The gatekeeping role of the media in recent times has come under harsh scrutiny in many countries across the globe.

A gatekeeper refers to an individual within an organisation who has the power to select or reject messages, and even to interpret and change them, thereby influencing the perception of a section of the public about the media is one of mistrust.

There is a seeming wave of scepticism about the information published/broadcasted to the mass audience by the media.

An article by a reporter of Germany’s biggest print media Spiegel paints a picture of his society gradually losing faith in the media. Isolde Beck, one of the ardent readers, in January sent an angry letter to the newspaper’s editor expressing her dissatisfaction with how "the news is being suppressed" and journalists are no longer allowed to “articulate certain things.”

In short, “Beck has stopped believing what the journalists write.” This mistrust was borne out of the media’s coverage of the refugee crisis in Europe in general and Germany in particular.

The Ghanaian media's nemesis might be far from the German experience, but its coverage of political issues ahead of the November 2016 polls and how the news consuming public will perceive information from the fourth estate of the realm.

In May this year, the German Federal Foreign Office organised a fact-finding trip to Germany on the topic “Pluralistic society – Role of the media in Germany” for 18 selected journalists and media experts.

Participants were from Ghana, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Cambodia and the focus was on the independence of the press, freedom of the media and the role of journalists/journalism. 

I had the opportunity to represent Ghana at the week-long conference in Berlin. The worrying theme I picked up notably is the perception that journalists are no longer capable of being independent and unbiased. But, Germany being one of Europe’s biggest media hub, the federal state’s media system has survived the shock and I will be sharing what I learnt during the conference.

 The German Media System 

The German media system is arguably is one of the pluralistic landscape in Europe. It is Europe’s biggest media market. I had the opportunity of meeting a seasoned freelance journalist in Berlin, Günter Knabe, who shared insights about Germany’s public service broadcasting system.   

Like Ghana, Germany has a "dual system" of both public and commercial broadcasting (in fact, if you include community media it is a trial system). In public broadcasting, the Länder (states) plays a great role which is not the case in Ghana.

The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and its regional branches are run by a Board. The National Media Commission appoints the board (NMC) also exercises control over the state-run print outlets and wire services like the Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times and Ghana News Agency (GNA).  

The German Federal Constitution stipulates that the sole responsibility for broadcasting rests with the Länder of the Federal Republic as part of their "cultural sovereignty". Because of this, the public service broadcasters are a creation of the Länder that acts individually ore jointly (in agreements). The exception is the broadcaster Deutsche Welle, based on federal legislation, designed to provide services (radio, TV, online) to foreign countries only.

The traditional public service broadcaster is set up as an independent and non-commercial organisation, financed primarily by licence fees. GBC, on the other hand, is financed by government and advertising. It is struggling to collect a controversial TV license fees which has been met with fierce opposition from the public who accused the state broadcaster of a poor quality of content.  

The public service broadcasting organisation (Anstalt) in Germany to some extent resembles the BBC system. The typical Anstalt provides a region, called a Land, with public service radio and television. NDR is the joint corporation for the four Northern Länder (Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Since it is de-centralised, there are many media centres in the country, e. g. Hamburg (NDR), Cologne (WDR), Munich (BR), Berlin-Potsdam (rbb)

Since 2013, Germans pay a per-household flat fee of €17.5 per month for all electronic devices, known as the Rundfunkbeitrag or “broadcast contribution”. The amount replaced the old GEZ radio and TV fee which was payable per device. The German way perhaps may be the window of reviving Ghana’s public service broadcasting where it’s mandatory to pay these fees. Many Ghanaians own TV sets, but, no one will be willing to pay license fees for a poor quality of service.

In Germany, the system used to be based on individuals taking the initiative to pay and an army of inspectors who were allowed to do door-to-door patrols but was replaced by an obligatory payment, so that no one can avoid it. Exemptions include low-income families and students. Disabled people can apply to pay a reduced fee of €5.99. Companies pay according to the number of employees they have, but every company, whether a bakery or a hair salon, is obliged to pay.

The fees are criticised as being among the highest in the world despite public stations carrying ads, and because of the often poor quality of German television as well as the high number of programmes bought from foreign broadcasters, particularly the US.

Significant to note is the fact that, public radio is financed by the state but it’s not controlled by government. But, stations are not allowed to broadcast beyond the borders of Germany. You still pay even if you don’t own a radio or TV set. Those who don’t pay are fined.

Content is controlled by two different organisations – one is in charge of finance and the other controls programming. There is a committee that decides the budget for programming. They decide for instance which quota should go into sports, entertainment or news production. Members of the public such as labour unions and interest groups regulate and/or determine programming and content of the media.

One of the members is in charge of programming at the network. Since it’s a public station, according to Knabe, the philosophy is to have the public in charge. But, this cannot be said in the case the public service broadcasting system in Ghana. There is a unit in charge of programming but they do not have representatives of the public but rather members of the board who make decisions on behalf of the people. This can be criticised as not allowing the diversity and plurality that would drive quality of service broadcasted to the audience. 

The German Press Council

The purpose of the German Press Council is to lobby for press freedom. It sanctions ethical breaches by the media through advising, disproval and reprimand. Unlike Ghana, a complainant/person is not entitled to a rejoinder.

The Digital Festival

The digital festival in Berlin was an eye opener with over thousand bloggers converged in one place. But, the event that caught my eye was the submissions in an intense debate between Director of News at Aljazeera English Editor, Salah Negm, and Programming Director of CNN Digital International, Inga Thordardottir, Director of Deutsche Welle, Peter Limbourg and Senior Political Correspondent of Russia Today International, Anissa Naouai.

The topic was ‘Battle of World Views – Competition Between TV News Networks’ and the discussion covered getting rid of clichés, tracking the big stories and whether international networks/journalists can be trusted. 

Major Highlights

Director of Deutsche Welle, Peter Limbourg argued that news organisations that go beyond clichés are the ones that survive. Journalism is unable to do away with clichés.

Director of News at Aljazeera English Editor, Salah Negm, explained that as journalists, our job is to give our audience the information and allow them to make their decisions. 

Senior Political Correspondent of Russia Today International, Anissa Naouai noted that it is impossible to form an opinion by watching one channel. It’s impossible to form an objective view of the world by watching one channel. The bottom line is to trust journalists when they are accurate, honest, tell you how you are affected and change policies.

Meeting With Reporters Without Borders

All participating Journalists were given insights on how the various countries were varying on this year’s World Press Freedom Ranking. Many were not excited and challenged, but, I was happy Ghana was about the same length with Germany – satisfactory, although I believe we can do better perhaps like Finland which according to World Press Freedom Ranking this year is good.

At Germany’s Parliament

Talk at the Paul-Löbe-Haus with Member of Parliament (MdB), Dr Philipp Lengsfeld of the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs of the German Bundestag was revealing. The man’s frankness and firm stance on Germany’s media bias on the coverage of migrant crisis were surprising.

I remember him saying demonstration is a public declaration of opinion. There're always been people who doubted the press, but, in Germany, it has gotten worse. ‘journalists are sprayed with pepper and hit in the head’.  It was well captured by Dr Philipp Lengsfeld view that “the media must be ready to accept tough constructive criticism when it’s told in the face”.