The Hans-Bredow-Institut has written the academic report on the current development of media in Germany for the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien [German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media]. The report provides significant parts to the Federal Government Report on Communications and Media 2017.
The Hans-Bredow-Institut had already submitted such a report on the development of media in 2008. The findings of 2008 have been compared to the current situation in order to show what trends have continued in the different media areas and where new trends are emerging. Furthermore, the causes of these developments have been discussed and the political, social, economic and cultural consequences along with the problems have been analysed. If possible, the perspectives for media politics have been highlighted.
The report was submitted in February 2017 and published on June, 27, 2017. It was authored by an interdisciplinary team, which was led by
Prof. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink and
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz and co-ordinated by
Hermann-Dieter Schröder.
Project Description
The German Bundestag (Upper House of Parliament) requested that the Federal Government produces a continuous report on the state of the media in light of its significance for the development of the democratic society by resolution of 12 March 1976. In view of the rapid digitalisation in media since the 1990s, the Parliament of the Federal Government further requested a report on media and communications that contains information about the progress towards a sustainable and future-oriented regulation of communication and media.
The Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien [German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media] is in charge of this task within the Federal Government. The last comprehensive Report on Communication and Media was submitted on 17 December 2008. In the last legislative period, a report of the Federal Government was not submitted until 2012 due to an agreement with the spokespersons for culture and media policy of the political groups since the Enquete-Kommission des Deutschen Bundestages "Internet und digitale Gesellschaft" [Committee of Enquiry of the German Bundestag "Internet and Digital Society"] worked on these topics at the same time.
Like the Report on Media of 2008, the next report includes the fundamental technical, economic, social and political changes that are related to the digitisation of the media world along with the means of action, which are used by the Federal Government, in order to meet the current and – as far as it can be foreseen today – future political challenges. In doing so, media is treated as both cultural and economic goods, and media policy is understood as a central part of social policy as well as a cross-sectional task that shows interfaces with technology policy, economic policy, cultural policy, educational policy and consumer policy. Accordingly, the essential developments were included and evaluated in a cross-medial, cross-departmental and interdisciplinary manner. The individual media genres were only taken into account if they have shown certain particularities now and foreseeably in the future that require a special need for action in media policy.
Just like the last report, the Report on Communication and Media 2017 contains an account of the media development from an acknowledged research institute within the relevant period under review. This report is an essential part of the report of the Federal Government and was presented to the German Bundestag before it was made available to everyone online.
