Linke on culture and media

The Left wants to set up a state program for cultural participation and diversity and to give long-term funding to initiatives on remembrance culture and democracy. Visits to memorial sites are to become a binding part of the curriculum in lower secondary school. The party also sees cultural policy as a field of action against far-right ideologies and wants to protect cultural institutions from intimidation.

The Left wants a new funding program for culture. Many people should be able to take part in culture. School classes should have to visit memorial sites. Culture made by people with a migration background should also get money. The party wants to protect culture from far-right attacks.

The state program is meant to support open, participatory approaches, such as open workshops in the Bauhaus spirit, urban development projects, museum exhibitions co-curated with citizens or local festivals with an international focus. Memorial site visits at general schools would become mandatory and be improved in quality. Intercultural work and migrant arts scenes are to be supported through regional networks in municipalities, associations, schools and cultural centers. The platform justifies this with attacks and threats against the Bauhaus Dessau and theaters in the state, which it describes as a culture war from the right.

The Left wants to introduce binding minimum fees for artists, especially in publicly funded projects. Collectively agreed pay raises at cultural institutions are to be covered by state funding that rises automatically. To pay for this, the state's culture budget is to grow.

Artists should be paid better. The Left wants a fixed minimum fee. A fee is the payment for a job. Museums should have to pay artists for exhibitions. The state should spend more money on culture.

Negotiated pay raises are to apply on a binding basis at cultural institutions of all kinds, without state funds being cut elsewhere. State grants to funded institutions should rise dynamically along with wages. Museums and galleries would be required to pay exhibition fees so that visual artists are also compensated. Independent theaters are to receive venue funding to create stable structures in the independent theater scene. A larger culture budget is meant to secure minimum fees and varied programming.

The Left wants to give children free admission to museums and to secure cultural offerings in rural regions. Smaller municipalities are to receive an additional flat-rate culture grant from the state. The party regards culture as part of basic public services.

Children should be able to visit museums for free. There should also be culture in the countryside. Small towns should get extra money from the state for this. Cultural venues should be reachable without barriers.

A state museum plan is to govern free admission for children, in order to lower inhibitions and improve educational opportunities. Programs linking culture and schools, such as the TASS theater project in rural primary schools and the MÄBI music school program, are to be expanded and made permanent. Towns with fewer than 25,000 residents would receive a flat-rate culture grant through municipal financing so that municipalities under budget consolidation can still support sociocultural offerings. Mobile cultural offerings are to be funded. Cultural institutions should be accessible physically, digitally and in terms of language.

The Left wants to give culture a firmer legal basis, for example through laws on music schools, libraries and conservators. Funding should be long-term and institutional rather than tied to short projects. In the party's view, this creates reliability and secures cultural diversity.

The Left wants new laws for culture. For example for music schools and libraries. Cultural institutions should get money reliably and for a long time. They should not have to keep applying for short projects. Clubs should also get lasting money from the state.

The state's new culture funding law is to be reviewed for effectiveness in the coming legislative term. The plans include multi-year funding instruments in all cultural fields and guidelines for better coordination between the federal government, the states and municipalities. The independent scene, sociocultural centers and alternative venues are to be reliably financed through venue funding, collective agreements and base fees for the self-employed. Clubs and music venues would receive permanent state funding to counter closures. The awarding of grants by the Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt (state arts foundation) is to be reviewed for effectiveness and fairness.

The Left calls for a progressive broadcasting fee based on income, similar to the tax system. Households earning up to 30,000 euros a year should pay no more than 10 euros a month. The party argues that the flat fee of 18.36 euros places a disproportionate burden on low earners.

Today almost all households pay the same for public radio and TV. The Left thinks this is unfair. People who earn little should pay less. With a low income, it should be 10 euros a month at most. First there should be a test in two counties.

The fee would be tied to income instead of being the same for everyone. The 600 million euros for fee exemptions should be financed publicly through social welfare agencies rather than by other fee payers. As a first step, the platform plans a pilot project with a trial run in two counties. The Left considers the reform treaty adopted in March 2025 insufficient.

