Not on my fancy terrace

Monique Kater, a long-time journalist at RTL Luxembourg, takes your problems seriously. „Imagine, you’ve just bought a fancy apartment, between Hollerich and the train station, you’re sitting on the terrace and suddenly it starts to stink really bad.“ she writes for example, so that even people of her status understand that wastewater does not belong in the Pétrusse. The NIMBY classics of high-voltage power lines and wind turbines should of course not be missing, with a report about a newly founded non-profit organization called „Energiematverstand“, which could just as well be a username in the RTL comments. For example, they spread false information about infrasound caused by wind turbines and its supposed negative consequences for humans, which is mainly based on a study that was withdrawn in 2021 due to serious errors. These are concerns that, if Monique Kater is to be believed, must be taken seriously.

Freedom for Cattenom

Speaking of electricity production. In the report „Breaking the atomic energy taboo – Lëtz Atom raises awareness of nuclear energy“ she reports on the Luxembourgish group Letz Atom’s information stand at the Knuedler. Here, an uncritical report is made about a lobby group that downplays the problems and risks of nuclear power, and actively advocates for these technologies and against environmentally friendly renewable energies. The bigger problem with this report, however, lies in the details: anyone who looks closely can see on the information stand who co-organized it: Roy Reding’s conspiracy party Liberté - Fräiheet. Is this a political advertisement that is not marked as such? This small detail is not mentioned in the report at all.

The American pro-nuclear activist Mark Nelson also gets an interesting description, quote: „Mark Nelson was on the Knuedler; he stands for nuclear energy, sells it - not for a lobby - but because he has studied it and is convinced of its advantages.“ That he, as CEO of Radiant Energy, a pro-nuclear energy lobby group, should not be considered a lobbyist, is at least questionable.

A viewing platform with a good view from the right

As for the arrangement of her interviewees, Mrs. Kater does not always take her work so precisely. The article „The Vauban walls of the past in the steel of today, an idea by Gérard Philippe“ for example reports on an architectural idea that was probably simply sent to her – apart from this article, there is little to be found about this project – probably not by an architect, but by ADR politician Gérard Philipp, seen here in an election advertisement. It’s hard to find out if his name is already misspelled in the title of the article, but the linked PDF file provides some clarification. Whether anyone can simply get an RTL report about his questionable ideas by sending a PDF to Monique Kater, or whether you have to be a member of a party for this, had not yet been clarified at the time of writing.

A liberal militia for the gare area

One of their more worrying reports about the situation at the Central station, however, hits the nail on the head. Patrick Reisdorf, president of the DP Gare is presented as a „Gare resident and co-founder of the WhatsApp group.“ – a WhatsApp group of Gare residents, which Monique Kater covered especially – and is allowed to rant here without critical rebuttal about a militia. The fact that he is an active DP politician is of course not mentioned here, just like all the other times when politicians – mainly from the DP – have been presented as simple residents of the Gare district. Here Tim Morizet made the same mistake, with the concerned citizen and state DP politician Laurence Gillen. But it can happen that one simply forgets to mention such information.

And a rotting footbridge

Even for a report about a rotting footbridge on a walking path, Monique Kater manages to get a politician as an interview partner, this time Patrick Mischel from Liberté - Fräiheet. The fact that she interviews Eric Thill here as the Minister of Tourism and not as a concerned walker is a positive note.

What does this mean specifically for you?

If you’d like to have your five minutes on TV, we’ve got the perfect how-to guide. You just have to be a local politician – the more right-wing, the better – and either oppose a local building project, or want to start a questionable local building project yourself. Send your suggestions by post to Monique Kater, address: a chic apartment with a terrace between Hollerich and the station, where it stinks really badly. She’ll get in touch with you. Don’t worry, she’ll keep your party membership a secret – guaranteed.

Although the DP’s 2013 election program did not mention media policy or CLT-UFA, the corporation behind RTL, it is the DP that is taking over the media portfolio after the elections. This means that the Liberals are responsible for the ongoing negotiations on a new contract between CLT-UFA and the state. It is Xavier Bettel himself, who as DP parliamentary group leader briefly sat on the CLT-UFA board in 2011, who is now demanding not only the post of Prime Minister, but also that of Minister of Media. In doing so, he is re-introducing a tradition that was last practiced by Jacques Santer in 1989 and has now been continued by Luc Frieden: the media is a top priority in Luxembourg.

