profile is operationalized both as a standardized set of questions and as part of an interview guide, and the audience is asked in focus groups as well as
quality dimensions and their fulfillment by ORF’s programs.
understanding and awareness of quality. The results are very promising for the
on public broadcasting. In addition to this function for the social discourse on
quality, the Quality Profiles also fulfill a control function in ORF’s internal quality
to close any gaps between the theory, expectations, confessions and reality.
of public service quality formulated by ORF in its Quality Profiles. This includes,
quality journalism in terms of research and editorial work.
Audience as a stakeholder
Due to massive disruptions in media economy and media perception PSM no
longer can’t expect to be accepted as given for granted.
The “Böckenförde theorem”, according to which the liberal state lives on
preconditions that it cannot guarantee itself, can also be applied to public
broadcasting. One of these prerequisites is the willingness of a society – or of
the relevant stakeholders – to engage in a discourse oriented toward the common
good, with key concepts such as quality and Public Value. It is precisely
this space of democratic understanding that has come under pressure since
the establishment of the Quality Profiles, due to political and social polarization
processes. It is based on the basic democratic trust of all participants in
each other’s goodwill. Where this basic trust gives way to a perception of other
members of society as enemies, discourse comes to a standstill, because the
arguments and facts of the other side are basically no longer recognized. The
discussion about public service gives way to a power struggle for control over
the media and the public. Erosion processes in the democratic sphere are empirically
evident, among other things, in the numerous comparative rankings
on democracy, which attest that Austria has taken significant steps backward
in recent years, for example, regarding a lack of transparency in government
action, and the influence of financially powerful groups on legislation, corruption
and media freedom. Regarding political culture, major representative studies
such as the Austrian Democracy Monitor conducted by SORA researcher
Martina Zandonella reveal a massive loss of trust. In the Democracy Monitor
2022, for example, satisfaction with the political system fell to just 34 % – a
drop of 30 percentage points compared with the start of the survey in 2018. Behind this is the experience of devaluation and exclusion in the bottom third
of society, and in the middle third the impression that privileged groups use the
political system for their own interests. This loss of trust goes beyond political
institutions. Jakob-Moritz Eberl, for example, uses data from the Austrian
Coronavirus Panel to show that parts of the population have also withdrawn
their trust in the scientific community and scientific knowledge. For example,
about a quarter of the population is of the opinion (September 2021) that one
should rely more on common sense and less on scientific studies. The media
are also affected by a general criticism of whitewashing, and in the Democracy
Monitor 2022, a majority of 59 percent agree with the statement that “politics
and the media are in cahoots.”
This change in the social framework also challenges the safeguarding of Public
Service Media quality. For, as Neuberger notes, the “substantial clarification
of public service expectations” is the indispensable basis for any operational
quality management. In other words, “business as usual” is a dangerous strategy.
On the contrary, the broader and more open the debate about the legitimacy
of public broadcasting is, the more likely it is to be countered by an imminent
erosion of its legitimacy. The traditional mass media are losing trust because
they are not open enough or responsive enough to society, as communications
scholar Otried Jarren put it, and he would like to see a broad debate on the future
of public broadcasting in Germany. After all, Public Service Media need corresponding
guiding principles. And these can only emerge from social discourse.
In view of the polarized political elites, the public and citizens are important
allies against the undermining of Public Service Broadcasting. In reaction ORF
has to open up and promote spaces for discourse, interaction and participation
wherever possible.
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From Quality Profile to Quality Check
To ensure that the insights gained in ORF’s Quality Assurance System are implemented in its daily media production, ORF has developed an additional element to ensure that reflections and objections as well as changes in expectations are incorporated into future programming. The ORF “Quality
Check” is a series of workshops with each of ORF’s main programme-
producing departments. Journalists and editors are confronted with the latest results of the ongoing ORF quality assurance process – in particular the evaluation of the respective quality profile. The goal is to discuss the ongoing media
production in a participatory process, to conduct a critical self-reflection and to derive concrete conclusions and, if necessary, objectives for future quality media production based on a strengths/weaknesses analysis. In the process, external
experts and colleagues from other ORF media departments participate in order to include critical reflection and in-depth analysis of particular aspects and current challenges.
