Germany Media
Freedom of the press is guaranteed in the Basic Law (Article 5, Paragraph 1); The press laws of the federal states regulate further details. Restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of expression and the ban on censorship are expressly only permitted by general laws, for example on the protection of minors and the protection of personal honor.
Press: After 1945, a diverse press system quickly developed in the Federal Republic of Germany, although it has been subject to strong concentration processes since the 1970s. Ten media groups (including Axel Springer SE and the publishing groups Südwestdeutsche Medienholding, Funke-Mediengruppe, Madsack Mediengruppe, DuMont Mediengruppe, Ippen Mediengruppe, Holtzbrinck-Gruppe) control over half of the total circulation of daily newspapers, with the degree of concentration in the group of commercial newspapers is much higher than with subscription newspapers. The daily newspaper market has been characterized by continuous loss of circulation for years (total circulation per publication day 1991: 27.3 million; 2013: 17.1 million; 2018: 14.1 million; 2020: 12.5 million).
In 2020, 320 daily newspapers were published, including seven street-selling newspapers (circulation 1.5 million) and six national newspapers (0.7 million). There were also 18 weekly newspapers (1.7 million) and six Sunday newspapers (1.6 million).
The most influential newspapers, generally referred to as quality newspapers and generally appearing nationwide, include »Süddeutsche Zeitung« (sold circulation in 2020: 320,000), »Frankfurter Allgemeine« (sold circulation in 2020: 201,000), »Die Welt«, »Frankfurter Rundschau «,» Taz «and the business newspaper» Handelsblatt «. The newspaper with the highest circulation is the tabloid »Bild« (1.2 million).
The number of foreign language media has risen sharply in recent years; Turkish (including »Hürriyet«, »Türkiye«, »Milliyet«, »Sabah«), Russian (»Russkaja Germanija«) and Serbian (»Vesti«) publications as well as the European editions of the major international daily newspapers such as » The International New York « are widespread Times “, ” Wall Street Journal “, ” The Times ” and ” Le Monde “.
In addition, around 6,000 popular magazines and specialist journals appear. The periodicals with the highest circulation include the monthly ADAC member magazine “ADAC Motorwelt” and the Apotheken-Umschau, numerous TV magazines such as “TV 14”, “TV Movie”, “TV Spielfilm” and “Hörzu”, and women’s magazines such as “Bild der Frau” «,» Freizeit Revue «,» Neue Post «and» Brigitte «and magazines like» Der Spiegel «, » Stern «, » Focus « and » Bunte «. – The media groups Gruner + Jahr, Hubert Burda Media, Axel Springer and Bauer Media Group are among the German magazine publishers with the highest turnover and also internationally active.
News agencies: The German Press Agency (dpa), Hamburg, founded in 1949, is a cooperative organization of around 180 shareholders (newspaper and magazine publishers, broadcasters). Other agencies include: the Sport-Informations-Dienst (sid), as well as the news agencies of the two big churches, Evangelischer Pressedienst (epd, founded 1910) and Katholische Nachrichtenagentur GmbH (KNA, founded 1952). In addition, all major international agencies (e.g. AP, AFP, Reuters) are represented with their offices in Germany.
Broadcasting: In Germany, according to handbagpicks, there is a dual broadcasting system, i. H. a coexistence of public and private broadcasters. The nine independent in the German federated state broadcasting corporations (Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Central German Broadcasting; North German Broadcasting, Radio Bremen, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg; Saarland Radio; Südwestrundfunk; West German Broadcasting) jointly deliver daily the nationwide First German Television and organize the regional third television programs as well as several radio programs in their broadcasting area (2020: a total of 74). The Second German Television (ZDF) broadcasts a nationwide television program and is involved in the cultural programs 3sat and ARTE, which are transmitted via cable and satellite, as well as the specialty programs Phoenix and KiKA. The federal public broadcasting corporation Deutsche Welle broadcasts radio programs in 30 languages and a current television information program (DW-tv) in German, English, Spanish and Arabic for foreign countries via several satellites. The one from Deutschlandfunk, RIAS Berlin and the former GDR radio broadcaster DS Kultur on January 1, 1994, Deutschlandradio is a public corporation and is supported by all 16 federal states as well as the broadcasters ARD and ZDF. It distributes three advertising-free radio programs with a focus on news / information (Cologne) and culture (Berlin).
With the adoption of state media laws for private radio in the mid-1980s, the broadcasting of programs by private television companies that are financed from advertising income began in Germany. In 2019, over 400 private programs were licensed in Germany. The private television market is dominated by ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG (including Sat.1, ProSieben, Kabel 1) and the RTL Group (including RTL, RTL II, Super RTL, VOX, n-tv). There is also v. a. Specialized programs, including Music channels (MTV, VIVA until 2018), sports programs (Eurosport, Sport 1) and home shopping (HSE24, QVC). The market leader in the field of pay TV is the broadcaster Sky (formerly Premiere).
In the radio sector, in addition to the public broadcasters, there are more than 200 private commercial radio channels in Germany, most of which broadcast music programs, as well as around 100 (usually local) non-commercial offers (open channels, community radio, university radio, church broadcasters).
Telecommunications: Since 1989, the state monopoly in the telecommunications sector has been gradually opened to competition. In addition to Deutsche Telekom AG, which emerged from the former federal authority Deutsche Bundespost, there are now numerous private providers. The regulatory authority for the telecommunications sector is the Federal Network Agency. While the number of landline connections (2019: 38.2 million) has declined slightly in recent years, the number of mobile phone subscribers has risen sharply (number of SIM card stocks in 2020: 147 million).
