What do the parties in Saxony-Anhalt say on culture and media?

The AfD wants to end what it regards as one-sided political influence. It names schools, state-funded programs worth millions, and the fee-financed public broadcasters.

The AfD says schools influence children politically in a one-sided way. It says the same about costly state programs. And about the public broadcasters that everyone pays fees for. The AfD wants to stop this.

The AfD wants to give the state's cultural policy a patriotic direction and replace the state campaign "moderndenken" (think modern) with a campaign called "deutschdenken" (think German). In the party's view, the goal is a new national self-confidence, which it also sees as a precondition for integration.

The AfD wants a patriotic cultural policy. Patriotic means being proud of your own country. A new campaign should show German history in Saxony-Anhalt. This should make Germans more self-confident.

The AfD wants to end the state's annual grant to the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste (German Lost Art Foundation) in Magdeburg entirely. It rejects checking museum holdings for unlawful acquisitions without a specific reason and sees this as keeping a sense of guilt alive.

The AfD wants to stop state money for a center in Magdeburg. The center checks whether museums got objects unlawfully. The AfD is against such checks without a specific reason. It says they only keep a feeling of guilt alive.

The AfD wants to appoint a state commissioner responsible for preserving memorials to fallen soldiers. It says many of these memorials are in poor condition, and it sees their upkeep as a sign of a patriotic turn.

The AfD wants a commissioner for war memorials. These are monuments for soldiers who died in war. The commissioner should make sure they are kept in good shape. The AfD wants to honor the dead soldiers this way.

The AfD wants to write into the state building code that public buildings owned by the state or municipalities must draw on a recognized building tradition. The platform considers many public buildings erected since 1990 ugly and expensive. In the party's view, public buildings should appeal to the majority and reflect historical identity.

The AfD wants new rules for public buildings. These buildings should be built in a traditional style. The party thinks many newer buildings are ugly. Most people should find public buildings beautiful.

The AfD wants public money for arts and culture to go mainly to works that, in its view, contribute to German identity. The platform sees cultivating cultural identity as the foremost task of art. It argues that artistic freedom does not create an entitlement to funding.

The AfD wants to change arts funding. State money should mostly go to art that strengthens German identity. Other art stays allowed. But it should get less state money.

The AfD wants the state to give localities five euros per resident each year for customs and tradition. The aim is to strengthen attachment to the home region and national identity.

The AfD wants to keep customs and traditions alive in villages. Each locality should get money from the state for this. It is five euros per resident each year. The local council decides how to use the money.

The AfD wants to oppose bans on private New Year's Eve fireworks at every level, from municipalities to the federal government. The platform regards fireworks as a centuries-old tradition and a ban as an undue restriction on citizens' freedom.

The AfD is against a ban on fireworks. For the party, firecrackers and rockets belong to New Year's Eve. It sees them as an old tradition. Everyone should be allowed to set off fireworks privately on New Year's Eve.

The AfD wants to turn the state's annual payments to the two major churches into general funding for all Christian churches. The money would be distributed by membership, with the total amount unchanged.

The state pays money to the two big churches every year. The AfD wants to share this money among all Christian churches. A church with more members gets more. The total sum stays the same.

The AfD wants to immediately end state funding for the Evangelische Akademie Sachsen-Anhalt (Protestant Academy). It argues that, in the platform's view, the academy mostly offers political content rather than church-related education.

The Protestant Academy gets money from the state. The AfD wants to stop this payment right away. The party says the academy mostly does politics. It says there is too little teaching about church and faith.

The AfD wants to use a state government to push for an obligation of political neutrality and balance for public broadcasting and for radio stations that receive public money. In the platform's view, critical voices are sidelined in the media and freedom of expression is being narrowed there.

The AfD wants neutral broadcasters. This should apply to public broadcasting. It should also apply to radio stations that get public money. The AfD says many opinions are missing there today.

The AfD wants to call on the state media authority to stop subsidizing Radio Corax, a station in Halle, and to have all so-called Freie Radios (non-commercial community radio stations) reviewed. The platform accuses the station of giving a stage to left-wing positions, gender topics and Antifa content while shutting out dissenting views.

