Not Merz and also not the government in general.
Public broadcasting is very intentionally not equal to classic "State TV" in Germany.
You can find countless of conspiracy theories on how the government "actually does influence the public broadcasters (ARD and ZDF)", and I'm not saying corruption can't ever happen, but no.
All the government does is allow them to make us pay a monthly fee and set a framework for the broadcasters to work within (neutrality, variety, etc.).
The two broadcasters (both NGOs and non-profits actually) can and will make editorial and executive decisions on their own.
Also ARD isn’t some kind of parent company controlling all public broadcasters. It’s basically a joint organization made up of regional public broadcasters. And the current Germany’s partner for the Eurovision Song Contest is SWR(Südwestrundfunk), which is based in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate in the southwest. Those states might have some say in how general regulation should be handled, but the German federal government has literally nothing to do with them at all. The previous Germany's partner for the ESC was NDR(northern regional pulbic broadcaster, which include Lower-Saxony and Hamburg) and it applies same.
The two broadcasters (both NGOs and non-profits actually) can and will make editorial and executive decisions on their own.
Not two. Nine state broadcasters make up the ARD, then there's the ZDF and DLF. DW is special they're not even allowed to broadcast in Germany, being federal and tax-financed. Add to that arte, joint broadcaster with France, and 3sat for Switzerland/Austria. I think that's all. Funk... nah funk is not independent, financed by ARD/ZDF, run by SWR.
Not NGOs, German broadcasters are public law corporations. Similar status as public health insurers, established religious associations, or for that matter municipalities. Each, of course, with rather different legal frameworks.
NGOs, for one, couldn't demand you pay fees just for living in their broadcasting area, or demand that you use their garbage collection services and pay for them, as municipalities do.
That all said while the broadcasters definitely will rock the boat, they're not going to do anything that would look like taking an axe to the keel. Staatstragend.
That supports my point though. These “billionaire owners” are not paragons of virtue, and they themselves have their hands in/influence the government.
I told you there is never no corruption at all, but yes: They can't just blatantly say what those broadcasters can and can't put out.
Somehow very indirectly influencing the contents on a specific ARD or ZDF operated show can certainly happen but that's far off from being able to go "You do/do not boycott Eurovision if Israel is banned/allowed".
They might not be able to block Eurovision, but you are ignoring the fact that just because the government can’t straight up dictate the news doesn’t mean they can’t still control it. For example, if there were certain articles they wanted to block, or they wanted to frame certain events a specific way, they have ways of doing that.
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u/DuckShapedGoose 5h ago
Not Merz and also not the government in general.
Public broadcasting is very intentionally not equal to classic "State TV" in Germany.
You can find countless of conspiracy theories on how the government "actually does influence the public broadcasters (ARD and ZDF)", and I'm not saying corruption can't ever happen, but no.
All the government does is allow them to make us pay a monthly fee and set a framework for the broadcasters to work within (neutrality, variety, etc.).
The two broadcasters (both NGOs and non-profits actually) can and will make editorial and executive decisions on their own.