Freie Wähler on culture and media

The Free Voters regard culture as part of basic public services and demand secure funding from the federal government. Funding should become easier to navigate, and tradition, customs and the cultural heritage of German expellees should be preserved.

The Free Voters want secure money for culture. The federal government should pay for it. The funding should be easier to understand. The party wants to keep traditions and customs.

The platform derives the demand from the subsistence minimum, which according to the Federal Constitutional Court includes cultural participation. Historic buildings, museums, theaters, orchestras, libraries and archives, among others, should be preserved. The cultural and creative industries should get support with new business models, capital and markets. Work with expellee associations should receive more money, and German minorities abroad should be supported in their cultural work. The party backs fixed book prices and the reduced tax rate on books and also wants to promote board games and video games.

The Free Voters support public broadcasting but want to give fee payers a say. They should elect the broadcasting councils and decide on programming, the fee and the directors, which is meant to limit the influence of political parties.

The Free Voters want to keep public broadcasters. But people who pay the fee should have a say. They should elect the broadcasting councils. These are the bodies that oversee the stations. Parties should have less influence there.

Fee payers should decide on the basic outline of programming, the level of the fee and the leadership of the broadcasters. As a model, the platform cites Germany's social insurance elections, in which insured people have a say. The party also wants to preserve local TV and radio stations and newspapers because they report on local events. Together with publishers, it wants to raise awareness of the value of print media.