Most people who've read my essays extensively.....know that I am fairly harsh with the public TV crowd in Germany (ARD and ZDF).
Over the years, I've probably put up at least a dozen significant criticisms of the public TV landscape, their monthly 'tax', their overpayment of sports contracts, the news agenda, the public forums, the scripts selected for movie production, the 'game-shows', and so on. I'll even admit that I'm one of those people that believe the networks are on a course to either be downsized or totally reorganized within the next decade.
Today, I noted that the ARD folks are on a new PR-agenda....hyping their value to the viewers. The motto campaign? "We are your ARD".
It's featured via the network, the radio folks, and even the Internet.
All of this seeks to show the value of ARD and it's broadcasting to the general public. Part of this gimmick is to seem more open to the public.....answer questions....accept some suggestions and show they are people-friendly.
Why the effort? Well....if you go around the 15-to-30 year old crowd....they've basically given up watching it. My son (27 years old) will admit that in the past decade...he's not watched a single hour of public TV (either network). He works with numerous people who admit the same thing. All of these people are reaching a stage where they might make up one-third of the general voting public in the next election (2021). If any party comes out and says they want to dismantle the public TV networks or downsize the tax....this crowd will go and vote for that party. So ARD and ZDF are both fairly worried about their future.
The potential to change perception? Maybe with the folks in the age group of fifty or above.....they have potential to make their case. But I doubt if anyone under the age of thirty will buy into this PR-blitz.
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