What do the parties in North Rhine-Westphalia say on culture and media?

The AfD wants to enshrine German as the national language in the Basic Law and in the state constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia. It rejects gender-inclusive spelling and wants to ban any obligation on public authorities to use it. The party commits itself to a German Leitkultur (guiding culture).

The AfD wants to write German into the constitution as the national language. It is against gender-inclusive language. Public offices should not have to use it. The AfD also wants fewer English words in German.

The AfD rejects funding culture according to criteria such as gender, ethnicity or political stance. It wants to preserve orchestras, theaters, museums and other cultural institutions across the state and to maintain customs and heritage protection. Municipalities outside the big cities are to receive help for cultural centers.

The AfD wants to keep funding art and culture. Gender, origin or political opinion should play no role in this. Theaters, museums and orchestras should stay. Small towns should get cultural centers too.

The AfD wants regional building traditions to serve as the guiding model for architecture and urban planning. It justifies this with its concern about declining town centers, urban sprawl and monotonous functional buildings.

The AfD wants new buildings to fit their region. It thinks many towns look dull today. Builders should get advice on this.

The AfD rejects the revision of North Rhine-Westphalia's monument protection law because, in its view, it weakens the specialist heritage offices of the regional associations. It also opposes renaming streets and removing monuments for reasons it calls ideological.

The AfD does not want to change the law on protecting monuments. It says the expert offices would lose influence. Streets should keep their names. Monuments should stay.

The AfD demands full disclosure of ownership stakes and board memberships at the public broadcaster WDR, local radio stations and daily newspapers. It wants to admit more providers to the radio market and have the state media authority check content only for violations of the law.

The AfD wants to know who owns media. Parties should also show their shares in media. There should be more different radio stations. The media watchdog should not control content beyond what the law says.

The AfD wants to fundamentally restructure and slim down state film funding in North Rhine-Westphalia. Support for video games would be moved out of the film foundation into a separate fund and expanded.

The AfD wants to reorganize public money for films. It says too much money goes to the wrong films today. Video games should get their own fund. That fund should grow.

The AfD wants to fundamentally restructure and shrink public broadcasting. It would offer only a basic service of information, culture and regional programs and operate without the mandatory broadcasting fee.

The AfD wants to make public broadcasting much smaller. It should only offer news, culture and regional programs. People should no longer pay a fee for it. The AfD calls this model Grundfunk.

The CDU wants to increase the state's cultural spending by another half, in several steps. Municipal theaters and orchestras are also to receive considerably more state money.

The CDU wants to spend more money on culture. The state should pay half as much again as today. This should happen step by step. Theaters and orchestras in the cities should also get more money.

The CDU wants artists to have better incomes and reliable social security, and seeks a joint solution with the federal government and the other states. Funding is to be more tailored, multi-year and less bureaucratic; the cultural and creative industries are also to get their own funding.

The CDU wants to help artists. They should earn more and have better social security. Funding should run for several years. That should mean less paperwork. Small book publishers should also get money.

The CDU wants to strengthen diversity as a core part of its cultural policy and support a diversity competence center. The Dritte Orte ("third places"), cultural meeting points mainly in rural areas, are to be set up statewide.

The CDU wants more diversity in culture. There should be an advice center for this. Rural areas should have cultural meeting places everywhere. These are called Dritte Orte, or third places.

The CDU wants to speed up digitalization in the cultural sector. Museum collections are to be recorded digitally across the state, and artists are to get shared digital production spaces.

The CDU wants culture to become more digital. All museums should record their collections on computers. Artists should get digital workshops. They should be able to share them.

The CDU wants to expand the work of memorial sites in the state and turn the former prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 326 into a memorial of national importance. It also wants to strengthen the bodies representing expellees and ethnic German resettlers.

The CDU wants to strengthen memorial sites. These are places that remind people of history. A former camp for prisoners of war should become a major memorial. The culture of Germans expelled after the war should also get more support.

The CDU wants to continue the state program that funds Heimat (home and local identity) projects. It supports volunteer and local initiatives that preserve places people identify with and keep customs alive.

The state has a program for local identity. It gives money to people who do things for their town. The CDU wants to keep this program going. More people should take part.

The CDU wants to continue supporting film and television in North Rhine-Westphalia and improve conditions for productions. Movie theaters in rural areas are to be strengthened.

The CDU wants to keep supporting film and TV in North Rhine-Westphalia. The state's film foundation should get money for this. Movie theaters in the countryside should get help too.

The CDU wants to adapt the dual system of public and private broadcasting to the digital age. Local radio is to be strengthened and the profile of public broadcaster WDR sharpened.

