Based on historical evidence and contemporary events consider whether the future of broadcasting in Germany will better be served by the State or by the market

At the beginning of the new century, with the ever greater interconnectedness of people through communication technology and the shift from material resources to information as indicator of the wealth of a nation, the common cultural policy debate about the control and financing of broadcasting continues on a broad level. Fuelled by the mediated attacks on the United States on September 11th the debate about whether there should be public service broadcasting and a licence fee or whether broadcasting would be better served by the market alone, fills pages in newspapers again (e.g. the three-days special in the G2 section of The Guardian about the state of British television, 19., 20. and 21.11.2001). Common accusations public television faces are that it allows itself to become increasingly commercialised and that it converges with the choice of programmes of private companies, thus violating its own programme commitments. In the following the German media landscape will be looked at to find out how broadcasting is being served in this European country and if the system ′in some respects really has model features′.