Public TV 'Comedians'

 WDR is a sub-unit off the public TV empire, and based out of northwestern Germany (mostly for the NRW state region).  

This past week, they ran a program....called 'Quarks'.  

My description of the show?  Well...it's a regular series....science geeky-type of show, and covers the environment, technology, general science stuff, and medical developments (particularly Covid).

So on this past week's episode....they wanted to do you a favor on the election hype, and grade political parties on environment 'promises'.  They had a standard which had been around for a while, and were going to use the standard as part of their grading.

But there was this little problem.

As they pulled out their previous grading system.....no matter they ranked the parties...the FDP Party came out on top (not the Green Party, as you might imagine).

So the Quark crowd and management decided that they had to re-invent the index and standards.....once complete....yes, the Greens were the number one party for the environment. 

In doing this....the public TV folks and these Quark production folks....put themselves into a tight situation.

The FDP Party now after the new standards?  They were four spots behind the Green Party....way back.

The problem here?  They got caught, and in doing so...you can assess that their level of independence is pretty crapped-out.  They probably pulled out the old standards sheet....applied the numbers....woke up and suddenly realized that you can't rank the FDP better than the Greens on 'saving-the-world'.

What happens now?  Unknown.  There might be a moment where the board of governors for public TV brings in the ARD 'boss' and has a chat.  Quark production members probably will be asked to convene a meeting and discuss their ethical behavior.  Beyond that....I don't expect much.  But here's the thing.....once you go and lose trust....it's hard to build it back. People get skeptical....ask stupid questions, and they remember how stupid you got for a brief time.

The odds that the new standard will  be dumped in six months, for another new standard....because the FDP evolved their message/solution?  Well...yeah, that's probably a pretty good bet.  The Quark folks might want to just worry about volcanoes or tidal waves for a while.