In January 2014, Xavier Bettel presented the media component of the coalition program in the Chamber. There was not much to present, as it was already clear with the coalition agreement that the upcoming negotiations between the state and CLT-UFA would take place behind closed doors. As Xavier Bettel’s communications advisor, Paul Konsbrück moved to the State Ministry right at the beginning of CLT-UFA’s mandate, where he was the last editor-in-chief of Eldoradio. After that, nothing more was heard for a long time, the public did not get to see what kind of dynamic was developing between the ministry, CLT-UFA, RTL Group and Bertelsmann.

Maximum non-transparency

It is difficult to say from the outside how the final negotiations with CLT-UFA were prepared. However, there are enough indicators that show how close both sides have become. For example, the awarding of the Bertelsmann heiress Liz Mohn by Xavier Bettel in 2016. Both will meet again shortly afterwards at the „Mittelstandsgipfel“ of a German interest association. The discussions behind the scenes are already close to completion, when the Lunghi affair suddenly casts a very bad light on RTL and the negotiations between the state and CLT-UFA suddenly gain in intensity. In a poorly-paced interview with 100komma7, Simone Beissel (DP), then President of the Chamber’s Media Commission, also rambles on. It becomes obvious that Bertelsmann is putting pressure with high demands. Demands that Xavier Bettel is prepared to accept.

In the spring of 2017, things are moving very quickly. Paul Konsbrück is now „Government Commissioner“ at CLT-UFA, so he oversees the activities of his old employer on behalf of the state. Xavier Bettel has had a study done that should show him how far he can go in financing a private corporation without breaking EU rules. The fact that the CLT-UFA will be financed directly by the state for the first time, and with millions of euros, has never been publicly discussed. Xavier Bettel planned it exactly that way: Instead of making a concession over the usual period of 10 years, a first stage of 3 years will be decided. This will prevent the Chamber from having to pass a financing law, and the discussions will be conducted more broadly in Parliament. Xavier Bettel will present a government statement in Parliament pro forma on March 23, 2017, but will keep the negotiated agreement secret: „a trade secret“. Xavier Bettel prefers to communicate through pompous images, for example the inauguration of RTL City in April 2017. To further appease CLT-UFA, Xavier Bettel places a personal colleague in the position of president of the competitor 100komma7. It is also Laurent Loschetter who signs a concession broken above the knee for 100komma7 after 2018, in order to keep the broadcaster trapped in the passive status quo.

So what was agreed with RTL now? Apart from Xavier Bettel, only a few senior officials on the state side saw the contract at the time of the signing. The same is true of an ominous additional document, for which he jetted to Gütersloh at Bertelsmann during the 2018 election campaign. Yes, exactly, he flew, and from Luxembourg by private jet for €12,000 to Paderborn Airport. It is not known what kind of contract this was.

A new starting point for the second concession agreement

This brings Sven Clement to the table two years later. Since Bertelsmann has now moved to evict all RTL Group staff from the new RTL City and turn the „media location“ into a letterbox company, the Pirates’ deputy now wants to know whether at least a commitment to Luxembourg’s location was not part of the agreement. Sven Clement was successful, but much later.

Xavier Bettel, who was re-elected in 2018 and once again combined the positions of Prime Minister and Minister of Media, already knows that he will have to approach the next agreement differently. The CLT-UFA is asking for even more money and a financing law is becoming inevitable. If the law is discussed in the Chamber, it is impossible not to show the MPs what the state should spend up to 15 million a year on. The new concession agreement is supposed to run until 2030 and RTL will receive the absolute maximum amount of money, which still seems to be only just compatible with EU competition law. Who would want that? The DP did not include a single sentence about the future of „public service“ in the media in its election program. However, both coalition partners, the Greens and the LSAP, have already started to think about creating a real public broadcaster. There is more pressure, including from the media watchdog ALIA, which is gradually becoming stronger and more independent.

The pressure is also being increased by Bertelsmann. RTL Group has not only massively reduced staff in Luxembourg, but has also started to divest RTL branches. RTL Belgium will be sold in 2021, the sale of RTL Holland is being prepared and M6, the French RTL Group subsidiary, is also set to be sold. In fact, the time of RTL Luxembourg is over. But can Xavier Bettel become the minister under whom RTL leaves the country and a public-law alternative is created? Gaston Thorn would be turning in his grave.

