There is a lot going on in public broadcasting.
As recently as spring 2024, more than 100 employees of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio complained in a manifesto
that there is practically no freedom of opinion there and that any dissenting opinion is stifled.
A scandal!
But more and more citizens are also dissatisfied, and the public broadcasters are increasingly being punished in the polls.
Is it any wonder that these broadcasters, which are financed by compulsory fees, represent the same opinion in every
crisis, lecture the people one-sidedly and stifle dissenting voices or defame those who think differently?
It has also been incomprehensible for a long time why these forced-fee media cannot make ends meet with around 8.6
billion euros a year and are demanding more and more money.
[Germany already has the most expensive public broadcasting system in the world.
Billions flow into questionable channels.
For the refurbishment of a WDR film house in Cologne alone, horrendous sums are being spent
on unnecessarily expensive luxury furniture.
The cost of the renovation rose from 130 to 240 million euros.
Just under 10% of ARD broadcasting fees went into "company pension schemes".
In figures: 564 million euros just for the retirement and pension benefits of their former employees in one year.
ZDF is said to have set aside 5.8 million euros in pensions just for the pension of former ZDF director Thomas Bellut .
He receives more than 30,000 euros a month in retirement.
Where is the proportionality when a presenter like Markus Lanz goes home with an annual salary of around
1.9 million euros, while a pensioner has to get by on an average of 16,440 euros a year?
Why does a questionable clown like Oliver Welke receive around 1.2 million euros a year, while
a hard-working cashier only gets 32,500 euros?
We are curious to see what ordinary people on the street have to say about these conditions.
No, I didn't know he earned that much. So, okay...
... I don't think it's fair, no.
1.9 million per year
financed by GEZ fees, which every citizen has to pay, even in Germany
... Well, I'm rarely left speechless, but this is tremendous.
I think if he wasn't successful, he'd be dropped immediately and then he'd be out of the picture.
So he certainly does a lot to earn so much.
... is paid for via public fees, i.e. GEZ fees, which everyone has to pay, every citizen in Germany.
Do you think that's fair?
No, absolutely not.
Dissatisfaction is growing.
Is that still in proportion? Is that still fair?
Well, I don't think so.
But it's also because I'm a justice person and this whole issue of seven-figure CEO salaries is not something that should exist.
6,000, 7,000 euros? Net...
The man gets almost 1.2 million a year.
That much?!
... 45 ... 50?
Yes, just under 1.2 million would be the resolution.
1.2 million for him?!
[Kla.TV: Yes.
Then we have Markus Lanz here, for example.
It tops the whole thing at 1.9 million.
Absurd!
: I don't earn much. I'm a pensioner, but I still have to pay for everything.
A pensioner earns an average of 16,000 a year, roughly,
throughout the year.
A little less.
A little less, yes.
And now just look again at the 16,000 to the 1.2 million - is that fair in your opinion?
Oh, that's too much money!
You can distribute that a little bit for other people
or where the burden is great, people suffer a lot ...
Many had no work due to corona time, difficulties
... And then he can give away a little something to the others or earn a little less
... Yes, but it's unfair.
Well, he's a very well-known person,
and it's common for well-known people to earn significantly more, like footballers, actors and so on.
But of course it's quite clear that this is financed by us, the 1.9 million could be used for much better projects,
to train people or do other projects.
That's why I think it's too arrogant, simply too much for what he deserves.
Yes, you always wonder where the justice is, where the fairness ...
Yes, these are public funds, these are also fees ...
[Yes, our money. Our money ... violently
... really frightening ... So,
that you can get so rich with it ... Almost two million a year.
I find that frightening.
I don't think it's fair that everyone pays GEZ today.
For example, I don't have a TV at home at the moment, but I don't think that counts at the moment because
the legislation has somehow changed here in Germany.
Everyone has to pay: whether the TV is there or not.
The news is very, very negative these days.
Sometimes you switch on at eight o'clock in the evening, or at half-time during the European Championship break, and it's just
Israel, it's Syria, it's the Ukraine war, it's the US situation, and you think to
yourself: Digger, is this all the news we have now?
You can't be serious.
Opinions that are not so mainstream, that are underpinned by possibly photos that are very unflattering,
are then presented, the people who then express them.
I don't agree with them at all, but I just think that different opinions should be presented.
We have the AfD, for example, which wasn't on the talk shows at all at the beginning.
Then they were invited onto the talk shows.
As long as we allow them in parliament, we should also broadcast all opinions publicly - even as they are
expressed, without polishing or changing them in any way - and everyone should be able to form an opinion.
I don't think we citizens are so uneducated that we need to be told what to do.
We don't have to be afraid.
Everyone does it themselves and then we will find a good way.
Everything else is paternalism, regardless of whether it comes from the far left or the
green, or from the right or the far right.
Dear viewers, Germany not only has the most expensive public broadcasting system on the planet, as the Handelsblatt reported.
We also finance excessive salaries and retirement payments with the ever-increasing compulsory levies.
We pay for questionable channels and unnecessary luxury spending.
But worst of all:
We are paying for absolutely one-sided, manipulative and synchronized reporting that is causing a profound
division in society and preventing any open discourse.
Kla.TV has documented the untenable conditions in the "forced-fee media" for you in more than detail,
and we strongly recommend the program at this point:
"Weapon of war - compulsory levy media/ 40 reasons why I no longer pay (by Ivo Sasek)."