Radio Corax is a radio station in Halle. It gets public money. The AfD wants this money to stop. It says the station is too left-wing and keeps out other opinions. All other community radio stations should be checked too.

The AfD wants to terminate the interstate broadcasting treaties as its first act in government after the election. This is meant to create pressure for reform, because in the platform's view public broadcasting does not renew itself.

The German states have treaties about public broadcasting. The AfD wants to cancel these treaties right away. This should force reforms. The AfD says public broadcasting will not change by itself.

The AfD wants to abolish the broadcasting fee and shrink public broadcasting to a basic service. It argues that every household has to pay regardless of income or actual use, which weighs especially on low earners.

Today every home pays a broadcasting fee. The AfD wants to end this fee. Public broadcasting should only offer a small basic service. People could then pay extra for sports or entertainment if they want.

The AfD wants the regional public broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) to decide on its own locations in order to work more efficiently. In addition, pension contracts in public broadcasting are to be reviewed, and media supervisory bodies are to be staffed independently of parties and on the basis of expertise.

The MDR is a public broadcaster. It should decide by itself where it works. The AfD also wants to check pension contracts in public broadcasting. If they are too high, it wants to cut them. Experts should sit on the oversight boards, not party people.

The AfD wants to keep the Medienanstalt Sachsen-Anhalt (state media authority) as a supervisory body but shrink it and limit it to core tasks. In the long run it is to be paid for from the state budget instead of the broadcasting fee, and the party wants its bodies to be less shaped by party politics.

The state media authority oversees private media in the state. The AfD wants to keep it but make it smaller. It should only do its most important tasks. Later the state should pay for it, not the broadcasting fee. Parties should have less influence there.

The BSW calls for a fundamental reform of the structures and oversight of public broadcasting. In the party's view, its coverage is too one-sided and too close to politics.

The BSW wants to change public broadcasting. The party says its reporting is often one-sided. The broadcasting council should be independent of parties. Citizens should have a say there too.

The BSW wants to ease the burden of the broadcasting fee on households and not raise it. Programming should focus on information, culture and education.

The broadcasting fee should not go up. It should depend more on what a household can pay. The stations should mainly offer information, culture and education. Station heads should not earn unlimited pay.

The BSW demands that the state's Cultural Funding Act be passed in 2026. It is meant to secure cultural institutions permanently and stabilize their finances, with a focus on venues in rural areas. The party regards culture as part of public services.

The BSW wants a cultural funding law for Saxony-Anhalt. The state parliament should pass it in 2026. Theaters, museums and other cultural places should get money for the long term. Cultural places in the countryside matter most to the BSW.

The BSW wants to improve the social situation of artists and other cultural workers. It names a reform of the Künstlersozialkasse (artists' social insurance fund), better protection against old-age poverty and loss of earnings, and better working conditions for freelancers.

Many artists earn little and have poor protection. The BSW wants to change that. The artists' social insurance fund should be reformed. Self-employed artists are insured through it. Freelance teachers at music and art schools should get fair fees.

The BSW wants children and teenagers across the state to encounter theater, music, art and literature regularly. Museums and libraries should be free of charge for school students, apprentices and university students. Cultural education should not depend on parents' income.

Children and teenagers should get to know theater, music, art and books. This should work everywhere in the state. School students, apprentices and university students should pay nothing at museums. Libraries should be free for them too. The BSW wants more support programs for young people.

The BSW wants funding programs to be transparent and free of political loyalty requirements. Public money should not be tied to ideological commitments, and the party rejects restrictions on expressing opinions. In civic engagement, it wants to support the full range rather than what it sees as one-sidedly political structures.

Clubs and artists get money from the state. The BSW says nobody should have to declare a political view for that. Awarding the money should be open and fair. Applications should get easier. The party wants to protect freedom of art and freedom of speech.

The BSW wants to maintain and preserve historic town centers, industrial buildings and everyday architecture. It opposes monotonous functional buildings and what it calls faceless investor architecture. Culture, history and landscape are also to form the basis of tourism funding.

Old town centers and old industrial buildings are part of the state's history. The BSW wants to keep and care for them. The party is against dull new buildings. Culture and history should also bring tourists to the state.