A coup by Bettel

Xavier Bettel’s advantage is that he alone can determine when and where the future of the media in Luxembourg is discussed. He is making his media ministry a fortress. And it is clear how the staff there thinks. Michel Asorne has become deputy director under Xavier Bettel. Michel Asorne worked at the CLT-UFA media agency BCE for 10 years before he became an advisor to the media ministers in 2012. Under Xavier Bettel, he becomes a plus head of the ILR. Paul Konsbruck is now not just an advisor to Xavier Bettel, but head of the cabinet and leads the negotiations on behalf of the state. The financing law for the CLT-UFA is written, among others, by Carole Nuss, who has moved from LuxInnovation to the Minister of Media. Carole Nuss’s view on the issue can best be expressed with the following quote: „Luxembourg’s long-standing history in broadcasting has shaped a pragmatic business-oriented regulatory landscape, especially suited to the cross-border needs of broadcasting services.“

In the end, everything is moving very quickly again. To convince the coalition partners that someone somewhere has seriously thought about the possibility of a public-law RTL replacement, the Ministry of Media writes the „Study“: „Les médias de service public au Luxembourg - Défis actuels et perspectives d’avenir“, who exactly wrote the less than 20 pages is not clear. However, the main argument is used by Xavier Bettel from that moment on to declare the discussion over: Establishing a public-law medium would be more expensive than subsidizing RTL. A „Orientation debate“ is convened in the Chamber. According to Xavier Bettel, the proof of the absurdity of an alternative is the fact that the ARTE channel would cost over 130 million a year. It is not said who would have demanded such a model. In as few committee meetings as possible, the financing law will then pass through the chamber. The LSAP and the Greens will say yes and amen and the opposition is not opposing. Xavier Bettel has done it again.

The counterpart to the state favors has always been a TV program in Luxembourgish. The agreement between the government and RTL stipulated that the state did not charge a fee for the use of frequencies and that RTL therefore produced and broadcast the „Hei Elei“ information program. During the negotiations surrounding the 2017 state treaty, however, direct financing of RTL was brought into play for the first time. It is assumed that Bertelsmann (the group behind RTL and CLT-UFA) made the state’s financial contribution a condition for keeping the TV channel.

The desire for state subsidies for a private company has brought with it a number of legal problems, which the latest agreement more or less elegantly attempts to circumvent. RTL Luxembourg is not an independent company, but a kind of division within CLT-UFA, the billion-dollar corporation. Within this structure, RTL TV, radio and NewMedia (the digital activities of RTL Luxembourg) coexist. Personnel, content and even the use of premises, etc. overlap. If the state wants to spend money on a TV program, how can it be ensured that RTL’s radio or website does not also benefit? After all, they do not need a state contract or state money. Both radio and the site rtl.lu are profitable and are also in competition with other broadcasters and platforms that do not, or at least not as much, benefit from state aid. How can money still flow?

A new public service radio station - without a real contract

The person in charge seems to have been aware that a separation between the finances of TV, radio and the Internet is not possible. This separation was already foreseen in the State Treaty for the period 2021-2023, but has probably not been reviewed so far. To make the structure less vulnerable, RTL Radio is therefore not just a symbolic, but also a financial part of the „public service“ in the current agreement between the state and RTL. The competition law concerns are simply ignored. Instead of giving RTL Radio, just like TV, at least a set of terms of reference, the deal between the state and RTL in terms of radio is limited to a DinA4 page with phrases.

Nothing is concrete. RTL Radio Luxembourg is given the task of producing a daily radio program that should be „mainly“ in Luxembourgish, but should be aimed at the „largest possible“ audience in the country. There are practically no requirements in terms of content. „General information broadcasts“ are mentioned, which should be broadcast „during peak hours“ - which RTL pretty much leaves open. For TV, a volume was mentioned, for information, educational, cultural and sports broadcasts, for radio there is no single really strict requirement or guideline. However, it is expressly specified that RTL may broadcast as much advertising as the law allows.

