Isn't the argument against public TV a little classist? Sure, you and I will never watch "an entire universe of bad or mediocre German TV", but your delivery person, your supermarket cashier or your nurse probably do - not to mention a lot of grandparents!
Same goes for "schmalzy garbage" - most people in the UK don't miss Love Island. It may seem a bit more complicated with "retrograde shows", but it doesn't have to be - reform the editorial teams so the content isn't racist / homophobic / sexist etc. There's a better chance to make the audience of this show question their antiquated values by speaking their language. They are paying for low-brow entertainment, and they should receive it.
Finally, I also wonder if focusing instead on documentaries is the right way to go. What's the point to produce amazing media that nobody will watch? Same goes for "quality films" - who decides what is quality and what not? Does John Waters qualify? What about John Carpenter?
Evolution, not dissolution. Funding independent media (like this newsletter, which is great) is a first step towards diversification - but it shouldn't be at the expense of things that people already enjoy.
I really disagree with those saying we shouldn't have to pay for public broadcasting. This is a democracy we've chosen to join, part of what makes it great is its support of culture. We should respect its prior choices even if some of us do also choose to support those lobbying for change.
I read a few months ago that a poor woman was at the supermarket and went to pay for her groceries and then the card was declined. The reason was that this ridiculous TV Tax Rundfunkbeitrag had put a freeze on her account as she hadn't pay the TV tax for months as food for her family was more important. This system needs reform. I personally despise paying for TV which is frankly crap and actually has advertisements too! What an utter archaic farce.
I never understand why so many people are hopelessly brainwashed into accepting the FORCED payment for this "journalism" for the radio networks. If you want to support them this way, sure, it should be voluntary and you can choose to keep paying your funds. But I don't believe this journalism is useful or necessary or good or anything I'm interested in, so I do not want to be FORCED into paying the fee for living in Germany. It's draconian nonsense. And so many people just think it's good for "journalism" oh come on, grow up, pay it if YOU want but don't force it on the rest of us if we don't want it. And this is the perfect example of - yeah most of that money is wasted, it's not worth it. Let's end this useless radio program once and for all.
Isn't the argument against public TV a little classist? Sure, you and I will never watch "an entire universe of bad or mediocre German TV", but your delivery person, your supermarket cashier or your nurse probably do - not to mention a lot of grandparents!
Same goes for "schmalzy garbage" - most people in the UK don't miss Love Island. It may seem a bit more complicated with "retrograde shows", but it doesn't have to be - reform the editorial teams so the content isn't racist / homophobic / sexist etc. There's a better chance to make the audience of this show question their antiquated values by speaking their language. They are paying for low-brow entertainment, and they should receive it.
Finally, I also wonder if focusing instead on documentaries is the right way to go. What's the point to produce amazing media that nobody will watch? Same goes for "quality films" - who decides what is quality and what not? Does John Waters qualify? What about John Carpenter?
Evolution, not dissolution. Funding independent media (like this newsletter, which is great) is a first step towards diversification - but it shouldn't be at the expense of things that people already enjoy.
I really disagree with those saying we shouldn't have to pay for public broadcasting. This is a democracy we've chosen to join, part of what makes it great is its support of culture. We should respect its prior choices even if some of us do also choose to support those lobbying for change.
I read a few months ago that a poor woman was at the supermarket and went to pay for her groceries and then the card was declined. The reason was that this ridiculous TV Tax Rundfunkbeitrag had put a freeze on her account as she hadn't pay the TV tax for months as food for her family was more important. This system needs reform. I personally despise paying for TV which is frankly crap and actually has advertisements too! What an utter archaic farce.
I never understand why so many people are hopelessly brainwashed into accepting the FORCED payment for this "journalism" for the radio networks. If you want to support them this way, sure, it should be voluntary and you can choose to keep paying your funds. But I don't believe this journalism is useful or necessary or good or anything I'm interested in, so I do not want to be FORCED into paying the fee for living in Germany. It's draconian nonsense. And so many people just think it's good for "journalism" oh come on, grow up, pay it if YOU want but don't force it on the rest of us if we don't want it. And this is the perfect example of - yeah most of that money is wasted, it's not worth it. Let's end this useless radio program once and for all.