Germany

[DE] Commitment Declarations of ARD and ZDF

IRIS 2007-1:1/15

Carmen Palzer

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

Under Art. 11 para. 4 of the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement) between the Länder, ARD and ZDF, the public service broadcasters in Germany, are obliged to publish a comprehensive report every two years concerning their activities and fulfilment of their public service remit during the previous period, as well as their future programming priorities (so-called declaration of commitments). These reports serve to set out their public service remit in concrete terms. At the end of each two-year period, the internal supervisory bodies of the broadcasting corporations examine whether they have fulfilled their commitments.

ZDF's report on the fulfilment of its commitments during the period just gone was approved by the ZDF Television Council on 30 June 2006, while the commitments set out for the 2007-2008 period were adopted at the meeting of 6 October 2006. The ARD's report on the fulfilment of its commitments for 2004-2006 was adopted together with its programming guidelines for 2007-2008 by the ARD Annual General Meeting on 13 September 2006.

The reports describe in detail how the broadcasters intend to fulfil their public service remit both in terms of programme content (divided, for example, into the fields of information, culture, education, children and entertainment) and in relation to programme distribution in the digital era (digital perspectives, online and media services, etc.). Moreover, they include additional commitments in terms of barrier-free access for persons with disabilities and - following a previous case of surreptitious advertising involving the ARD - the separation of advertising and programme material. Both broadcasters stress that news and information will continue to dominate their programming schedules and that cultural programmes will form a key part of the service they provide.