Podium discussion: Is Germany's public broadcasting model suitable for Ecuador? | Regions | DW | 28.10.2014
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Podium discussion: Is Germany's public broadcasting model suitable for Ecuador?

Ecuador's media landscape is highly polarized – the public and private media sectors eye each other warily. German and Ecuadorian experts recently discussed whether Germany's broadcasting model could be a solution.

Podium discussion Ecuador, 16 october 2014

Alice Ströver, Nikolaus Brender, Mirjam Gehrke, Carmen Andrade, Hernán Reyes, Ute Schaeffer

For Carmen Adrade, head of the news desk at the private station, Radio Centro Quito, it is simply a question of free expression and the growing threat to it. "Last year about 180 Ecuadorian journalists complained that their freedom of expression was being restricted – and they all work for private media outlets," she warned during DW Akademie's recent podium discussion in Berlin.

Adrade said she was concerned about the development of Ecuador's media landscape. Critics say a new media law passed this summer gives the government extensive control over reporting – by both private and public media organizations. But Adrade said that private media outlets were under particular threat.

Hernán Reyes, who sits on the Ecuadorian state media regulating authority CORDICOM, defended the government’s approach, saying freedom of expression was not suffering. He instead praised the new model, saying Colombia and Chile had also expressed interest.

The new media law stipulates that broadcast frequencies be redistributed: state and private media are to each receive 33 percent of the frequencies, with the remaining 34 percent going to community media. "Private media is profit driven and reporting is determined by economic interests," said Reyes. He stressed, however, the benefits of cooperation between the state and commercial broadcasters. "The mutual goal," he said, "should be to give citizens the right to freedom of expression and information."

Podium discussion Ecuador, 16 october 2014

Carmen Andrade says freedom of expression and press freedom is under threat in Ecuador

Different paths

Until 2007 Ecuador's media landscape was dominated by commercial TV and radio stations that were owned by a small group of influential banks and financial firms. This, said Reyes, was one of the reasons why the media kept quiet about the banking crisis in the late 1990's until the sector all but collapsed. The financial crisis led to a massive economic downturn, resulting in more than three million Ecuadorians leaving the country to look for work elsewhere.

When President Rafael Correa took office in 2007, the government began establishing a state media system. Today, critics accuse state media of kowtowing to the government, giving it favorable coverage and acting as a mouthpiece. Still, 85 percent of the media remains in the hands of the private sector.

One focus of the podium discussion was whether Germany's public broadcasting model – founded following World War Two and based on the British model – could be an alternative. "It’s the best model in the world," said Alice Ströver, a long-term member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting Council. "Public broadcasting is funded by fees instead of taxes, a system which leaves it less vulnerable to government influence." However, she also said that it was not perfect, since the presence of so many political party representatives on broadcasting councils had the potential to threaten the councils’ independence.

Podium discussion Ecuador, 16 october 2014

There’s great interest internationally in Germany’s model for public broadcasting, says Ute Schaeffer

Ute Schaeffer, head of DW Akademie’s Media Development Division, is another supporter of Germany’s public broadcasting model. "The fee system allows the model to maintain its sovereignty and it’s received considerable interest worldwide." As a response to that interest, DW Akademie is conducting a number of long-term consulting projects at the request of countries including Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Mongolia.

Of course, each country's specific political and economic context had to be taken in consideration, said Schaeffer, encouraging her Ecuadorian colleagues to use the German model in a way that fits with Ecuador's own media market and media usage habits. She encouraged developing and emerging countries to be creative in developing new forms of distribution as well as formats that would attract a younger audience to public broadcasting. "Skip some of the usual steps and set your own course!"

Media usage among youths

Prior to the discussion round, Reyes, Andrade and eleven additional Ecuadorian decision-makers from private and public stations took part in a one-week conference in Berlin together with German media professionals and politicians active in the field of media policy. The conference was organized by DW Akademie. Reyes was particularly interested in Germany’s own domestic debate on public broadcasting’s legitimacy. "I was surprised that ratings play such a decisive role in determining program content here as well," he said.

He, like Schaeffer, said it was crucial to involve the young generation in the distribution of information. "These days very few young people read newspapers," he said. "In Ecuador, like in many countries today, traditional media has taken a back seat to new media, at least among the young."

Podium discussion Ecuador, 16 october 2014

Nikolaus Brender: "It’s high time for public broadcasting to react"

Germany's own media sector is facing a major challenge as well and missed a great opportunity, said Nikolaus Brender, the former editor-in-chief of the German public television broadcaster ZDF. "We didn’t respond fast enough to the way young people were using the Internet and other modes of communication," he pointed out. He said he didn't believe that young people had lost interest in politics, but that they simply used a different language to talk about it. "I didn’t understand that while I was head editor, but public broadcasting is becoming outdated and has to react," he said. Ute Schaeffer agreed, adding, "Public broadcasting has a responsibility towards society. If young audiences lose interest in public broadcasting, it will lose its legitimacy because it will have failed in its mandate to include all segments of society."

Both the Ecuadorian and German participants agreed that Germany's public broadcasting system could not be directly transplanted onto Ecuador's media landscape. "There's no one-size-fits-all formula," said Professor Udo Fink, deputy director of the Mainz Media Institute. He said that although private models were characterized by being independent of the government, they themselves were facing increasing monopolization. He believed that while public media was often accused of being too cozy with governments, both models could complement one another.
The fact that Germany’s private and public media sectors are able to co-exist gave the Ecuadorian delegation pause for thought and encouraged them to launch a forward-looking dialogue. To date, Ecuador's polarized media environment, and particularly the tense relationship between the government and private media sectors, have hindered a constructive exchange. The dialogue launched in Berlin is set to continue next year in Ecuador, with conferences and podium discussions being planned that will also include experts from Germany.

DW Akademie is supporting the pluralistic and democratic development of Ecuador's media landscape through a variety of projects financed by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ). As part of the process, DW Akademie invited Ecuadorian decision-makers from private and public broadcasters to a one-week conference in Berlin; it concluded with the podium discussion.

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