ARD (broadcaster)

ARD

Logo since December 2019
Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Germany
Availability	National International
Slogan	Wir sind deins. We are yours.[1]
Owner	Independent[2]
Key people	Tom Buhrow, Chairman
Launch date	5 June 1950; 71 years ago (1950-06-05)
Callsign meaning	Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Official website	www.ard.de

ARD-Hauptstadtstudio (ARD Capital Studio) in Berlin.

ARD (German pronunciation: [ˌaːʔɛʁˈdeː] (listen); full name: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland^[a] – "Working group of public broadcasters of the Federal Republic of Germany") is a joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. It was founded in 1950 in West Germany to represent the common interests of the new, decentralised, post-war broadcasting services – in particular the introduction of a joint television network.

The ARD has a budget of €6.9 billion^[3] and 22,612 employees.^[4] The budget comes primarily from a licence fee which every household, company and public institution are required by law to pay. For an ordinary household the fee is currently €17.50 per month. Households living on welfare are exempt from the fee. The fees are not collected directly by the ARD, but by the Beitragsservice (formerly known as Gebühreneinzugszentrale GEZ), a common organisation of the ARD member broadcasters, the second public TV broadcaster ZDF, and Deutschlandradio.

ARD maintains and operates a national television network, called Das Erste ("The First") to differentiate it from ZDF, a.k.a. "das Zweite" ("The Second"), which started 1963, as a separate public TV-broadcaster. The ARD network began broadcasting on 31 October 1954 under the name of Deutsches Fernsehen ("German Television"), becoming Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen ("First German Television") with a corporate redesign in 1984; it adopted its current short name (Das Erste) in 1994. ARD's programmes are aired over its own terrestrial television network, as well as on pay television.

ARD also produces two free-to-air channels (one and Tagesschau24) and participates in the production of Phoenix (current events, news and documentaries), KiKa (kids-oriented), 3sat (cultural-oriented), arte (Franco-German cultural programming), and Funk (teenage-oriented, online only).

ARD's programming is produced by its regional members (see also Institutions and member organizations) (Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Radio Bremen, Rundfunk Berlin–Brandenburg (RBB), Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR), Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)), which operate 54 regional and local radio stations and seven regional TV networks, some of which have opt outs at during the day. Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster, is also a member of ARD.

The German Public Broadcasters are often accused of being too governmental near. Not only by the German right-wing Party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), but also by other Journalists and News Agencies.

History[]

Name[]

• German: "Arbeitsgemeinschaft – der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten – der Bundesrepublik Deutschland"
• 'Consortium' ("Working group") – of the public-law broadcasting institutions^‡ – of the Federal Republic of Germany'

^‡public-law broadcasting institutions means broadcasters which are not privately owned (German: Privatradio and Privatfernsehen) and are not governmental radio or TV. ARD is not 'owned by' anybody, particularly not by "Germany" (meaning its government/federal state). ARD-members like BR (Bayerischer Rundfunk) are not owned by their Land (state and its government, here Bavaria), either. With the Rundfunkfreiheit (freedom of broadcasting), they have an independent position (within a legal framework).

1940s and 1950s[]

The winning Allies of World War II determined that German radio after World War II would not broadcast the same propaganda as the pre-war Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft ("Reich Broadcasting Company"). A federal structure, the renunciation of state influence and the avoidance of economic dependence were to be the key of the radio and TV institutions under public law (öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunk- und Fernsehanstalten, public radio and television organisations). The legal form of the new entity was Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts ("Institution under Public Law"), a non-government and nonprofit organisation with its own administration under the control of two commissions, the Rundfunkrat (Broadcasting Council, responsible for the programmed content) and the Verwaltungsrat (Administration Council, responsible for management and infrastructure), in which different stakeholders from German public life were represented.

ARD's founding members were Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR), the station for the former British zone, Südwestfunk (SWF), the station in the French zone, and four stations located in the former American sector— Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), and Radio Bremen (RB). The new entity was financed by an obligatory fee which every German household with at least one radio receiver paid. Each station received the money collected in its state. Larger ARD members subsidised smaller ones up to a certain extent.