Another gift to Bertelsmann

To sum up, it must be stated: RTL Radio Luxembourg is now fully part of the public service, but without having a specific task. RTL Radio Luxembourg can continue exactly as before - except that even more state money will be available to RTL overall. The state failed to demand specific journalistic content and programs from RTL in return and blindly subsidized the programs of a few commercial stations. No one wanted RTL Radio Luxembourg to receive such a contract, but it was the most pragmatic solution to allow RTL TV to receive money.

The next part of the series on the current concession agreement will deal with the provisions for the „digital platforms“ component in the context of public service. So far in the series:

1. “A particularly tight contract, which will still cause many problems.”

2. “A “Public Service Mission” for a commercial broadcaster”

3. Quality control at RTL?

4. What goals and missions does RTL have - apart from making money?

5. A “Follow-up Commission” under the control of the Ministry

6. Does RTL ignore its terms of reference for TV?

The main page of RTL publishes around 2 articles on queer topics a year, usually just in time for Pride. Outside of Pride, the topic is only mentioned when it comes to justifying a review of the new Harry Potter game. The RTL1 editorial team checked whether what RTL reports on queer people even deserved the word „representation“.

In terms of content, these articles show an absolute minimum of research and care, and use expressions that would have been criticized as completely unacceptable in the 90s. For example: an article from 2023 about what the individual letters of the LGBTQI+ abbreviation mean, reads like a homework assignment broken above the knee - including an incorrect definition of the term „intersex“.

Clichéd reporting about trans* people

Instead of following the ILGA Guidelines for reporting on LGBTQI+ people, RTL journalists prefer to engage in so-called „deadnaming“; the practice of addressing a trans* person by the wrong name, or reporting on them by the wrong name.

In an article about Caroline, a trans woman, RTL repeats her deadname over and over again, reproduces clichés such as „born in the wrong body“, and in the end reduces her completely to her gender reassignment surgery.

The same pattern is found over and over again in the RTL archive. In 2021, in a segment in the RTL show „People and Stories“, the trans woman Veronica is addressed directly by her deadname and old pronouns. Even in the description of the episode, only the deadname is mentioned, and as in the above article, the „born in the wrong body“ cliché is used again and again - here it is even the title of the episode. „You are still a man inside yourself“, the reporter says to the woman.

The same thing happens in 2020, this time about a trans man, Jan. He is shown during an operation, and while this time they at least mention his real name and the correct pronouns in the intro of the video, he is repeatedly deadnamed throughout the video, and again the „born in the wrong body“ cliché is used.

„Misgendering“ trans people, i.e. intentionally addressing them with the wrong gender or pronouns - whether in direct conversation or later in a voiceover - is violent in a way that is often difficult for cis people to comprehend. The obsession with the bodies and genitals of trans people, which becomes clear in these articles, is not only reprehensible and disrespectful, but also deeply harmful and in no way comes close to the responsibility of serious journalists. In this sense, RTL also reaches the standards of its general ethical and journalistic level on this issue.

The journalists (who often hide behind the almighty author „RTL“) should perhaps be ashamed of how they deal with these issues, and take time to think about whether they should report on anything at all if they cannot do so without harmful stereotypes and untruths. But even that could be generalized and the RTL1 editorial team would be very surprised if critical reflection were ever to occur at RTL.

These fetishizing and sensationalizing narratives contribute to an environment that is increasingly hostile towards trans people. The Luxembourg media monopolist contributes to a climate that is to blame for the increased suicide rate, self-harm, and mental and physical problems among trans people, and this from a young age. It is obvious that they have not even tried to fulfill a duty of care here, and probably will not in the future.

It’s also different

All of this stands in stark contrast to RTL Today, the English-language site of RTL. Here, one or two queer people seem to have managed to sneak into the editorial office and have published well-researched, well-written, and liberating articles from the perspective of queer people. According to RTL1 information, the real RTL is disavowing any connection to these unapproved individuals from RTL Today and intends to continue to remain old-fashioned and transphobic in the media that is actually consumed.

Unlike usual for RTL, this article was written by people from the LGBTQI+ community.

Finally, there is concrete information. The chapter „1.2. Commitments relative to the public service in television“ lists what content RTL must produce in order to meet the public service mission defined in the concession agreement.

CLT-UFA, the group behind RTL, is committed to addressing „the largest possible resident audience“ with a program that should be mainly in Luxembourgish. A „news bulletin“ should be broadcast daily. A kind of thematic and strategic orientation is also established; the program should make it possible to understand today’s world and address specific economic, social and scientific topics and questio ns around integration, solidarity and social responsibility.