The CDU wants to strengthen local radio stations. They should get help with going digital. The public broadcaster WDR should focus more on special content. That means content private stations offer less of.

The CDU wants to build up people's skills in handling media and information. This is meant to help against hate, threats and fake news online and enable a thoughtful use of digital media.

The CDU wants everyone to be able to handle media well. This should help against hate and fake news on the internet. Projects for children, teenagers and adults should be strengthened.

The CDU wants to keep quality journalism competitive online, especially at the local and regional level. Journalism should be able to qualify as a nonprofit activity under tax law.

The CDU wants to strengthen local journalism. Journalism should count as a nonprofit activity. Nonprofit means: it serves the public and gets tax benefits. Checked news should be easy to find on the internet.

The FDP wants to update the state media law for the digital age so that publishers and private radio stations get more room to operate. This is meant to keep local journalism financially viable. The party opposes extensive media offerings run by cities and counties.

The FDP wants to change the rules for private media. Newspaper publishers should find it easier to offer radio and TV. Local radio stations should be able to earn money more easily. Cities should not run large media services themselves.

The FDP wants a fundamental reform of public broadcasting, limiting it to a few channels with a clear profile. News, education and culture should take priority, while expensive entertainment should be cut back. The party expects this to hold down the broadcasting fee.

The FDP wants to make public broadcasters smaller. There should be fewer channels. They should mainly inform and educate. There should be fewer expensive shows. This should keep the broadcasting fee from rising so much.

The FDP wants journalistic work to be eligible for nonprofit status. Nonprofit investigative projects and local press outlets could then fund themselves through donations. The party also wants to support training and networking for young journalists.

The FDP wants journalism to count as nonprofit work. Nonprofit means the work serves everyone and gets tax benefits. Then projects that do not seek profit can get donations more easily. Young journalists should also get more help with training.

The FDP wants to keep promoting media literacy across all age groups to counter fake news, hate messages and conspiracy theories. Existing projects are to be expanded, with a particular focus on schools.

The FDP wants people to handle media better. That way they can spot false news more easily. Good projects on this should grow. Schools matter most to the FDP here. Students should be able to make their own papers and blogs.

The FDP wants to keep increasing the state's culture budget, by 20 million euros every year. This is meant to strengthen the breadth and diversity of the cultural scene, from theaters and museums to independent artists.

The FDP wants to spend more money on culture. Every year, 20 million euros should be added. The money should help theaters, museums and independent artists. Clubs and amateur culture should benefit too.

The FDP wants to create a state fund to preserve and strengthen cultural venues in rural areas. Local initiatives would receive money to renovate, reopen or keep running venues such as small stages or art-house cinemas. The "Dritte Orte" (third places) program is also to be strengthened.

The FDP wants to strengthen culture in the countryside. The state should set up a new fund for this. Local groups can use it to save small stages or cinemas. The state works together with towns and cities on this.

The FDP wants to tie public arts funding to fair fees being paid in the funded projects. The platform points to often difficult financial conditions in the independent scene. At the same time, artists' entrepreneurial mindset is to be strengthened.

Many independent artists earn little. The FDP wants to change that. State money should only go to projects that pay fairly. Art students should also learn how to work as entrepreneurs.

The Greens want to broaden the culture of remembrance in North Rhine-Westphalia and systematically examine colonial history and its consequences. They also want to strengthen multilingualism, human rights education and the representation of people with an immigrant background.

The Greens want NRW to look closely at colonial history. Colonial history means: European countries once ruled other countries. There should be a plan for this. The history of immigration should also get more attention. People with an immigrant background should have more say.

The Greens want to raise the state's arts funding substantially, including for the independent scene and community arts. The cultural sector should be able to recover after the Covid crisis. Municipalities are also to be strengthened financially for this purpose.

The Greens want to spend more money on culture. The money should also go to independent artists and small arts groups. Culture should recover from the Covid crisis. Cities and towns should also have more money for culture.

The Greens want arts funding to also aim at the social security of artists. They plan a minimum fee at public theaters and want to continue the state's grant programs for now. The platform cites low, irregular incomes and inadequate retirement provision as the reason.

Many artists earn little and not regularly. The Greens want to protect them better. Public theaters should pay a minimum fee. The state should keep paying grants until the pandemic ends.

The Greens want to preserve cultural spaces across North Rhine-Westphalia and create new ones. This includes affordable production spaces and workshops, temporary use of vacant buildings and protecting clubs from displacement. State-owned buildings and land are also to be opened up for this.

Culture needs space. The Greens want to create rooms for art and culture. Empty buildings should be usable for culture. Artists should get low-cost workshops. Clubs should not be pushed out.