In 1947, American military governor Lucius D. Clay declared diversity of public opinion as the main aim of post-war media policy. Individuals aligned with the post-war Allied forces in their respective sectors of Germany had a local influence on local regional broadcasters. NDR cites the influence of Hugh Greene on the early years of their organisation.

Reception area of the West German TV channel Deutsches Fernsehen (nowadays Das Erste) (grey) within East Germany before reunification. ARD was jokingly referred to as Außer (except) Rügen und Dresden by East Germans. Main transmitters appear in red. Areas with no reception (black) were jokingly referred to as "Valley of the Clueless" (Tal der Ahnungslosen).

After the creation of individual broadcasting agencies for most German federal states these principles were further consolidated by Länder broadcasting laws, decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) and state treaties between the Länder. ARD members are thus (at least nominally) free of government influence and rely for only a small part of their income on advertising (1995: ten percent). They are financed mainly from licence fees from radio and TV owners, which are set through a complex political process. The mandated aim of the ARD corporations is not only to inform and to entertain, but also to encourage the integration of various parts of society and allow minorities a say in programming.

In the 1950s the ARD radio services became the major factor of the mass media system in West Germany. As early as 1952 the ARD radio stations had ten million listeners. However, the radio stations operated on a regional level, and it was only the development of a television umbrella that helped the ARD to establish itself nationwide. The broadcasting of a countrywide TV broadcast service was the goal of the ARD from the outset and the go-ahead for this was given at the end of 1952. The same year ARD was admitted as a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union and the "German sound archive", now German Broadcasting Archive (DRA, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv), was established as a joint facility of the ARD.

In 1955 the founding member NWDR ("Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk", English: "North-West German Broadcasting") split into today's NDR and WDR. The year before (1954) the smaller SFB was split off. The first daily news feature, the Tagesschau, went on the air from Hamburg in 1952. The famous 8:00 pm chime and announcement "Hier ist das Erste Deutsche Fernsehen mit der Tagesschau" ("This is the first German television channel with the Tagesschau") remains an ARD hallmark today. The broadcast attracts an average of 8 million viewers.

1960s–1980s[]

After starting with a schedule of a mere two hours per-night, television became more widespread in Germany in the 1960s. Color broadcasts were introduced in 1967. Without competition from private broadcasters (other than the francophone Europe 1 and the multilingual RTL (Radio-Television Luxembourg) radio programs), the ARD stations made considerable progress in becoming modern and respected broadcasters. ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Second German Television), a second public television broadcaster with centralized national organization structure, began its programming in 1963, but ARD would encounter no private competition in Germany until 1984. The ARD stations have also been a significant force in German politics; such investigative news magazines as Monitor and Panorama still reach millions of viewers every week. The environmental movement increased in popularity during the 1980s largely as a result of the disclosures made by ARD.

When private/commercial German-language broadcasters were admitted in Germany by federal law in the mid-1980s, ARD television made subtle changes, adapting somewhat by producing programs oriented to a larger audience for their national networks and shifting many cultural and news programs to the regional networks and to newly created niche channels.

Informational television programs and the orientation of "Deutschlandfunk" (Germany's national public radio station, associated with, but not a member of the ARD) programs towards the GDR were of importance to the eventual collapse of the GDR.^{[citation needed]} Established in 1974, the ARD bureau in East Berlin made ARD television the most important source of information for GDR citizens,^{[citation needed]} eighty percent of whom could watch what they referred to as "Westfernsehen". Notwithstanding obstruction on the part of GDR authorities and the repeated expulsion of their correspondents, the ARD-Tagesschau and Deutschlandfunk transmitted reports about the Leipzig Monday Demonstrations (which started on 4 September 1989) as early as September 1989.

1990s[]

After unification and the closure of the GDR television service, two new regional broadcasters were established in the East, becoming ARD members in 1992. These were originally the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR, English: "Central German Broadcasting"), and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB, English: "East German Broadcasting Brandenburg"). The existing NDR service expanded into the north-east, where it also covered Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The ORB service has since merged with the former Sender Freies Berlin (SFB, English "Radio Free Berlin") to become Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB, English: "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting") in 2003.

Another merger took place between two member organisations of the ARD in 1998. The former Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR, English: "Southern German Broadcasting") and Südwestfunk (SWF, English: "Southwestcast") became Südwestrundfunk (SWR, English: "Southwest Broadcasting") on 1 October 1998.

