In 2023 and 2024, non-commercial local radios like Radio Blau received support for the first time from Saxony’s “local journalism funding.” With these funds, we were able, among other things, to establish the multilingual editorial team “Echo.”
However, the draft budget for 2025/2026 by the Free State of Saxony now proposes cuts to this funding and plans to concentrate it mainly on commercial providers of local TV and radio programs. This is despite the fact that these commercial broadcasters already operate on a profit-oriented basis and receive various other public subsidies, unlike us.
We therefore demand that the Saxon State Parliament ensures that non-commercial local radios remain part of the local journalism funding in the future — as democratic voices and platforms representing diverse regional realities. You can support us by asking your state parliament representatives this week to advocate for continued funding for non-commercial local radios.
The State Chancellery justified this decision in response to parliamentarian Claudia Maicher by claiming that without funding, only commercial providers would have to cut programs and risk jobs. This statement is incorrect and raises many questions. Because:
– there is currently no publicly available evaluation of the projects so far,
– we would also lose program segments and positions if funding is discontinued,
– in the case of the Rundfunkkombinat, it would mean the end of the entire station.
So why should continued funding at a similar ratio — with at least 15% allocated to non-commercial local radios — not be possible or even necessary? At the same time, what a recent scientific study clearly shows is being ignored: non-commercial citizen media like us strengthen trust in democracy and journalism.
The parliamentary groups Die Linke and Die Grünen have submitted amendments on this issue, and negotiations are now beginning.
Graphic: Len Voigt