Incident affecting contributors

After months during which SWR showed no serious willingness to address the arguments of its compulsory licence fee payers, to review and reconsider its decision, and even managed to fool the (apparently clueless and oblivious) representatives of the licence fee payers, we consider it necessary to raise our voices, publicly condemn this behaviour and remind these ladies and gentlemen of their duties, for the performance of which they are, after all, remunerated with our money.

On 19 December 2025, we wrote the following open letter to the chairman of the Broadcasting Council, Dr Engelbert Günster, criticising his behaviour and that of his colleagues:

"Dear Dr Engelbert Günster,

In your capacity as Chairman of the Broadcasting Council, I am writing this open letter on behalf of our editorial team, which we would like to publish in our magazine together with your response. We refer to the public meeting of the Broadcasting Council on 5 December 2025.

We believe that you and your colleagues have not adequately fulfilled your duty to the public, who are the contributors. The majority of representatives did not actively follow the important agenda item on the programme Eisenbahn-Romantik, did not demand further accountability from the director, did not critically question his report and instead largely preferred to engage in private activities on digital devices.

We would therefore like to remind you and urge you all that you are not represented on this committee ‘for fun’ or to receive attendance fees, but rather to represent the licence fee-paying public. The behaviour we are criticising here is unacceptable and does not fulfil your duties. If there is no interest in dutifully monitoring the proper use of public funds and performing important supervisory duties, then I hereby publicly and unanimously call on you to resign.

We contributors are obliged to support public broadcasters with our hard-earned money and cannot shirk this duty. In return, however, we can also expect all representatives of your committee to fulfil their duties faithfully and reliably, and above all competently. I am currently unable to discern any of this. That is why we, too, will make our readers aware of our attitude towards a system financed by compulsory contributions. If culture and education continue to decline and the differences between educational television and purely commercial offerings continue to disappear until they are no longer perceptible, then the moral claim to reach into every citizen's pocket by legal norm will also cease to apply in the future.

The behaviour that is publicly perceptible and can be corroborated by several witness statements is simply shameful.

I expect every ‘expert citizen’ to have not only intelligence and discipline, but also commitment and adequate preparation. Unfortunately, in Germany, the term ‘expert’ seems to be based solely on party affiliation rather than education and relevant specialist knowledge. I am therefore glad that broomsticks, flower pots and representatives of our native fauna are not yet eligible for party membership.

We all expect you and the other councillors to recognise and understand when the broadcaster compares apples with oranges and uses arbitrary formats for comparison to justify decisions that allow no other conclusion. The director may be able to fool and deceive expert citizens – a downright ridiculous term in this context – but not the general public.

I therefore request that you fulfil your obligations, identify suitable comparison formats yourself, commission a well-founded assessment in the form of an expert opinion with analysis and comparison points to be determined, and, above all, critically examine this at the next meeting. In view of the upcoming holidays, I expect your response in the same text format by 9 January 2026.

Wishing you a happy new year with Eisenbahn-Romantik

Holger Späing
Editor-in-chief / Publisher

 

We call on you to follow our example, to stand up for German educational television and to exercise your right as a compulsory payer. Send your objection to Gremiengeschaeftsstelle(at)swr.de, make sure you get a hot seat and sign the petition to preserve Eisenbahn-Romantik! Let the so-called ‘knowledgeable citizens’ be led by the nose – but not us!