The relationship between the Brandenburg State Chancellery and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) is not the best. For Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD), the RBB was for a long time just a capital station in which his state played far too small a role.
The conflict has a history: Weeks of research by Business Insider show how the Brandenburg government has tried for years to get its voice heard on the RBB. During an explosive visit to the Cottbus studio, Woidke even put pressure on a senior journalist personally because he didn’t like his critical reporting on structural change in Lusatia.
At the time, the journalist concerned spoke within the broadcaster of an “attempt to exert influence”. In a statement, the Brandenburg State Chancellery, on the other hand, rejects “program and personal influence”. However, no information can be given about confidential discussions.
The distribution of tasks in public service broadcasting in Germany is actually quite clear. The state creates the legal framework in which organisation, control and financing are regulated. The influence on the program of ARD and ZDF, however, is taboo. For this independence, Germans pay around eight billion euros in broadcasting fees every year.
In everyday life, however, governments and parties occasionally have difficulties with this red line. Cases have come to light where the temptation to influence reporting has been yielded to. An example: The spokesman for the CSU, Hans Michael Strepp, had to resign in 2012 after he allegedly wanted to prevent a report on the SPD state party conference in Bavaria in a telephone call to the ZDF “heute” editors.