History of German Television as a Social, Cultural, and Discursive Phenomenon

Abstract

Television is a global phenomenon with national peculiarities. This article introduces a chronological and comparative analysis of the development of television in West and East Germany. A systematic view of this phenomenon involves both technical and social aspects. From a technical innovation available to the privileged, it turned into a mass medium that performs an integrative function by shaping and broadcasting the current discourse. The research objective was to find out the specifics of television in Germany and correlate the global trends with the national context. The XX century erased the borders between such incompatible phenomena as dictatorship and democracy, and all these phenomena affected the content of TV shows, people’s attitude to television, its new genres, social functions, etc. The author revealed five stages in the development of German television. Stage I (late XIX century – 1945) was the age of technical discoveries, attempts at their practical implementation, and the early regular broadcasting during the period of National Socialism. Stage II (late 1940s – 1950s) marked the restoration of television broadcasting and the parallel development of television in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Stage III (1960s –1970s) clarified the institutional framework and social functions of television. Stage IV (1980s – mid-1990s) saw the emergence of new broadcasting technologies and commercial TV channels, as well as the collapse of the Eastern bloc and the reunification of Germany. Stage V (since 1990s) is connected with digitalization.