Task A: Go first to www.dpa.de and www.ap.org and look for a current story.

Task B: Now go to more focused news agencies:

Task C:

On Tuesday you read Meyn, pp. 77-81 concerning the reemergence of German newspapers after WW II after twelve years of the absolute control that the National Socialists wielded over the German Press. It explains how, in the Western zones, the allied commission legalized the printing of all newspapers without prior approval (die Genehmigung) and a license (die Lizenz) and hence all the old publishers (Altverleger) were founding most of the new papers (sie waren die Neugründer). But the papers that had been approved by the allies (die Lizenzzeitungen) had advantages as well (see. Bottom of 81, top of 82). In the East (p. 83k 2nd paragraph), however, the papers remained dependent on government regulation (weisungsabhängig)

GOAL: to find out about the development of the press in the two Germanies and the differences in consciousness that might result (pp. 81-84).

Task A:

Task B:

The reading in Meyn 84-89 looks at the situation today (if that reading is easy for you, continue on to 104 for additional details and to learn about some papers available on our class links). Naturally the integration of the old GDR into the new Germany in 1991 (those states generally referred to as die neuen Bundesländer), resulted in some changes. The author starts out with a discussion of private ownership (privates Eigentum) but concludes with concerns about the fact that competition no longer exists in one particular area ("der Wettbewerb [die Konkurrenz] Š ist nicht mehr vorhanden" 89, III).

GOAL: to find out which kind of newspapers Germans have and what happens as a result and where they might differ from those we read in the United States.

Task A: Read once for an overview, then go back and read for detail, filling in the information matrix below:

Task B: WRITE a page-length (250-300 word), double-spaced, typed statement comparing the German and the American approach to newspaper publication and take a position on whether you see more similarities or differences. Please refer to the concepts and your findings in the matrix (i.e., use the German of Meyn's text and avoid translation). Auf deutsch bitte.

Your assignment for today is to search the web for the international news (sometimes under Politik) of one major German and U.S. newspaper.

GOAL: to start reading the semiotics (sign systems) of newspaper web sites

Task A. WRITE down the addresses, the date, and compare the respective web pages for coverage. Which stories get the headlines, which the fine print? Which are ignored entirely on one or the other? Check length and sources as well. How many and which stories come from news agencies, which from private correspondents? Where are they positioned on the page? The top half plus pictures are considered the influential story in print newspapers, on the web the way stories are linked/accessible may be a factor.

Task B. WRITE 100-250 words, posted ON BLACKBOARD, in the Discussion Board area labeled "Aufgabe 4." Post your assignment as a new thread. Write a paragraph that sums up these differences and assesses their implications.

Task A: ON BLACKBOARD, in the Discussion Board area labeled "Aufgabe 5." Read 3 of your fellow students' postings and use the threads after those analyses to make comments about their findings. Be sure to ask questions about assertions that are unclear when you do not see or understand the basis for claims made. Ask about unfamiliar German expressions or references as well.

Post your comments as Responses to the correct thread.

Task B.
Read the comments you get regarding your statement and use them to develop a longer paper that takes a position of the following: Based on examination of web sites by myself and other students in this class, mass media coverage of international news is similar in the major newspapers of Germany and the United States, yes or no?

WRITE: 2 pages or between 250-500 words, typewritten, double-spaced.

Tuesday we discuss Meyn (107-110) and look at newspapers worldwide. You saw that Bild, sold only on the street (also Boulevardzeitung), is the only Western newspaper with four and a half million. The closest U.S. competitors, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal (also a subscription newspaper) have less than half. For today you have looked at a Bild web site and compared it with a comparable American one.

GOAL: to consider the implications of these differences in media use

Task A. WRITE 1 page or about 250 words, typewritten, double-spaced.
Analyze the format and content of a real paper or a web site to decide the following question: Is Bild just a National Enquirer imitator or a somewhat different animal? How does it differ and is it in any way comparable to the U.S. most popular newspaper, USA Today. To what do you attribute its enduring popularity in Germany? Would that format work in the United States. Why? Why not?

Task B. WRITE 100-150 words ON BLACKBOARD Assume the role as a German living in Germany who talks about Bild as a cultural institution. Pick a role from the list below, identify the role you chose, and comment as if you were:

• a twenty-something university student in Berlin, (Student/In) OR
• a fifty-year old construction worker in Munich (Bauarbeiter/In), OR
• a thirty-five year old housewife with two small children in Frankfurt (Hausfrau), OR
• a retired bus-driver in Bremen whose parents came from Turkey but who was raised in Germany (Busfahrer), OR
• a forty-year old medical doctor (male or female) who lives in Dresden (Arzt/Ärztin).

GOAL: to consider the implications of mass media worldwide.

Whether called cartelization, hegemony, monopolies, Ausmass der Konzentration -- whatever the label, the fear exists that freedom of the press and dissemination of information will be curtailed through centralization of media ownership. In 1991 with the establishment of the Treuhand (an institution set up to negotiate the purchase and privatization of state-owned firms in the former GDR) several West firms have enlarged their holdings and now produce publications serving that audience.

