There's a great column written in Focus today by Gabor Steingart.....which talks to the issue of German news media sources losing trust with the German public. I highly endorse the column and recommend it for reading (note: in German, unless you use Chrome).
As he points out....the 'giant' of German weekly news magazines....Spiegel....at it's peak around twenty years ago....sold around 1.1-million copies throughout Germany. Today? It's slightly less than 700,000 copies per week.
German public TV (ARD and ZDF)? They might still sway the older audiences....but with the 25-to-34 year old range....barely 13-percent of that crowd will watch them. In the 18-to-24 old range? It's a dismal 6-percent who watch their news pieces.
What he points out is that blogger folks are picking up the pieces with the younger audiences, and asking more direct, and confrontational questions.
I would offer this conclusion.....viewing both the UK and US situation as well....public confidence has been sliding for well over two decades, and frustrations exist with biased or 'fake' news. It's not like forty years ago where you had no choices. You can go to various sites on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or blogs.....sorting through the options, and select the preferred news.
My German wife over the past couple of months has made pointed and blunt criticisms of the public news media in Germany.....yet sits through the evening pieces and continues to watch them. I think half of her dedication to this however....is based on pointing out the criticism, and their short focus on facts.
Is this leading to some future problem? I think a number of big-name newspapers in Germany can survive....but with thinner editions, and pay levels slashed to some extremes. I think over the next decade.....ZDF and ARD (the public TV giants) will be told to consolidate news at one single network, and dump the other journalists. I'll also go and predict that biased networks and newspapers will find it difficult to nationally stage their message. For political parties, it's going to be a rough period.
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