Funkloch: Weimer speaks but doesn't answer

The tension is rising in Bad Homburg vor der Höh. Minister of State for Culture and Media Wolfram Weimer is expected here for the next speech. He will speak on October 3rd at the ceremony for German Unity Day. The topic suggests something bad to come: “I’m thinking of Germany.”

What food for thought will he provide this time after he called for the privatization of ZDF and the dismantling of ARD in his last speech at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation? Bad Homburg was the favorite summer residence of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Is the flawless democrat Weimer perhaps proclaiming the monarchy here again?

The Minister of State for Media is not particularly keen to respond to Adenauer's suggestions for “residual media for pensioners”, as Weimer's affectionate description for ARD and ZDF. They were for an internal audience, that's it, according to the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM).

Let's summarize. A member of the federal government with cabinet rank gives a speech with crude suggestions about public broadcasting. In other words, an area for which the federal government is not responsible and which the AfD would like to abolish immediately. Any questions about this or the reactions to it will not be answered because it was an internal speech. So this is what transparency and accountability à la BKM looks like.

Who does this remind you of? More on this soon on Weimer Social.

Until then, the institutions here are expressly praised! It's great how the entire ARD supported the small stations Radio Bremen and Saarländischer Rundfunk, which Weimer had approved for closure.

The hoodie-like “He doesn’t have them all, Digga!” ARD chairman Florian Hager will be remembered for a long time, as will the ironic question “Seriously?” from WDR director Katrin Vernau, the brief “Laughable!” by SWR boss Kai Gniffke or the slightly Oktoberfest “Ja mei, der Weimer!” by BR director Katja Wildermuth.

Even ZDF gave up its constant media policy consensus. "What's the point of this, Mr. Minister of State for Culture? You are Minister of State for Culture and Media and not against it," said ZDF director Norbert Himmler.

Uh, stop. Of course it was completely different. No director* has reported publicly, not even those from RB or SR. Only the sentence foisted on ZDF really exists. However, not from the mouth of Himmler, but from Olaf Zimmermann, the managing director of the German Cultural Council.

The self-defense of public broadcasting is still not far off. But with his spiral of silence, Weimer does anything but Bella Figura.

And so the taz's remarkable suggestion to simply privatize Weimer instead of ZDF takes on a deeper meaning. The BKM doesn't want to continue after a legislative session anyway. Until then, he has the license to cause trouble, shifting the discourse to the right and following him the deluge. Will the pensioners of Bad Homburg, who probably all still watch ARD and ZDF, thank him for that?