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Writers, Media & Society

Explore the historical transformation of the German press post-WWII, from denazification to democratization, and the shaping of Fourth Estate. Learn about media dynamics, licensing dates, and the rise of private ownership amid shifts in market concentration and press freedoms. Dive into the press's role in rebuilding society and fostering political pluralism. Uncover the challenges and milestones in the evolution of mass media in the Federal Republic, examining critiques, re-education efforts, and the growth of German intellectual journals and glossy magazines.

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Writers, Media & Society

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  1. Writers, Media & Society Mass Media (1): The Press in the Federal Republic

  2. Gewaltenteilung (division of powers) • Three pillars creating and upholding political and social order • Legislative (Parliament) • Judicative (Judges/le) • Executive (Police)

  3. THE PRESS AS FOURTH ESTATE(vierte Gewalt) • mass media/the press (especially newspapers and news magazines e.g. Der Spiegel, Focus, Stern) • ‘Germans were to be reeducated gradually into the habits of a decentralised pluralist democracy, which was to be characterised by the widest possible dispersion of political and socio-economic power.’ (Humphreys, p.27: on western Allied policy towards press licensing)

  4. Warwick German Studies Web: Newspapers

  5. 1. The press in the reconstruction period 1945-1949 • 2. The press in the FRG 1949-90 • 3. Critiques of FRG mass media system after 1949 • 4. Post-unification press: ‘postmodern’ mass media

  6. Gleichschaltung • NS-measures to end cultural & political pluralism of Weimar Republic • Zentralisation of state (end of federalisation) and One-Party-State • End of pluralised media – one title dominant: Völkischer Beobachter • All media directed by NS leadership – J.Goebbels • Total control over all aspects of social life

  7. The four ‘D’s’ • Denazification • Demilitarisation • De-cartelisation • Democratization

  8. Allied measures for new political order • Initial total ban on all mass media (newspaper & radio) Law 191, 12 May 1945 • ‘Armeegruppenzeitungen’: military publications published weekly or bi-weekly by press officers of military authorities.

  9. Publications of occupation authorities • Die Neue Zeitung (US Zone) (contributions from many exiled opponents of regime, including Johannes R. Becher, Stephan Hermlin, Anna Seghers: Feuilleton editor Erich Kästner) • Die Welt (British zone) • Nouvelles de France (French zone) • Tägliche Rundschau (Soviet zone)

  10. Neue Zeitung • Printed in Munich • Contributions from many exiled writers: Johannes R.Becher, Stephan Hermlin, Anna Seghers, reviews editor: Erich Kästner

  11. Lizenzpresse

  12. Soviet Zone Idea that fascism is result of capitalism (Hugenberg Press) Take all areas of cultural production out of private ownership Party-affiliated newspapers Later: hegemony of single title: Neues Deutschland Western allies Different idea about roots of NS – denial of individual rights Liberalist approach originating in values of French revolution 1789 Pluralism based on economic rights and freedoms (i.e. private ownership) Press in Soviet & Western Zones

  13. In this manner Germans were to be re-educated gradually into the habits of a decentralised pluralist democracy, which was to be characterised by the widest possible dispersion of political and socio-economic power’ • (Humphreys, p. 27)

  14. INDICATIVE LICENSING DATES • Die Zeit 21. Feb. 1946. • Der Spiegel 4. Jan 1947 • Die Welt 2. April 1946 • Frankfurter Rundschau 31. July 1945 • ‘the press in Germany today is almost solely the product of the post-war years’ (Peter Humphreys, 1994)

  15. Der Ruf Frankfurter Hefte Der Autor Der Schriftsteller Aufbau Ost und West Alfred Andersch Hans Werner Richter Wolfgang Borchert Thomas Mann Alfred Döblin Eugen Kogon Arnold Zweig VM: Section ‘Zonen, Staaten, Einheit’ (1946-49)

  16. Intellectual Journals • Merkur (since 1946) • Frankfurter Hefte (since 1946) • Akzente (since 1954) • Theater Heute (since 1960) • lettre international (since 1984, appears in German, French, Italian, Romanian, Danish, Swedish – but not English)

  17. Glossy magazines • Hör zu & Frauenwelt December 1945 • (Springer) • Sie December 1945 • Die Welt der Frau July 1946 • Der Regenbogen February 1946 • Constanze March 1948

  18. Pluralism in the Press of the Federal Republic • Constitutional guarantees of press freedom. • regionalism : Kulturhoheit der Länder. • Commitment to private ownership:

  19. State press laws • Grundgesetz (national level): • Article 5, “Everyone shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinion by speech, writing and pictures and freely to inform himself from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films are guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.” • Pressegesetze (Land level) • SPIEGEL-Affair 1962 • Meinungsbildung

  20. Pluralism of privately owned press • By 1954: over 600 privately owned publishing houses • Producing 1500 different editions of daily newspapers • Total circulation: 13.4 mio

  21. Concentration of market • Decline in publishing houses 1954-87 • Decline in numbers of newspapers but increase in readership • Increasing concentration of press in hands of fewer companies • Springer Press by 1987: 5.8 mio readers for its newspapers (BILD, Welt etc.)

  22. Magazine Market • Springer and Bauer Verlag largest share • Weekly magazine larger circulation than monthly • Bauer largest share through women’s mags and youth mags (Bravo)

  23. Springer Verlag • Axel Springer: “(ein) Verleger, der sich bis zu seinem Tod (1985) als politischer Missionar für die Werte der Adenauer-Ära fühlte” (Glaser, p.264) • Launched BILD in 1952 • Acquired Welt in 1953 • By late 1960s controlled nearly 30% of press in FRG

  24. Features of Springer Press • Aktuelle Nachrichten - Bild.de • Sex & crime sensationalism • Politicaly conservative • E.g. Hetzkampagne against APO

  25. The Frankfurt School • Theodor W.Adorno (1903-69) • Max Horkheimer (1895-1973 • Jürgen Habermas (1929, pupil of Adorno)

  26. Dialektik der Aufklärung • Reproduction of the same: • ‘Culture now impresses the same stamp upon everything. Films, radio and magazines make up a system which is uniform as a whole and in every part.’ (Max Horkheimer & Theodor W. Adorno, ‘The Culture Industry. Enlightenment as Mass Deception’, in Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1947, cit. Burns, p.273)

  27. Courage (Feminist magazine, 1976-1984) • Emma (Feminist magazine, since 1977), print run 67.000 (27.000 subscription) • die tageszeitung (taz, since 1979), print run: 78.000 (45.000 subscription)

  28. Heinrich Böll Freies Geleit für Ulrike Meinhof? (First in SPIEGEL 10.1.1972) Günter Wallraff Der Aufmacher (1977) Critiques of Springer Press

  29. Media Moguls • UK/US/Asia – Rupert Murdoch (Times, Sun, Sky, Fox, several US and Asian newspapers) • Italy – Silvio Berlusconi (owns several private TV channels, as Prime Minister controls state TV) • Germany: Springer, Gruner & Jahr, Bertelsmann, duMont (owns all newspapers in Cologne)

  30. Decline of Press • Change in/ decline of readership • Effects of digital age • Cost of good journalism • Lack of revenue • Decline of journalistic standards in favour of opinion-making (Murdoch, Fox News)

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