Commercial media in Germany has successfully bullied public broadcasters into reducing their online offerings on the premise that it constitutes unfair competition. Two public broadcasters have announced that they plan to reduce their online offerings in response to widespread criticism, thereby reinforcing traditional media’s notion that their way is the only way to do business.
For some reason, this high-pressure tactic seems to be working. Among the changes being made by Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF and its sister channel ARD is a 70 percent cut in the volume of online content made available to viewers. Of what will be left, regular reports will only remain online for a week, and reports on sporting events will only be up for a single day.
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Image Source: aloshbennett