Elements that should be firmly anchored in the program

• A daily information program of at least 30 minutes, which should be redistributed with French subtitles during the evening. The „Journal“ on RTL does not really meet these conditions, the format is rather 25 minutes long and is framed by advertisements to fill the 30-minute slot, sometimes even 5 minutes of „Piccobello“ are squeezed into that slot.
• One (or more) cultural programs with a total duration of one hour per week and that for at least 10 months of the year (to allow for a summer vacation). Here, RTL delivers with „No Art on Air“ and the still rarely appearing „Art Box“ a maximum of 30 minutes per week, of which the largest part is filled cost-effectively with a talk show.
• One or more sports programs, also over a duration of one hour per week. With the „Sport Weekend“ and the „Goal“ program, each lasting half an hour, RTL is fulfilling its obligations here, but one has to wonder to what extent live broadcasts count as sports programs.
• One or more programs as an information program with a total duration of one hour per week for the non-Luxembourgish communities in this country. There is no trace of such a program in RTL’s television program. The concession agreement for the period from 2021 to the end of 2023 already mentions such a program, however, with a total duration of 30 minutes per week. However, the less than 5-minute format „Portugais du Luxembourg“, which ran every second Saturday in 2023, was produced only for a short time.
• One or more educational programs. Here too, according to the RTL television program, it is not clear which programs produced by RTL fall under this category. The suspicion arises that RTL would like to include various co-produced programs here, e.g. the program „Pisa“ („presented by FNR“), the energy tips (sponsored by the „Klima-Agence“) or the program „Where does it hurt?“ (sponsored by the „Hôpitaux Robert Schuman“)

In addition, political discussion formats are also included in the schedules, but without specifying a volume. There are special schedules for RTL during election periods and in various special cases, such as disasters, the TV is to be at the disposal of the state.

The chapter concludes with a number of points on transmission technology. RTL is once again explicitly given the right to broadcast permitted advertising, but is also obliged to draw up an accessibility plan for people with disabilities. In order to reach Luxembourg citizens outside Luxembourg, RTL is committed to ensuring transmission via satellite.

The next part of the series on the current concession agreement will deal with the provisions for the „radio“ component in the context of public service. So far in the series:

1. „A particularly tight agreement that will still cause many problems.“

2. „A „public service mission“ for a commercial broadcaster“

3. Quality control at RTL?

4. What goals and missions does RTL have - apart from making money?

5. A „monitoring commission“ under the control of the ministry

„A commission de suivi de la Convention follows the good execution of the Convention relative à la mission de service public“ is stated at the beginning of the chapter on the additional state control body. This commission is made up of the government commissioner, currently Anne-Catherine Ries; a person representing parliament, currently Tom Weidig (ADR); and an unspecified number of people who would be designated by the Minister of Media Luc Frieden, or the delegated Minister of Media Elisabeth Margue. Who this is is not known - and none of these people may have a business connection to CLT-UFA.

This commission meets at least twice a year and prepares a report for the minister. If the commission identifies a problem, it reports it to the minister. Apart from one person from parliament, who is not allowed to communicate to the outside world what is discussed in the commission, the entire control lies with the ministry. It is unclear to what extent the media watchdog ALIA is allowed to check compliance with all parts of the convention or whether, for example, the budget control committee of the Chamber of Deputies has access to balance sheets and budgets. Although it is a „public service“, maximum non-transparency applies.

International Standards

In principle, the commission could really put RTL on the spot. The accounts could be examined in detail, RTL’s programs could be investigated and „actions implemented by CLT-UFA to guarantee the quality of programs“ could be evaluated. According to the agreement, the commission could even have studies carried out on the quality and training programs for journalists. The studies, as the contract emphasizes twice in a row, must comply with international standards - standards that, according to the contract, were not set for the quality of the program itself.

However, the audit that a consulting firm is to carry out of the CLT-UFA accounts should comply with international standards. KPMG doubts that these could be met in a provisional check in 2017. The chapter „Financial Transparency“ deals once again with the monitoring commission. It explains what documents the commission will ultimately receive in order to fulfill its task. CLT-UFA must (1) submit a provisional budget for its public service, and (2) a still unaudited statement of accounts for the completed financial year. The commission then submits this statement to a consulting firm, e.g. KPMG.