Programming[]

Radio[]

Today, ARD member stations usually produce their own radio programming. Some ARD member stations usually collaborate for common radio services (an example being Nordwestradio, a culture-oriented radio station co-produced by Radio Bremen and NDR). Most ARD stations, however, will have at least a news-oriented radio station, a classical-music station, a youth-oriented station, and a cultural station. At night some stations will relay common night programming produced on a rota system by the ARD stations themselves. There are four common night programming services: Hitnacht (light music), Nachtkonzert (classical music), Infonacht (all news) and Popnacht (pop music). Most services are on the FM broadcast band, though some services are also available on DAB.

A similar network intended for national coverage is called Deutschlandradio, however Deutschlandradio is not an ARD member – instead Deutschlandradio is controlled by both ARD and ZDF. Deutschlandradio provides two terrestrial radio services: Deutschlandfunk (DLF), a news-oriented service, and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, a culture-oriented service. It also provides a science-orientated internet channel: Deutschlandfunk Nova.

ARD's best known radio station outside Germany is Deutsche Welle, which broadcasts its radio services around the world in many languages, mostly on analogue shortwave radio, online and FM partner stations. Deutsche Welle has no FM distribution in Germany.

"Archivradio"^[5] is an ARD internet radio station which streams raw audio material from German sound archives, mainly the ARD radio archives and the DRA. The program is accompanied by a web portal run by the ARD-member SWR, with background information of the original sounds aired.

Television[]

The main television channels of the ARD are the nationwide Das Erste and seven regional channels operated by the different regional broadcasting institutions. These channels were available on the analogue terrestrial transmitters until the shutdown of the analogue transmitters started in 2003. Das Erste and the third programmes, like the radio stations, are principally funded by licence fees, with a very limited amount of on-air advertising.

Das Erste broadcasts nationwide 24 hours a day, although the schedule does include four and a half hours of joint programming with ZDF each weekday, in the form of the news programmes (on air 5.30–9.00) and (13.00–14.00), which the two organizations take weekly turns to produce. Audience share (March 2008):12.5%, from 14–49 years 6.9%.

The regional members of ARD all, jointly (NDR/rb and SWR/SR) or separately, operate their own regional channels, known collectively as ("the Third Programmes") – before recent rebranding, most of these stations had names like West 3 and Hessen 3. The schedules of these regional channels also include sub-regional opt-outs at certain times, in particular for local news.

• BR Fernsehen from Bayerischer Rundfunk (sub-regional opt-outs: Altbayern und Schwaben (South), Franken (North))
• hr-fernsehen from Hessischer Rundfunk
• MDR Fernsehen from Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (opt-outs: state programmes for Saxony, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thuringia)
• NDR Fernsehen from Norddeutscher Rundfunk (opt-outs: state programmes for Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and rb.tv from Radio Bremen)
• RBB Fernsehen from Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (opt-outs: separate state programmes)
• SWR Fernsehen from Südwestrundfunk – in collaboration with SR Fernsehen (opt-outs: state programmes for Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and SR Fernsehen from Saarländischer Rundfunk)
• WDR Fernsehen from Westdeutscher Rundfunk. (11 local opt-outs within North Rhine-Westphalia)

ARD has two additional channels as part of their ARD Digital package:

• Tagesschau24 – television news channel
• One – entertainment television channel

ARD is also involved in several joint venture channels:

• 3sat with ZDF, ORF and SRG: a cultural channel
• KI.KA with ZDF: a children's channel
• Arte with ZDF and France Télévisions: a Franco-German cultural channel
• Phoenix with ZDF: a news and documentary channel, focussed on showing press conferences and political debates in the German parliament live, in addition to historical and political features.

The international broadcaster Deutsche Welle also produces television services; however these services are mostly available via satellite.

Podcasts[]

The Tagesschau, produced by the ARD on a nightly basis, is available on the ARD website as a podcast (available as audio-only or as audio and video). Other audio programs from the ARD's members (e.g., BR, MDR) and Deutsche Welle are available as podcasts, through their respective websites.

Institutions and member organizations[]

ARD member broadcaster map.

