50th Anniversary

An Example of Media Self-Regulation in Europe
The German Press Council celebrates its 50th Anniversary on 20th November

On 20th November 2006, the voluntary self-regulation of the printed media will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its existence. The German Press Council, which is carried by journalist and publisher associations, is one of the oldest institutions dedicated to the self regulation of the media in Europe. Even boundaries of the freedom of the press are observed. Its mission is to observe, reprimand and, where possible, remove any corruption, abuse, degeneration and dubious infringements of the rules of fair and responsible journalistic conduct, and at the same time, to observe that the standing of the press remains in accordance with its duty to the general public”.

Defending the Freedom of the Press
“The standing of the press and the freedom of the press, remain to this day, the two most significant aims of the German Press Council”, according to Fried von Bismarck, the spokesman of the German Press Council. The successes of the German Press Council during the last 50 years are best reflected in the constraint of the State in passing laws defining the boundaries of journalism. Nevertheless, to this very day, the German Press Council continues to monitor whether special rights of the press, such as the protection of informants or the right to refuse to give evidence, are observed without any restrictions. The searching of the editorial offices of the monthly political magazine, “Cicero” and the bugging affair surrounding the newspaper editors in Dresden and Wolfsburg, are evidence that the freedom of the press is to this day endangered. The conglomerate that forms the Association of Sponsors of the German Press Council: the Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger (BDZV), the Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger (VDZ), the Deutsche Journalistenverband (DJV) and the Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalistenunion (DJU), work hand in hand in the German Press Council to prevent any such undermining of the freedom of the press. The latest cases also give rise to the impression that, above all, the investigators become active because they want to discover the names of informants or uncover journalistic sources. Ilka Desgranges, a member of the German Press Council, points out that, “in doing so, it is forbidden to implement measures that actually target the investigation of leaks”. Therefore the German Press Council has now called for a more detailed definition of the restrictions on confiscation in the German Code of Criminal Procedure.

Greatest Test after 25 Years
The 50-year history of the German Press Council has not escaped without any crises. The greatest test of the German Press Council came in 1977 with the undercover research of Günter Wallraff at the Bild newspaper. He brought to light the controversial working methods of the tabloid. The Complaints Committee of the German Press Council treated several of the cases he had researched and publicly reprimanded Günter Wallraff on one count for his objectionable undercover research and publicly reprimanded the Bild newspaper on six counts. The next test came with the unsettled issue of the public reprimand being printed as a voluntary undertaking. When the Kölner Express newspaper refused to print a public reprimand in 1981, the German Press Council temporarily put an end to its activities. The voluntary undertaking of the publishing houses to print the public reprimands, which to this day more than 90 percent of the publishing houses have agreed to, saw the German Press Council take up its work again in 1985.

European Commitment
On 10th June 1999 the German Press Council and other voluntary media self regulation organisations in Europe came together to found the “Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe – AIPCE” in London. In the interest of their aim to uphold the freedom of the press, the press councils in the different countries in Europe work together to observe the basic rules of fair and clean journalism and the observance of their own professional ethical principles. The expressed self-regulation of the press is necessary, even if only to reiterate the fact that it should not be a matter for the legislator, whether national or international, to correct any infringements with regard to journalistic fair play and the duty of care in a professional ethical sense.

In the meantime, many countries from Eastern and Central Europe have also established new press councils, such as the Press Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2000 and the Bulgarian Press Council in 2005. The AIPCE network has become a forum for cooperation, coordination and the exchange of knowledge among European press councils.

Common Professional Ethics and Moral Instance
The concept of the German Press Council is based on the established professional ethics of journalistic principles and the responsible actions of publishers, editors and journalists. The critics of the German Press Council see a weakness in this concept; the German Press Council sees its strength anchored precisely in this concept. The metaphor of the toothless tiger continues to be strained to this day within this context. Particularly the enforcement of its decisions is questioned by the critics, as the voluntary undertaking to publish public reprimands, as stated under figure 16 of the Press Code, is not always adhered to. However, in spite of these isolated cases where there are difficulties, the fundamental concept of the German Press Council remains based on the principle of self-regulation. It is not a jurisdiction of the profession, but rather sees itself as a moral instance that does not need to impose penalties, fines or ban anyone from the profession and does not need to enforce its decisions.

It would be wrong to causally compare the deficits or lacking quality of journalistic reporting with any lack of quality in the self-regulation. After all, one does not measure the rate of crime in a society according to the quality of its courts. Rupert Gießler already wrote in 1956 that, “the issue of the press is an issue of the state of mind of the general public itself. The press does not act in a vacuum, but rather in a force field of currents of time and the attitudes of readers.”