Government and Media: Censorship Versus Freedom

Introduction

“We are completely taken-in by the agenda laid down by the political class.”

“The topics which are reported are laid down by the government.”

The news is “to Ms. Merkel’s liking.”

Dr. Wolfgang Herles’s frank admission about state broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) in 2016 sent shock waves across the media in Germany and beyond. Here was a former senior executive saying something almost unconscionable about a major public service broadcaster (PSB) in a modern liberal democracy.

Denied officially, it sparked a major controversy which crossed the borders of many democratic and nondemocratic institutions.

This entry focuses on the unavoidable tensions and conflicts which lie inherently within the structure, functions, and relationships between those who are paid to scrutinize power on behalf of voters and the “power” which may ultimately “control” or seek to control the scrutinizers.

Moreover that power, be it local, national, or state level, may also visibly or...