ABSTRACT
In 1995, Germans spent on average over three hours per day in front of the television, had the radio switched on for over three and a half hours and took forty-six minutes to read their newspaper (Kiefer 1996:235). These habits alone justify an examination of the media in this book. In addition, the German media industry is an important economic forcenot just on a national level but also on an international scale, with some of Europe’s and the world’s largest media groups based in Germany. Not least, the mass media deserve attention here also as one of the most influential institutions in Germany, as indeed in any democratic society. After all, they are, for most people, the major source of information about the world, the country and even the region or city they live in. Alongside the provision of information, the media have a variety of other functions to fulfil. They provide entertainment, and they have a significant political role to play. Not only do they make a vital contribution to the opinionforming process in society, the media also operate in a supervisory capacity, investigating and pointing out defects in the workings of democracy.