Task A: Meyn sums up the big players pp. 140-145 and what they control. Using Meyn's commentary, fill out an information matrix along the following lines:

Task B: WRITE, referring to Meyn's conclusions about what may be regrettable about this situation (pp. 145-148) and assuming a position on what you see as the implications with regard to

• The public's access (der Zugang der Öffentlichkeit) to information and different sides of that information,
• How media conglomerates (die Medienkonzerne) can exert influence over other publishers or disseminators of news,
• How economic pressures (wirtschaftliche Einflüsse) can manipulate the news,
• The degree to which the German government seems to have been able/unable to prevent abuse of market dominance (Presse-Fusions-Kontrolle)

This week we turn to the broadcasting systems in Germany which were influenced by efforts to avoid the one-party dominance the National Socialists exercised (see Meyn 41-48 for a succinct overview of the general history of the German press 1919 to 1945 as a history of censorship with intervals of relative freedom).

GOAL: to reflect on the big differences between the United States and Germany (Meyn, pp. 149-157) with regard to who regulates the broadcasting industry and the relative relationship of public to private broadcasting. Meyn cites decisions of the West German (FRG) supreme court (das Bundesverfassungsgericht) which in 1961, 1971, and 1981 that deal with the constitutionality (mit dem Grundgesetz vereinbar) of private and public broadcasting.

Task A: WRITE and fill in the matrix of information below. In so doing you will be identifying key features of German broadcasting with relationship to financial and constitutional considerations.

Task B: WRITE a short essay of between 250-300 words, double-spaced, typed. Use your matrix and your notes from the lecture on the way broadcasting is structured in the United States, to compare the two systems with regard to:

• Historische Unterschiede (historical differences)
• Verfassungsmässige Unterschiede (constitutional differences)
• Unterschiede in der Verwaltung (organizational differences)
• Unterschiede zwischen den Systemen hinsichtlich finanzieller Unterstützung/ Subvention (differences in financial support systems)

In your conclusions reflect about which system seems to insure, at least in theory, the goal of informing its nation's viewing and listening public most comprehensively and freely.

Task C: After the essay is corrected you will enter corrections and post the revised essay ON BLACKBOARD for a threaded discussion, in the Discussion Board area labeled "Aufgabe 8".

Meyn's pp. 173-182 discusses newscasts and the "magazine" -- an established form of more focused examination of social and political problems in Germany and worldwide, comparable to 60 Minutes or Dateline or even Bill Moyers' Now, with the big difference being an emphasis on neutral reporting of facts rather than on a journalistic exposé. Remember, Meyn is describing public radio and television (die öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalen), which in Germany still command about 50% of the listening and viewing audience.

GOAL: to think about what other features, in addition to the relative parity of public and private broadcasting, seem different from comparable institutions in the United States?

Task B: WRITE a 250-300 essay reflecting on whether the German radio listener or TV viewer has a better chance at being informed about current events than the U. S. citizen. Think about the way NPR or PBS newscasts present the news. Mention at least three of the four issues below:

1. the degree to which TV images distort or distract from news value (Bilder täuschen oder führen leicht zur Manipulation der Sachverhalte)
2. lack of objectivity (Mangel an Objektivität, d.h. subjektive Meinungen bei Moderatoren oder Autoren einer Magazinsendung)
3. the laws regarding equal opportunity (Chancengleichheit) for all parties with 5% or more votes in the prior election to be seen or heard
4. the relationship between political parties and the public media (siehe S. 182, Heinz Burghart u.a.)

Task C: After the essay is corrected you will enter corrections and post the revised essay ON BLACKBOARD for a threaded discussion, in the Discussion Board area labeled "Aufgabe 10."

For the following class day you will read essays of at least two fellow students and make observations of at least 50 words to two in a threaded discussion. Whether you agree or disagree, say why and elaborate.

With the emergence of private channels and radio broadcasts only 18 years ago, public broadcasting had a big jump on the competition. Meyn (pp. 183-192) describes the financial issues, the corporations that funded various channels and stations, and the content they offer.

GOAL: to think about whether Germany's 30 years of "high culture" program-watching just went out the window (which is what Marlene Wöste suggests with regard to radio broadcasting [p. 191 ]) as compared with viewing and listening practices in the United States.

Task A: In completing the information matrix below, what pattern(s) seem to emerge?

Task B: WRITE 100-250 words‹compare the relative success or failure of the private broadcasters (financially and in terms of their audience appeal) and consider what this relatively short history implies about German audiences. Similar or different from the ones in the United States? To what do you attribute those differences?

Task C: After the essay is corrected you will enter corrections and post the revised essay ON BLACKBOARD for a threaded discussion, in the Discussion Board area labeled "Aufgabe 10."

For the following class you read 2 of your fellow students' postings and use the threads after those analyses to make comments about their findings and conclusions. Post your comments as Responses to the correct thread.

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