Lectures / 06/07/2009 7:30 pm

Open Space?

Media and Politics. Who is using whom for their own purposes?

The current holder of the office of Austrian Federal Chancellor is a case in point in the eyes of many observers of a cozy relationship between political power and the editor of Austria’s most powerful media. Some people take note of this and conclude it’s none of their business, others consider this as highly ominous for democracy in Austria. The continuing debate centring on the influence of political parties on the Austrian Radio and Television Corporation (ORF) highlights another journalistic problem zone. It would appear that the public’s right to information on which to base their opinion is in jeopardy.

Without the media politics does not find its way into the nation’s households, without politics the media fall short of content – and a substantial percentage of the revenue generated by advertising. What does the relationship between the media and politics look like from the point of view of a journalist’s everyday work? How closely are the two intermeshed? To what extent does the situation reflect peculiarly Austrian features? How do the tabloids and the freebies influence our political perception and the self-perception of journalists? What implications are inherent in this situation that need to be heeded in terms of our underlying democratic assumptions?

A cooperation between Linz09 and the OÖ Presseclub