The Greens want to expand arts education for children and teenagers and make access to culture socially fair. They want to pilot a culture pass for young people and advance model projects such as a culture ticket or free admission for school classes. Arts subjects in schools are to be strengthened.

Children and teenagers should find it easier to enjoy culture. The Greens want to test a culture pass for young people. School classes should go to theaters, museums and concerts more often. Music and art should matter more in school.

The Greens want to keep alive the memory of the victims of National Socialism and continue funding memorial sites. They argue that few eyewitnesses remain and that many families have no personal link to Nazi history. They reject calls to draw a line under remembrance.

The Greens want to remember the victims of the Nazi era. Memorial sites should keep getting money. Only a few eyewitnesses are still alive. So remembrance should stay tangible for everyone. Victims of far-right violence after 1945 should also be remembered.

The Greens want to strengthen heritage protection in North Rhine-Westphalia and preserve the role of the specialist offices at the regional associations. They oppose the state government's planned heritage protection law, which in their view weakens the protection of listed buildings. At the same time, climate-friendly construction is to be reconciled with heritage protection.

The Greens want to protect historic monuments better. Experts in the heritage offices should keep their say. The Greens oppose the state government's planned law. Heritage protection and climate-friendly building should fit together.

The Greens want publicly funded cultural institutions to pay more attention to social diversity and accessibility. More women are to become artistic directors, and new leadership models are to replace the hierarchical director model. The arts sector is also to use resources more sparingly.

Cultural institutions should reflect the diversity of society. More women should run theaters. There should be new forms of leadership with less hierarchy. The arts should also work in a greener way.

The Greens commit to public broadcasting independent of the state and want to keep securing the funding of WDR (the regional public broadcaster). The broadcaster is also to evolve and reach groups it has so far struggled to address. Its boards, formats and content are to reflect society's diversity better.

The Greens support public broadcasting. WDR should keep getting enough money. It should reach more young people and people with a migration background. The media libraries of all public broadcasters should grow together.

The Greens want to preserve the diversity of local newspapers and radio stations so that no areas are left without independent reporting. They want to promote nonprofit journalism and strengthen local radio. Media concentration law is to cover digital media as well.

There are fewer and fewer local newspapers and radio stations. The Greens want to support these media. Nonprofit journalism should get donations more easily. Nonprofit means it does not work for profit. The rules against too much power for single media companies should be updated.

The Greens want people of all ages to learn to use information and media competently and to recognize false reports. Against disinforming and inflammatory content, they rely on fact-checks, an expanded right of reply and criminal prosecution. WDR's multilingual programming is to grow substantially again.

False news can harm democracy. The Greens want everyone to learn to understand media well. Students in particular should be able to spot false reports. Hate speech and targeted lies should be prosecuted. WDR should again offer more programs in other languages.

The Greens want to further strengthen the film and media sector in North Rhine-Westphalia as an economic factor. Funding and networking are to be expanded, start-ups in the creative industries supported and pop culture funding established. They also back locating a German Photo Institute in the state.

North Rhine-Westphalia is an important state for film and media. The Greens want to keep supporting this industry. Founders in creative businesses should get more help. Pop culture should also get funding. A German Photo Institute should come to the state.

The SPD wants to double cultural funding within two legislative terms. The money is to benefit, among other things, the digitalization of cultural institutions, grassroots and community culture, and cultural life in rural areas.

The SPD wants to spend twice as much money on culture. This should happen over two terms of government. Rural areas should also have good cultural life. Small stages, movie theaters and clubs should be modernized.

The SPD wants to raise the minimum fee set in the state's culture law significantly and expand social protection for artists. Cultural funding is to take gender equity into account.

Artists should be paid better. The culture law sets a minimum fee. That is the lowest pay allowed. The SPD wants to raise it clearly. Social protection for artists should also get better.

The SPD wants to keep WDR as a full-service public broadcaster with adequate funding from the broadcasting fee. More of its content should be freely licensed, and its broadcasting council should reflect society more broadly.

The SPD wants to keep WDR strong. WDR is the public broadcaster in the state. It should keep offering a full program. It should get enough money from the broadcasting fee. More of its shows should be free for everyone to use.

The SPD wants to strengthen local journalism and keep North Rhine-Westphalia's local radio stations with their own newsrooms. To fund journalism in the long run, it should be eligible for nonprofit status, alongside new funding models.

The SPD wants to protect local news. Local radio stations should keep their own newsrooms. Journalism should be able to count as nonprofit work. That means it serves the public and pays less tax.

The SPD wants to further strengthen North Rhine-Westphalia as a location for games and media, especially the Ruhr area. A new event format is meant to bring together the online community and traditional media.

The SPD wants to strengthen the media industry in the state. This includes video games. The Ruhr area should benefit most. There should be a new event that moves between cities.