Berlin and Brandenburg on RBB television: Hooray, the RBB can do justice

Given the size of the public broadcaster, there are a lot of desks at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. So it’s not surprising that a study disappeared into a desk, which “Business Insider” had suspected that the broadcaster had allegedly not published because of the bad results for RBB television. The study is about regional reporting, which has been repeatedly and harshly criticized in Brandenburg, starting with Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke. Tenor: Where is the mark on RBB television?

No unequal distribution

Now the study from 2021 has reappeared, RBB publishes it and quotes from it with a big heart: “With regard to the question of the weighting of Berlin and Brandenburg reporting, it can be concluded that in the case of the basic service mandate, particularly relevant reporting on politics and social issues, no serious unequal distributions between the two countries can be observed. The fact that rbb fernsehen is increasingly concentrating on Berlin when it comes to reporting on human touch topics and sport seems difficult to avoid and journalistically appropriate in view of the events in Berlin with higher crime rates, a higher ‘density’ of prominent personalities and the well-known Berlin sports clubs.” .

All in all, the information and infotainment offerings on RBB television are largely geared towards the broadcasting area. Around 80 percent of the broadcasting area of ​​the informative program was related to Berlin or Brandenburg or both federal states. This is a lot compared to other ARD third parties. Overall, the areas of entertainment and information offerings and infotainment each have a share of almost 50 percent of the program.

cool, right? The RBB has everything and does everything right. The press release states that the result essentially corresponds to the findings that the broadcaster regularly gains from its own media research. From today’s perspective, it is no longer possible to understand why the study was not made accessible either internally or externally. “Regardless of this, the current management of rbb sees itself encouraged by these figures in devoting special attention to regional focal points on rbb television.”

The study was commissioned by the program director at the time, Jan Schulte-Kellinghaus, in consultation with the director at the time, Patricia Schlesinger. The results could have been a credit to both of them, but perhaps they stood in the way of the “RBB becoming a capital” project. In which desk was it found?