-03-15
http://www.ard.de/home/die-ard/fakten/Gehaelter_und_Verguetungen_in_der_ARD/4127124/index.html
[9] Beschäftigte zweiter Klasse? Gute Arbeit auch für Freie 2019 Januar
https://www.rosalux.de/publikation/id/39863/beschaeftigte-zweiter-klasse-gute-arbeit-auch-fuer-freie/
https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/Studien/190125-Beschaeftigte-2.Klasse-Rundfunk.pdf