Abstract:
The subject of the thesis is a legal analysis of all German legal provisions which authorisize the German broadcasting authorities to take preventive measures against private free to air TV broadcasters.
First, the legal basis of broadcasting control is presented against the background of the German constitution and all the statutes, which put the constitutional requirements in concrete terms. Special attention is directed to the limits resulting from the constitutional prohibition of censorship. After a determination of all German legal provisions which authorisize the broadcasting authorities to take formal preventive measures against private television broadcasters follows an explaination of these provisions` conditions. The main emphasis of the thesis is the investigation of the constitutionality of the aforesaid provisions. In addition, for the completion of the compilation of TV-control mechanisms, the broadcasting authorities` formal repressive and their informal preventive possibilities of TV-control are also set out. Influencing control mechanisms beyond the supervision of the broadcasting authorities, e.g. by the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen e.V. (an supervisory institution founded by the broadcasters themselves) are set out as well with special consideration of their effectiveness within their preventive range. At the end, German policy`s current plans concerning changes of the German broadcasting order by strengthening the self-checking institutions are considered, whereby special attention is directed to whether the planned changes are positive in light of the problems connected with the present control system.