In this edition of Exploring Germany, we invited Henri Wolferstetter, a student who just graduated from the Department of Media and Communication at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich this summer. As you can guess, This report centers on German journalism as seen through Henri’s eyes. The journalist also hopes that through this report, more international students who read the exchange student blog will gain a deeper understanding of German journalism.
German Journalism – What are the Topics
Data show that the issues of greatest concern, in descending order, are immigration, climate and environment, social injustice, economic system, inflation and armed conflict. The topic of migration and refugees was also mentioned by Henri as a possible top concern for the German public. He thinks that the reason for such a high level of concern is that part of the population thinks that Germany already accepted enough refugees and they say the immigration isn’t working as it should. Some people are also reluctant to continue accepting refugees because of the perception that they will take up jobs that are already available in Germany, but Henri argues that this is an unjustified prejudice.
After recalling the news topics that are often talked about by his peers, Henri points out that perhaps the most important topics for young Germans are the climate crisis, pension insurance and armed conflicts in some parts of the world.
Henri’s eyes became more determined and serious when he spoke about the climate crisis. He explains that young people are concerned about climate issues, but the media coverage of the climate crisis is far from adequate. Every time period there is a big hit in the headlines, now it’s Israel, before that it was Ukraine, before that it was the COVID. And so an ongoing and significant topic like the climate crisis is relatively neglected.
Quality Media – Frequently being Mentioned
Data from a 2021 survey show that Germans primarily use TV and the Internet to get their news, with relatively little use of radio and print media. At the same time, we can see that with the popularization of the Internet, the general use of online media is higher, while the age difference in the use of TV, radio and print media is significant.
Henri feels the same way and realize that people around him are used to use Instagram to browse the news by following the channels of the national and international media. He also finds it interesting that teenagers under the age of about 14 also like to use TikTok to browse the news.
In Henri’s eyes, SZ, FAZ, Die Zeit and ARD are quality media, but BILD Zeitung isn’t. They can be called quality media because their reporting almost always manages to be objective, contextualized, incorporates multiple perspectives, and doesn’t deliberately inflame emotions. The reports of BILD Zeitung, in his opinion, often have polarizing views and discriminatory overtones. For example, in one of its articles, it demands that immigrants “must speak German” and reminds them to “say ‘please’ and ‘thank you'”. This is to imply that immigrants are impolite and cannot even say “please” and “thank you”.
At this moment, Henri revealed a helpless expression. He said that there is a media organization in Germany that warns against media that violate journalistic ethics, but it doesn’t have much practical utility, like a toothless tiger. At the same time, there is a market for this type of media, because there are always people who like to read exciting, emotional news, and who like media that gives “simple” answers to complex issues.
Constructive Journalism – A Path that Might Work
Henri looks at journalism and people’s perceptions of the news and finds that more and more people are reluctant to browse the news, and studies have shown that watching the news creates more feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness in people nowadays.
Perhaps the media should produce more constructive news, Henri said, constructive news is news report that presents not only the problem but also the solution to the problem. This of course creates higher demands on journalists, but journalists can provide realistic, scientific solutions through investigation, research and interviews.
Henri expressed his deeper concern that we are in a democratic society where people should be informed enough to participate in democratic politics on that basis. But if people are not willing to get information, the foundations of democracy may be compromised.
If I become a journalist in the future, I will choose to be a constructive news reporter, Henri said. When he left, he rode away on his eco-bike.
