Head of the Grimme Institute under criticism

At least once a year, the German television world looks to Marl: That's when the Grimme Institute, based in the city on the northern edge of the Ruhr area, awards the prizes to the makers of TV programs, named after the cultural politician Adolf Grimme, who died in 1953. Many celebrities then make a pilgrimage to the Marler Theater. It's that time again at the end of April. Digital media are honored with the separate Grimme Online Award, the award ceremony will take place in Cologne in June.

In the past, however, the institute financed by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was not only known for its television prize: Under the leadership of opinionated experts such as the media scientist Lutz Hachmeister and the journalist Bernd Gäbler, major debates were held about the future of the media. It was about the quality of television, the economic perspectives of the industry or the importance of digitization.

Even today there would be a lot to discuss: public service broadcasting is under pressure due to various financial scandals. The question of how large and at what cost it will survive is an open one. "Why isn't one hearing or reading anything from the Grimme Institute in these times?" the "Association of Friends of the Adolf Grimme Prize" complained in an open letter last November. "Right now the Grimme Institute could participate and contribute to the public discussion with innovative ideas and events for the redesign of the radio and television landscape."

The criticism is directed at Frauke Gerlach, who has headed the institute since 2014. Gerlach was previously legal counsel for the Greens in Düsseldorf. Her attempts to become head of the state media agency had failed, and the job in Marl was seen as a kind of consolation in the scene.

According to information from WELT AM SONNTAG, the institute did not reply to the letter from the Friends of the Prize. But he was not without consequences: the board of the Grimme-Freunde was voted out, media journalist Steffen Grimberg was replaced as chairman by Jörg Schieb, who works as a digital expert for WDR, among other things. When asked, Schieb said to this newspaper: "I would never have written this letter, especially not as an open letter." There needs to be a debate about the quality of public television, its structure and the influence of the Internet on society, which, however, Grimme Institute could not run alone.

Schieb does not criticize Gerlach's work. The shareholders of the institute, including the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the adult education center association and the WDR, also do not say a bad word about the Grimme boss. Gerlach did not want to answer the question of whether she was running for a third term. Such questions would be "answered elsewhere," said the spokesman for the institute. Gerlach's chances, whose term of office is due to be extended in 2024, should be good. Opposing candidates are not yet in sight.

What Jörg Schieb would like is greater interest from politicians in the media. Lutz Hachmeister, who headed the institute from 1989 to 1995, also names the reasons for the lower level of interest: "The times when a Berlusconi traveled to Düsseldorf to negotiate with the state government about a license for his Tele 5 station are long gone .” If you want to start a TV station today, just do it. "Broadcast slots are no longer scarce."

The Grimme Institute would have played an important role in the media debates when media policy was still a big issue at the state level. But those times are long gone: Hachmeister says that media policy was only a side issue for Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU). Under Armin Laschet (CDU), the Media Forum NRW, which used to open annually in Cologne with a speech by the head of government, was then discontinued. The big decision-makers in the media sector today are the bosses of Google, Amazon, Facebook, Disney, Netflix and Apple. "The state of North Rhine-Westphalia no longer plays a role for these people," says Lutz Hachmeister. "We need a strong and coordinated national and European media policy." The previous Mikado of the federal states is no longer a flower pot to win.