Pollsters: “Parts of ARD and ZDF are openly working against the majority opinion and trying to change it”

Mercury Pollsters: “Parts of ARD and ZDF are openly working against the majority opinion and trying to change it” Article by Anne-Christine Merholz • 9 hours MARKETS TODAY Pollsters: “Parts of ARD and ZDF are openly working against the majority opinion and trying to change it” Many people accuse ARD and ZDF of not being politically neutral. Pollster Prof. Jürgen Falter explains why this is the case and why he still considers public broadcasters to be important. He is one of the best-known political scientists in Germany and known to many people as a TV expert: Prof. Dr. Jürgen W. Falter (University of Mainz). His book “Sometimes a little arrogant, but not quite impossible” (Nomos, 522 pages) will be published on November 10th. As an integral part of the German media landscape, he also deals with journalists. In an interview with Ippen.Media, the pollster explains what the public discourse is like. Prof. Falter, you have been seen as an expert in the media for decades and have taken part in many talk shows. How has the media landscape changed today? The biggest change has come from social media. We no longer have the previous nationwide communications community in which the whole of Germany had access to just two or three different television programs. Today, different opinions are disseminated through hundreds of different channels to many separate groups of people. At the same time we are witnessing the unfortunate decline of the press. Newspapers are sometimes losing circulation dramatically. What dangers lie in this? It doesn't appear that this would make people more politically interested or even more educated. Rather, there is a risk of encapsulation in each individual's own echo chamber. Today everyone can choose their own bubble of opinions and in this way feel permanently confirmed. Hiding important information or downplaying problems such as uncontrolled migration is grist to the mill of Pegida and AfD. Prof. Jürgen W. Falter (University of Mainz) Has the discourse become tougher? You feel anonymous, especially on social media, and that makes the tone harsher. But a lot has also changed in the political and public discourse. Attempting to persuade people through arguments no longer has the same importance as it once did. Confessionalism is now much more preferred. You're basically arguing with a megaphone and it's hard to hear the other person; In many cases you simply don't want to hear it anymore. This style of megaphone discussion can also be found on political television talk shows. One gets the impression that such guests are often invited to talk shows instead of neutral experts... That is also my perception. People who express strong opinions are more interesting to the viewer. They potentially increase ratings. In any case, they do not diminish them, as some more soberly arguing experts might do. Many people accuse ARD and ZDF of not being politically neutral. What is your assessment as a political scientist? In my observation, over the past twenty years the tendency towards attitude or conviction journalism has become stronger, especially among younger journalists. You want to take a stand and convert viewers and listeners to your own convictions. Many people today view their medium as a tool to show people the right direction - and that is almost never the right direction. The majority of journalists from ARD and ZDF are Green Party supporters or define themselves as left-wing, as we know from surveys. You can also notice the change in the program design. How does this show up specifically? Parts of ARD and ZDF openly work against the majority opinion and try to change it. There's something patronizing about that. The accumulation of programs about vegan nutrition is noticeable. You notice this even in little things like gender stuttering, as Sahra Wagenknecht once called it. The fact that ZDF informed about the background of the perpetrators at the Cologne Cathedral Plate two days later than RTL has shaken trust in the public broadcaster. Hiding important information or downplaying problems such as uncontrolled migration is grist to the mill of Pegida and AfD. There are political voices who want to abolish public media... I've lived in the US too long to come up with such an idea. Because if you really want to watch something chilling, it's American television. This is now breaking down into extremely polarized, one-sided camps of opinion. You don't see anything like that on German public broadcasters. They are quite one-sided at certain points or in segments.