The CDU wants to work with the other states so that the services of public broadcasters ARD and ZDF are merged over the longer term, since it considers duplicate structures outdated. It wants to prevent fee increases and achieve a lower broadcasting fee in the long run.

ARD and ZDF often make similar shows. The CDU thinks this is unnecessary. It wants to merge what ARD and ZDF offer step by step. The broadcasting fee should not go up. Later it should go down.

The CDU wants to keep the public broadcasting fee stable and reduce it in the long run. Public broadcasters should focus on information, civic education and culture, and the regional broadcaster MDR should serve as a model of transparency and efficiency within the ARD network.

The CDU does not want the broadcasting fee to rise. Later, the fee should go down. Public broadcasters should mainly offer news and culture. They should spend money carefully.

The CDU wants the minimum age on social media platforms to be enforced through effective age verification. The coordinated use of bots and fake accounts for disinformation is to be banned. At the same time, media literacy programs for all age groups are to be expanded.

Social networks have a minimum age. The CDU wants the networks to really check users' ages. The CDU wants to ban fake accounts that spread lies on purpose. Everyone should learn to judge media better.

The CDU wants to develop Saxony-Anhalt further as a media location and continue the state funding program for film and media. Funding and commissions should go more often to companies from central Germany. Where AI is used in media, copyrights are to be protected and paid for.

The CDU wants more film and media companies in the state. The state should keep giving these companies money. Jobs should go to local companies more often. People who create things should get paid, even when AI is used.

The CDU wants to preserve local media, community media and small movie theaters and to push for fair economic conditions for regional media. Attacks on journalists are to be prosecuted consistently. Large digital platforms should take on more responsibility for media diversity.

The CDU wants to keep local newspapers and stations. Small movie theaters and community radio should stay too. People who attack journalists should be punished. Big internet platforms should do more for a variety of media.

The CDU aims for a state-level agreement with GEMA, the collecting society for music rights. It would let volunteer-run clubs use music without license fees up to four times a year.

Clubs have to pay GEMA when they play music at events. GEMA represents the rights of musicians. The CDU wants to sign a contract with GEMA. Then clubs can play music for free four times a year.

The CDU wants to fund culture equally in cities and rural areas and make cultural participation possible regardless of where people live. Traditions, customs, and local heritage are to be supported to strengthen cultural identity and a sense of home. Arts funding is to become simpler and faster.

The CDU wants to fund culture equally in cities and villages. Everyone should be able to take part in culture. The CDU wants to support customs and traditional festivals. Applying for funding should become simpler and digital.

The CDU wants to preserve the state's cultural heritage, from castles and palaces to collections and museums. More sites are to become UNESCO World Heritage. The CDU sees the work of memorial sites on Nazi terror, the injustice of the SED regime, and the division of Germany as a duty.

The CDU wants to preserve castles, palaces, museums, and art treasures. More places in the state should become World Heritage sites. The cultural foundations should get enough resources. Memorial sites should remind people of dictatorship and division.

The CDU wants to keep funding music, theater, and festivals and to secure the theater contracts. The cultural and creative industries are to receive start-up funding, especially for clubs and creative venues. Children and young people are to get early access to culture, including through well-funded music schools.

The CDU wants to keep funding theater, music, and festivals. Clubs and creative venues should get money to get started. Children should get to know music, theater, and libraries early. Music schools should have enough money.

The CDU wants to keep alive the memory of the crimes of the Nazi and communist dictatorships. To that end, memorial sites, archives, out-of-school learning sites, research, and volunteer initiatives are to receive support.

The CDU wants people to remember the crimes of the Nazi era and of East Germany. Memorial sites and archives should get more support. Research on these topics should get support too. Clubs and volunteers should get money for their work.

The CDU wants to mark June 20 in Saxony-Anhalt as a day of remembrance for the flight and expulsion of Germans after World War II. It also wants the culture of expellees and Spätaussiedler (ethnic German resettlers) to be preserved and passed on to young people.