The Left wants an anti-concentration law that caps any single media company's market share at 30 percent. A state journalism foundation and municipal media funding are meant to support independent local journalism. According to the platform, the background is that a single publisher dominates the daily newspaper market in Saxony-Anhalt.

In Saxony-Anhalt, the daily newspapers belong to one publisher. The Left wants to change that. No media company should hold more than 30 percent of the market. A new foundation should help local journalists with money. By 2030 there should be at least 3 independent daily newspapers.

The Journalismus-Stiftung Sachsen-Anhalt (journalism foundation) is to start with 10 million euros in seed capital; the financing plan sets aside 20 million euros for it. On top of that come 5 million euros a year for municipal media funding and a 5 million euro emergency program for local media at risk. Cooperative models are meant to make citizens co-owners of local media. By 2030, half of the journalists in eastern German newsrooms should come from eastern Germany, and editorial statutes would be mandatory. Overall, the party plans a 100 million euro media initiative over five years.

The Left wants to cap the salaries of public broadcasting directors and introduce quotas for leadership positions. The regional programming of MDR (the public broadcaster for central Germany) is to be expanded and its spending published online. The party sees a lack of transparency, high executive pay and a lack of diversity as reasons for low trust in the broadcasters.

The heads of public broadcasters should earn less. About 180,000 euros a year at most. Half of the leaders should be women. MDR should report on Saxony-Anhalt for longer each day. All MDR spending should be shown online.

Leadership positions are to be filled 50 percent by women and 30 percent by people with a migration background. More permanent jobs and stronger collective bargaining coverage are meant to end precarious employment, and all offerings should be accessible by 2028. The program "MDR Sachsen-Anhalt Heute" is to be extended to 45 minutes. One percent of broadcasting fees, about 90 million euros a year, would be earmarked for joint tasks in central Germany. The platform's stated goal is to raise trust in public media from 54 to 90 percent by 2030.

The Left wants to strengthen media education in schools with a media literacy initiative and to expand public broadcasting for children and teenagers. The ban on the children's channel KiKA broadcasting after 9 p.m. is to be lifted, and a public children's radio station is to be created. In the party's view, young people are increasingly influenced by algorithm-driven platforms while media education is lacking.

Children and teenagers should learn to use media well. Schools should get more money for this. The children's channel KiKA should be allowed to broadcast after 9 p.m. There should be a children's radio station. There should also be programs in several languages.

The platform puts the media literacy initiative at 20 million euros; the five-year financing plan sets aside 60 million euros for media literacy and education. The children's radio station would run under the KiKA brand via DAB+ and streaming. With longer broadcasting hours, the party wants to allow age-appropriate programs for older children. Multilingual offerings for children and teenagers are meant to support integration. The Left's stated goal is for 80 percent of young people to use public media and not only commercial media.

The Left wants citizens to have a say in all public broadcasters. An editorial statute is meant to protect journalists' independence, and media funding is to be publicly traceable and set up for the long term.

The Left wants people to have more say in public broadcasting. Journalists should decide freely about their content. Newsrooms should get fixed rules for this. Everyone should be able to see online which media get state money.

The program calls for participatory media policy in every public broadcaster. An editorial statute is meant to secure newsroom freedom over content. Funding for media is to be made traceable through online dashboards. Instead of project-by-project grants there should be lasting funding, which the party says increases democratic legitimacy.

The Left announces a 100-million-euro program to strengthen media diversity in Saxony-Anhalt. Measurable goals are to be met by 2030, such as three independent daily newspapers and high public trust in media.

The Left wants to spend 100 million euros on media in Saxony-Anhalt. There should be three independent daily newspapers. Half of the media workers should come from eastern Germany. By 2028, everyone should be able to use all media without barriers.

The program names targets for 2030: 90 percent trust in media, three independent daily newspapers and a 50 percent share of eastern Germans among media professionals. Full accessibility of all offerings is to be reached by 2028. The party justifies the spending by saying strong media support democracy, reduce polarization and cost less than the consequences of disinformation. The program also sees regional media as employers in structurally weak areas and as carriers of regional culture.