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Publishers Win One, Unintended Consequences Follow

The biggest winners in the digital media age can be counted on one hand. That’s an exaggeration, of course, and largely incorrect. Media providers have learned, to quote an old saw, to simultaneously pat their head and rub their tummy. Most challenged by this have been publishers.

ouch!Publishers, owners of media outlets formerly known as newspapers, embraced digital transition with inordinate grumbling. As readers - along with listeners and viewers - merrily choose the digital media fitting their needs, interests and, of course, lifestyles, the purveyors of the free market concentrated on limiting choice rather than adapting their products and services. They didn’t like the automobile either, particularly those with factory-installed radio receivers.

German publishers were almost thrilled at a court decision effectively affirming the primacy of publishers over public broadcasters. The German Federal Constitutional Court (March 28) refused an appeal by regional public broadcaster Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) seeking to dismiss a previous ruling to limit “press-like” text on its Tagesschau news app and website. Several publishers and publishers association BDZV started the legal process in 2011 asking the courts to find the Tagesschau app and website “distorting competition” in line with the Federal State Broadcasting Treaty (RStV) declaring “press-like” text illegal as offered by public broadcasters. The RStV, now the State Media Treaty (MStV), is a negotiated agreement between German Federal States and regional public broadcasters typically related to the household license fee that funds public broadcasting.

The BDZV and its member publishers want more. Negotiations with public television network ARD are coming and the publishers want a similar conclusion on “press-like” text on more websites. In the original 2011 court filing publishers referred to the Tagesschau app as a “killer app.”

It is entirely possible that NDR and other German public broadcasters providing news apps and websites will find yet another legal route to save the popular offerings. In a statement to news agency DPA (March 28), NDR said the Federal Constitutional Court only ruled on a 2016 regional court decision and not essential aspects of freedom of broadcasting. "The constitutional complaint was intended to clarify the relationship between broadcasting and the press in the digital world in principle.”

Of course, courts rule on matters of law - lobbying by politically favored interests notwithstanding. German publishers may well limit this use of digital media by public broadcasters. Constraining users is another matter.

All publishers fumed about short text - snippets - displayed on search engine results as infringing copyright, distorting competition or simply stealing their readers. Legislation, including the new European Union (EU) Digital Markets Act, has been written to return certain advantages to publishers, perceived as lost to digital transition. Fatefully misunderstood is that the vast majority of website and mobile app users are rather insensitive to the howlings of big publishing houses.

These are the times of shorter and shorter attention spans fueled by greater immediacy. Without delving into that socialpathology, today’s news fans are obsessive scanners, quite able to assemble what they want to know from a fountain of headlines. And TikTok messages are far more powerful


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