ABSTRACT
This article explores (1) how and why mass media have promoted the inner-German process of reunification, (2) why the media might even have slowed down or blocked the process, and (3) why it is important to think of Germany as consisting of two different publics. The analysis emphasizes the impact of political culture on political communication processes. In the West, a predominantly liberal/competitive political culture, with populist/ dogmatic tendencies, developed. However, during the process of reunification there was an erratic revolutionary change in East Germany, moving from a controlled/collective political culture to a more populist/ dogmatic pattern, with only minimum expression of liberal/competitive cultural traits. Thus we conclude that strong differences in the three dimensions account for the existence of two publics in Germany, which makes integration a challenge.
