Berlin, 26 February 2021.

The need for structural reform is becoming increasingly obvious. In the political talk show "Markus Lanz" last Thursday (25.02.2021), Reiner Haseloff (CDU), Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, blamed the public broadcasters for the "vaccination disaster". According to Haseloff, ZDF has an educational mission and it is part of this to promote more vaccination readiness. Literally, he said, "#8222;But we have to vaccinate 60 million for herd immunity. This is your direction for the public-law“. Host Lanz replied that this would happen all week, even on his show. Joachim Paul, member of the Federal Executive Board: "This scene shines a significant spotlight on the relationship between public broadcasters and those who have been in power for some time. When it comes to vaccination, the AfD relies on voluntary and self-responsibility for mature citizens. However, thoughtless and indiscriminate reporting or even a public-law advertising campaign is certainly not an educational mission of ARD and ZDF. Telling: A sitting prime minister tries to give the supposedly state-free broadcasters a 'direction' – if there was any need for proof that the old parties regard the public-law as their stage and, according to the motto 'Who pays the chapel, determines the melody', regard the broadcast contribution as an investment in a programme that suits them politically, Haseloff delivered it frankly and freely yesterday. It is therefore no wonder that the guests who have been on the big talk shows since the beginning of the Corona crisis are mostly representatives of the governing parties or the Greens. A politician of the AfD would surely have pointed out Haseloff to the increasingly blatantly unquestionable political closeness between the public and government policy and criticized his claimant." Paul continued: "It is time for structural reform of the public-law system – a sustainable and in the best sense of the word radical. The proposals of the CDU SME Association only preserve the status quo – only reduced. The AfD's parliamentary groups presented the Grundfunk reform paper months ago. A reformed broadcast would be based on the motto 'You will pay nothing more. Promised to mean a complete exit from compulsory fees and make ARD and ZDF and Co. showcases of the regions – this would be accompanied by a concentration on education, culture and documentation. The control would be exercised by an elected spectator parliament and an independent expert council – representatives would have to disclose party memberships and employment relationships." The article Joachim Paul: Haseloff wants to set the 'direction of the march' to the public-law first appeared on Alternative for Germany.