Exploring German Media and Politics

That is something that I had a conversation with Dr. Martin Gross about.

Interviewer: Would you start out by introducing yourself?

Martin Gross: I’m Dr. Martin Gross. I’m an associate professor at the chair of political systems and European Integration. My research is on European multi-level systems, political behavior, and political party competition, with a specific focus on local politics and coalition governments. The role of media is not my primary focus, but it always matters how political actors use the media during electoral campaigns.

interviewer: To start with an open question, what would you say is the role of media, both traditional and social media, in a democracy?

Martin Gross: Well, that is a very big question. But the media has a very big role in democracy. I would say that the media has a control function, and they should scrutinize and control political power and people that have political power. But it can also be a little worrying. I would compare it a little bit to sports journalism. Sometimes you don’t know if the journalist is a fan of the team that he or she is reporting on. It is a little bit the same with political journalism, but to a lesser extent.

Interviewer: How would you describe the German media landscape, the main actors – the main newspapers for an example. 

Martin Gross: So basically, we could try to put it on a left-right scale like we would do with political parties. The main newspapers, if you define main as being published nationally, are still the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which is more to the left-leaning part from the political middle. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung leans more to the right. And then you go more to the left and more to the right. To the left, there would also be the Frankfurter Rundschau or the Taz. To the right, you would have Die Welt. Then you have, of course, one big tabloid with the Bild-Zeitung. And the entire Springer company is still important and, in my view, having again their own agenda, more like this right-wing anti-climate agenda. But that is not surprising because they are financed by KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts). So, the investment fund that is also heavily lobbying for Shell and all the oil companies. So, you can see why there is an agenda behind that.

Interviewer: Can you tell me a little bit more about Springer and its influence?

Martin Gross: Well, Springer is the biggest company, but Springer is a lot of things. So, there’s Springer Nature, that’s more like the scientific part, which only shares the name but not the ideology. But here in Germany, we talk about the Springer-Presse. In the 60s and 70s, they were the ones that were leading to the conservatives having campaigns against the movement of ’68 and the left-leaning students and the free revolution. Now they are having this agenda against what they call wokeness and left-leaning policies, so more of supporting the conservatives or even the far right.

Interviewer: How would you say that the media landscape has changed here in Germany?

Martin Gross: We have seen a decline in traditional media like TV and the newspapers. The news, like the Tagesschau, the 20 o’clock news or 22 o’clock news. But you still have a large share of people watching that. But it is difficult because they’re competing with companies such as Netflix and Disney. But also, here in Germany, the media also focuses mostly on what is happening here in Germany. For example, yesterday with the French elections, there was no media coverage of that here in Germany. All we cover are the US elections, but then usually there is no live media coverage of that, so all the Germans are just watching CNN.

Interviewer: Why do you think that it is like that?

Martin Gross: Because we are Germany (interviewee laughs). We are the largest country in Europe. For example, also with Polish elections last year, maybe it was the most important election. But it was not covered.

Interviewer: If we look at social media, how would you say that social media has changed the way politicians communicate and are they good at it?

Martin Gross: Since I’m not a communication scholar, I don’t have any empirical evidence. But I would say that they’re in general very good. I have observed that especially the far right is good. They combine the traditional element of having a parliamentary speech and then cut out some parts to cater to the needs of their constituency. Or they clip out the reaction of other politicians from the opposition without showing the entire speech. Of course, it is easy to manipulate. But I would say that politicians still want to have heated debates. Also, press releases still matter, maybe to a lesser extent.

Interviewer: Looking ahead, how do you see the future of political communication and journalism?

Martin Gross: I still believe journalism will be around in 20 years. If it’s in printed form, I’m not sure, because I think the market share will get smaller, but on the other hand, they can increase their online share. But if you asked me about social media 20 years ago, I would never have heard of it. Also, it depends if someone decides to ban TikTok.