Chapter 5. Germany: Solid Journalistic Professionalism
Chapter 5 Germany Solid journalistic professionalism and strong public service media Christine Horz-Ishak & Barbara Thomass Introduction Germany is the biggest country in Europe, with 83 million people, and is also the largest part of a bigger German-speaking media market of about 100 mil- lion people. It has four small linguistic minorities (Sorbs in the east, Danes in the north, Frisians in the northwest, and German Sinti and Roma) and large migrant communities, of which the Turkish is the biggest one. The country has a long tradition of mass media and is one of the most dynamic media markets in the world. This is reflected in the consumption patterns of media users, who have an average media use of 10.16 hours per day. Politically, Germany is considered a mature liberal democracy. Freedom in the World 2021: status “free” (Score: 94/100, down from 95 in 2016). The 2017 federal elections saw a decrease in the representation of women in the Bundestag, down to 30.9 per cent, the lowest since 1998, which resulted in a one- point deduction in the category of Political Pluralism and Participation (Freedom House, 2021). Liberal Democracy Index 2020: Germany is placed first in the Top 10% bracket – rank 8 of measured countries, well up from 20 in 2020 (Varieties of Democracy Institute, 2019, 2021). Freedom of Expression Index 2018: rank 23 of measured countries, down from 10 in 2016 (Varieties of Democracy Institute, 2017, 2019). 2020 World Press Freedom Index: rank 11 of 180 countries, up from 16 in 2017 (Reporters Without Borders, 2020).
[Show full text]