What the international locations plan to do by way of media coverage in 2026 | EUROtoday

The media coverage actions of the federal states this 12 months are primarily decided by two subjects: the draft of the second a part of the Digital Media State Treaty and the implementation of the Reform State Treaty by the general public broadcasters. The survey of all state chancelleries within the federal states reveals that the rising affect of platforms and intermediaries on the formation of opinions is considered with nice concern and that regulatory measures are urgently wanted to safe media freedom in Germany.

These embody, amongst different issues, proposals for altering promoting tips, tightening ancillary copyright legal guidelines, levies on digital platforms for press funding, stricter transparency rules for AI suppliers and the doable merger of state media authorities.

The international locations have developed a catalog of subjects with nearly 30 positions, which is able to kind the premise of the media coverage discussions. For Nathanael Liminski, Head of the State Chancellery and Media Minister in North Rhine-Westphalia, platforms aren’t impartial infrastructures. They would particularly affect communicative processes. “With clear rules of the game, we must therefore ensure that fair exchange is possible and remains possible on the platforms that largely shape communication in our society today,” he says. According to Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media in Hamburg, the constitutional order should apply to all content material.

That is why he’s calling for future authorized rules to “ensure that every provider of their own content is legally liable for it”. With the Digital Media State Treaty, the authorized framework should even be tailored to the challenges of the digital and AI-driven media world, says the SPD politician, who additionally requires the media authorities to be merged into one supervisory authority.

With the Digital Media State Treaty, the states are addressing basic questions of media regulation so as to safe the communicative foundations of our free-democratic society, says Heike Raab, State Secretary in Rhineland-Palatinate and coordinator of the Broadcasting Commission. With the deliberate state treaty, the states put the complete European, federal and state media rules to the check.

Artificial intelligence is enjoying an more and more essential position within the creation and use of media content material, says Florian Herrmann, head of the Bavarian State Chancellery and media minister. They more and more decided the competitors between conventional content material suppliers and worldwide tech corporations and elevated the present imbalance. It is due to this fact essential that the federal states press forward with their consideration of a digital media state treaty. Copyrights and ancillary copyrights have to be tailored to the AI ​​context, whereas on the similar time there have to be room for technological progress.

The dynamics of digital change are notably clear within the media world, emphasizes Dirk Schrödter, Head of the State Chancellery in Schleswig-Holstein. The Digital Media State Treaty should due to this fact comprise a big bundle to safe the communicative foundations of our free, democratic society. Schrödter urges the federal authorities to current a draft legislation for a digital levy on massive platforms “as quickly as possible” so as to use the levy to strengthen regional and native media variety. More than 50 % of promoting budgets now find yourself with the main platforms. They additionally generate this earnings as a result of they provide content material that comes from regional and native media corporations with out adequately remunerating the authors, says Schrödter.

For Stefan Gruner, head of the Thuringian State Chancellery, it will be significant that the promoting tips are modified by way of the Digital Media State Treaty so as to make it simpler to finance personal media choices. In addition, media focus legislation, which continues to be television-centric, have to be given a cross-media and cross-platform perspective so as to higher seize and restrict the ability of opinion. Digital communication areas ought to be protected against manipulation by combating unlawful content material and making it simpler to search out dependable media content material.

Andreas Handschuh, Head of the State Chancellery in Saxony, provides that the Broadcasting Commission has appealed to the federal authorities and the EU to adapt the copyright framework so as to guarantee journalistic choices, variety of opinion and media variety and to create equal situations for all actors. In this context, Rudi Hoogvliet, State Secretary for Media Policy in Baden-Württemberg, is in favor of deregulation of traditional media. For instance, authorized modifications are crucial in order that content material suppliers are adequately compensated when their content material is utilized by AI suppliers. Thomas Ehmke, State Councilor for Media from Bremen, can also be pushing for a transparent regulatory framework for using AI “as quickly as possible” that not solely regulates the permissible provide, but additionally creates a good financial steadiness.

When it involves solutions to the query about crucial media coverage points for 2026, the urgency of containing the opinion energy of worldwide platforms dominates, however on the similar time all international locations anticipate ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio to rapidly meet the necessities of the reform state treaty. According to Rainer Robra, head of the State Chancellery in Saxony-Anhalt, the administrators at the moment are required to “quickly implement the agreed reforms in their institutions, increase efficiencies, expand cooperation and reduce costs. They must show that they are taking the reform mandate seriously instead of commissioning further reports in order to put the regulatory orders into perspective.”

If, in response to the most recent calculations by the KEF contribution fee, there is no such thing as a want for a contribution enhance for the years 2025 and 2026, this reveals that “an efficient public broadcaster” can also be doable with “more moderate financial resources”. The tips for the long run contribution course of shall be set by the Federal Constitutional Court, whose resolution on the constitutional grievance by ARD and ZDF towards the failure to extend the contribution is predicted this 12 months.

Andreas Handschuh expects that the implementation of the Reform State Treaty will result in a big enchancment within the financial effectivity of public broadcasting earlier than 2029. Nevertheless, the Reform State Treaty can solely be a primary step: the coexistence of ARD and ZDF, the retention of small establishments inside ARD and parallel administrative constructions are nonetheless main price drivers.

The coordinator of the Broadcasting Commission, Heike Raab, sees the KEF’s new contribution advice as affirmation of the states’ resolution to not enhance the contribution till later. However, she is “very concerned” in regards to the current “jumps, special reserves and other developments” within the KEF’s forecasts. Regardless of the result of the Karlsruhe proceedings, now’s the fitting time to evaluation deadlocked positions and resume dialogue on a factual degree, she says.

Since the State Financing Treaty has not been ratified by all state parliaments because of the constitutional grievance by ARD and ZDF, Carsten Brosda can also be “urgently” calling for an settlement on how the contribution course of ought to be structured sooner or later in order that the dispute over financing doesn’t must be introduced earlier than the Federal Constitutional Court once more. “Legal proceedings cannot be a substitute for clever media policy,” he concluded. However, Florian Herrmann at the moment sees no scope for an “agreement”, because the structural reforms initiated with the Reform State Treaty should first take impact earlier than a brand new financing process is determined, he says. Bavaria needs to stay with this in addition to the aim of conserving the broadcasting payment “stable”.