ARD has 32 bureaux across the world, making it one of the world's largest news bureau networks worldwide.^[6][7]

ARD operates several other companies and institutions, sometimes jointly with ZDF:Degeto Film, a television rights trader and production company; the German Broadcasting Archive (DRA – Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv); the Institute for Broadcasting Technology (IRT – Institut für Rundfunktechnik), responsible for research and development; the Fee Collection Service (Beitragsservice), and others.

ARD is a supporter of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) initiative that is promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.

ARD broadcasters before German reunification

Chairs of the ARD[]

Logo[]

• 

  ARD's first logo used from 1950 until 1970.

• 

  ARD's second logo used from 1970 until 1984.

• 

  ARD's third logo used from 1984 until 2003.

• 

  ARD's fourth logo used from 2003 until 2019.

• 

  ARD's fifth and current logo used since December 2019.

Criticism[]

Reporting during Corona-Crisis[]

The German Public Broadcasters are accused by "die-tagespost.de" and other journalists of being to polite with the governmental opinions and actions during the Corona-Crisis. Instead of criticism against governmental actions and accusions, they seemingly had tend to spread pro governmental information. Therefore they seem to have lost their journalist focus and did not report about state-driven Mass Surveillance decisions, bad law-making, corruption and other activities by the German Government (and other Governments).

Criticism by political party's[]

The German party AfD accuses the German Broadcasters of being state-driven Propaganda Machines, since the party was founded in 2013. There's no evidence that the German Broadcasters are indeed government controlled.

A few sources, for example the Oxford Study in 2019 (p. 24), stating that the majority of the audience of German Public Broadcasters ARD, ZDF and "Deutschland Radio" are left-winged or near the left spectrum. This proves one small point of the Criticism spoken out by the AfD, which is referring to the left-shift of the German political Environment. This was in 2019 very much in discussion, because statements by the AfD should be discussed twice, since the AfD tend to often spread Fake News according to German Authorities and Scientists. The majority of German News Papers are accusing the AfD politicans of misunderstanding the Oxford study, which seems to be not the case.

Another proof could be the criticism of one of the ARD Chairman and Program Directorate Christine Strobl, which is not also in the German Party CDU, but also the wife of Wolfgang Schäuble, a German Parliamentarian and Member of the German CDU party. As Program Directorate she is in position to change elementary program directions, for example stopping Programs and initiating programs, but also taking the decision of cutting out critical material in programs - which is done regularly at Broadcasters for quality reasons.

"State television" charge[]

After the ARD withdrew material critical of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the magazine Der Spiegel compared this behaviour to the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. "The only thing that worries the delegates to the supervisory bodies was seen as the question whether the group they represent is treated with respect."^[8] To get rid of the "annoying image of state radio", Der Spiegel recommends it would certainly be helpful to keep more distance from the government: "...it's really hard to find people among those responsible for political reporting who do not find Angela Merkel quite wonderful and would like to share that with the audience every day."^[9]

Framing Manual[]

Claudia Schwartz from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported in February 2019 the ARD wanted to liven up the audience with morality. An internal manual from the "Berkeley International Framing Institute" was used in order to make ARD viewers consider their fees less as a compulsory contribution than as a kind of donation to a good cause. Claudia Schwartz commented: "Self-congratulation in the best tradition of state radio one is inclined to write - if this word would not already have been prohibited for some time."^[10] A link to the Framing Manual (PDF), written in German, is attached below in the sources section.

See also[]

• Television in Germany
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (Second German TV channel)
• List of German-language television channels

Notes[]

References[]

Sources[]

• ARD: ARD Jahrbuch 2005 (in German). Hans-Bredow-Institut. 2005. ISBN 3-8329-1730-6. Archived from the original on 2006-09-02.
• Oxford International Study about the audience of Public Broadcasters (PDF). UK: Oxford University. 2019. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-02.
• Criticism of ARD, ZDF (and others) during Corona (in German). die-tagespost.de. 2020.
• Criticism of Christine Strobl framed by NDR (in German). Daniel Bouhs, NDR. 2020.
• Framing Manual by ARD (PDF) (in German). Netzpolitik.org; ARD. 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-07-18.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to ARD.

• Official website (in German)
• Official information about ARD in English (PDF document)
• Live ARD Radio
• ARD Radio Guide