The CDU wants to use June 20 to remember flight and expulsion. This is about millions of Germans after World War II. The culture of expellees and ethnic German resettlers should get support. These resettlers are Germans who moved to Germany from Eastern Europe. Young people should learn about this culture.

The Greens want targeted support for local newspapers and investigative journalism, especially in villages and small towns. Funding would come in part from a levy on very large platforms.

The Greens want to help local newspapers and media. This matters most in villages and small towns. Very large internet platforms should pay a levy for this. People everywhere should get reliable news.

The Greens commit to the continued existence and development of public broadcasting and to the MDR, the regional public broadcaster. At the same time, they want to cap top salaries there and increase transparency.

The Greens want to keep the MDR and public broadcasters. The highest salaries at the MDR should have a limit. The broadcaster should show more openly how it uses its money. It should offer more online.

The Greens want to strengthen bodies that detect false reports and to limit the spread of disinformation. Freedom of expression is to remain untouched.

Some groups spread false news on purpose. The Greens see this as a danger to democracy. They want to strengthen groups that spot false news. Everyone should still be free to say what they think.

The Greens see culture as an essential public service and reject cuts. At least 1.5 percent of the state budget would go to culture each year, culture would become a mandatory municipal task, and at the federal level it would be added to the constitution as a state objective.

The Greens do not want to cut money for culture. The state should spend at least 1.5 percent of its budget on culture every year. Towns and cities should be required to support culture. Once a month, museums should be free on a Sunday.

The Greens want adequate long-term funding for theaters and orchestras and a temporary fund to clear the investment backlog at theaters. The independent arts scene would get considerably more money and multi-year contracts, and a dedicated state program is planned for community arts centers.

Theaters and orchestras should get reliable money from the state. There should be a special fund to fix theater buildings. Independent artists should get more support. Contracts should run for several years. This helps them plan ahead.

The Greens want to link heritage conservation more closely with energy retrofits so that historic buildings are preserved and made fit for the future. Architecture competitions are to become the norm for large public construction projects, and disused industrial sites are to be put to cultural use.

The Greens want to keep old buildings. These buildings should use less energy. Owners should get help with repairs. Old factories should become museums or places for culture.

The Greens want to revise the state's library law because working conditions and demands on libraries have changed considerably since the last reform in 2010. A new library development plan is to be drawn up quickly, and public libraries are to be allowed to open on Sundays.

The Greens want a new law for libraries. The old law is from 2010. Libraries should be allowed to open on Sundays. There should be more library buses.

The Greens want to introduce a KulturPass 2.0 (culture pass) in Saxony-Anhalt that gives 18-year-olds a credit of 200 euros for cultural activities. The aim is for young people to be able to enjoy art and culture even when money is tight.

The Greens want a culture pass for 18-year-olds. Each person gets 200 euros for culture. The money can be used for concerts, theater and books. This way young people with little money can enjoy culture too.

The Greens want to expand cultural education from daycare through continuing education and to promote remembrance culture as part of it. They also call for more architectural culture in teaching, artist fellowships at universities and more youth cultural work.

The Greens want more culture in daycare and schools. Memorial sites and museums should get protection and money. They recall the Nazi era, East Germany and colonial times. Young people should get more places for their own culture.

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 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.

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.

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 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 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 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.

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 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 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 SPD wants to fund the state's cultural foundations reliably and invest in maintaining historic buildings. Buildings and art from the East German era are also to be recorded and preserved.

Saxony-Anhalt has many old buildings and museums. The SPD wants to keep them and pay for that. Buildings from East German times should also be protected. Museums should keep developing.

The SPD wants to fund culture over several years, simplify procedures and tie public money to minimum social standards and minimum fees. It also wants to defend artistic freedom and make access to culture easier for everyone.

Culture should get money further in advance. Artists should get a minimum fee. Tickets should be cheaper for many groups. Computer games should also get funding.

The SPD wants to extend the contracts for theaters and orchestras and end in-house pay agreements and forced part-time work there. Music schools, clubs, libraries and cultural offerings in rural areas are to be strengthened.

Theaters and orchestras should get money reliably. Staff there should no longer be forced to work part-time. Music schools should not get more expensive. Libraries should be allowed to open on Sundays.