Funk only partially complies with the public service mandate – Quotenmeter.de

The tasks of the public broadcasting service in Germany mainly consist of five points. The purpose of the ÖRR is to ensure that the population has access to a comprehensive range of information, education and entertainment, taking into account different interests, opinions and social groups. It should also be free from political influence and economic interests. You must present a variety of opinions and program content in order to enable the community to form an opinion. Among other things, documentation should impart knowledge and education. The reports should take place in different regions of Germany and provide as objective information as possible.

On ARD and ZDF linear television, this works with flying colors, but both stations’ audiences are old and mediocre and about to retire. In order to address young social groups between the ages of 14 and 29, ARD and ZDF have been operating the funk online content network since October 2016, which is now the subject of a study by the “Otto Brenner Foundation” (OBS). To be more precise, author Janice Brinkmann, Professor of Journalism in Digital Information Economy at Mitoida University of Applied Sciences (FH), to study “Journalists Across Borders. How Funk Reportage Formats Build Reality” using Funk Reportage Format «collective r»And «CTRL_F»And “Reporter”And “Follow me. Reports » And “the question” Busy. How programs identify subjects, the points of view they are taken in, the sources used, the actors who play a role, how subjects are evaluated, and what the programs contribute to opinion formation are examined. The result was a quantitative content analysis. For the study, all YouTube contributions to the formats were analyzed from the inception of broadcasting in 2016 to April 2022. According to the study, the video material includes a total of 1,155 films and more than 325 hours.

The result is: “The shows are largely successful in producing coherent articles and capitalizing on the strengths of the journalistic ‘subgenre’.” The subgenre refers to the “new journalism” style, which is not a new phenomenon in the media world. The term refers to a journalistic approach that became popular in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s and became popular in the age of social media through platforms such as ‘Vice’ or ‘Buzzfeed’. New journalism has evolved in response to the discrete, objective reporting that was once prevalent. Instead, journalists such as Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, and Jay Tallis have relied on personal experience, extensive research, and narrative style to further engage the reader with the stories. They used techniques such as dialogue, detailed descriptions, characterizations, and internal monologues to provide an immersive and subjective account of events.

The new press usually adopts topics that were considered marginal or social taboos and opened new horizons about events and phenomena. Thanks to the literary approach and the subjective point of view of the authors, the journalistic presentation has become more lively, emotional and personal. According to an OBS study, this is exactly what can also be identified in funk. According to Brinkman, roughly 80 percent of the contributions to the aforementioned funk formats can be devoted to ‘new journalism,’ which achieves a depth and honesty to narrative that is hardly attainable in classic journalistic or investigative information offerings, Brinkman continues.

Funk Reports reveals some weaknesses

As a result, in the author’s view, many of the study’s findings—such as the enduring subjective orientation of the contributions (97.1 percent) or the subjects’ emotional processing (90.6 percent)—should be understood as evidence. From the coherence of this journalistic approach has become a special journalist. Lifeworld and target group topics such as “health”, “partnership” or “crime” make up more than 40 percent of the contributions, ”summarizes Jupp Legrand, Managing Director of OBS. On the other hand, one in five does not address political issues, not even One is on the 20th economic issue, which Legrand immediately wants to see understood as a point of criticism. After all, according to Legrand, public service offerings should “always filter their subjects according to social importance” and should “subject neither to the predictable desires of the public nor to algorithmic incentives.”

Funk formats also fail to meet the general broadcast jurisdiction’s regional standards. In terms of places and regions, the formats create their own picture of social reality, according to the study’s finding: Most of the translatable contributions are located in large cities. East German federal states (without Berlin) occur in less than five percent. At the same time, the results show that European and international perspectives (14 percent) are severely neglected.

The study sees potential for technical improvement in the transparency and feedback of contributions. “Partly ignoring the big, global world, as well as the small, rural social spaces, the young and innovative formats surprisingly reproduce the classic blind spots of the ‘old’ media world”, sums up Janice Brinkman. The second part of the outcome stated: “However, there is room for improvement with regard to the selection of subjects, locations of events and qualitative requirements.”

The need for action has been recognized – treatment will be provided
The program directors themselves recognized that action was definitely needed at the funk stage, and in the period following the survey, they launched several formats that aggressively address the weaknesses identified by the OBS study. The channel has been available on TikTok since March “He says”which focuses on the perspectives of young people from the countryside. in “atlas” Since May 2022, journalists have been trying to shed light on topics from all over the world. Konstantin Flemig has joined in. “Crisis – Behind the Front” to a similar degree.

The ARD-ZDF content network has not stood still in time seven years after its inception, because it is known that those who do not move with the times move with the times. That’s why funk has broken up with so many creators in the past few weeks. Recently, Philip Walulis left his format “Waluli’s Daily” the network. However, it cannot be ruled out that Wallis would find himself elsewhere under common law, Schleke Silberstein and his “Browse Ballet” They did and are now in ZDF. New Journalism has not disappeared since the 1960s, nor have the missions of the Public Broadcasting Service, anchored by the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty. However, in these fast-paced social media times, no one should be overdoing it. After all, “Vice” and “Buzzfeed” haven’t aged well.