Create transparency?

Ultimately, it is up to the ministry alone to determine how effective the CLT-UFA’s control of its public service and its accounts is. Why the accounts of the public media contract are not public, why at least the commission’s reports to the ministry are not published, is unclear. In other countries (for example RTBF or D-Radio), financial transparency is the basis for strengthening trust in the media. The question is how long the Chamber, the media watchdog ALIA and other institutions in Luxembourg, as well as the EU Commission, which monitors compliance with competition law, will allow themselves to play this game.

The next part of the series on the current concession agreement will deal with the ”provisions for the „television“ component in the context of the public service. So far in the series:

1. “A particularly tight contract that will still cause many problems.”

2. “A “Public Service Mission” for a commercial broadcaster”

3. Quality control at RTL?

4. What goals and missions does RTL have - apart from making money?

The RTL parties are historically the CSV and the DP, here there was not only the rapid transition of journalists into politics, but also the major entanglements of ministers and EU politicians into the corporate politics of the CLT-UFA. But what about the LSAP, the third largest party in Luxembourg?

On January 9th of this year, the newly delegated Minister of Media Elisabeth Margue (CSV) presented the media component of the coalition agreement to the Chamber’s Media Committee. Taina Bofferding, now the leader of the LSAP faction and thus the leader of the opposition, takes the floor and calls for discussions to begin as soon as possible on whether the media’s dependence on a private company for the public service mission should be broken. The questioning of the contract between the state and CLT-UFA, the group behind RTL Luxembourg, has a tradition in the LSAP and is in line with the LSAP election program, which envisages the creation of a new public-law medium in Luxembourg.

From RTL to LSAP

The fact that the LSAP was in government from 2004 until the last election and could have had a significantly greater influence on a total of three contracts between the state and CLT-UFA is history. It also doesn’t seem to bother her that Taina Bofferding, who is speaking here in the Chamber Committee about CLT-UFA, herself sits on the CLT-UFA board as the LSAP faction leader. An obvious conflict of interest. In addition to her, Francine Closener also sits on the LSAP media committee. Francine Closener started working for RTL in 1994, as a journalist for RTL Radio Luxembourg. In 2008, she became the radio’s editor-in-chief, before moving to RTL TV in 2010. In 2013, she ran for the LSAP in the parliamentary elections, but missed out on a seat in parliament, and was taken into the government by Etienne Schneider as a state secretary. In the 2018 elections, in which RTL presenter Sandy Lahure also ran for the LSAP, Francine Closener missed out on a seat in parliament again, but was able to return in 2019 and has since served on the LSAP’s media committee, among other things. With her 2018 election result, Francine Closener slipped ahead of another ex-RTL journalist on the LSAP list, Cécile Hemmen.

Cécile Hemmen started working for RTL’s predecessor CLT in 1978 and ran for the LSAP for the first time in 2009. In her political career, she was also mayor and LSAP district president in the center. The most recent RTL employee in the ranks of the LSAP is Danielle Filbig. She is a leading candidate for the upcoming European elections and according to her own LinkedIn profile still a correspondent for RTL. Danielle Filbig probably no longer really works for RTL in the meantime, she was a correspondent in parallel with her studies. But her start in politics can still be well understood on the RTL website. In July 2022, Danielle Filbig will report for RTL from the 120th anniversary celebration of the LSAP in Esch.

The LSAP is watching

Despite the personnel overlaps and conflicts of interest and the decades-long presence of the LSAP on the CLT-UFA board of directors, the LSAP has never become an RTL party comparable to the DP or the CSV. The LSAP’s media policy itself is not geared towards the interests of the private media, but the LSAP must accept the accusation of inconsistency and, above all, passivity. Media policy has been left to the respective coalition partner for years. The LSAP let Jean-Louis Schiltz (CSV) and also Viviane Reding (CSV) wait and later did not look closely at where Xavier Bettel (DP) as Minister of Media worked out the new deals together with Paul Konsbrück. The position of the parliamentary representative in the „Follow-up Commission“, which is supposed to control the CLT-UFA, was first offered to the Greens in the government and then now in the opposition even to the ADR.

A visionary of public media plunged into oblivion

It was precisely the LSAP that fought in the 80s and 90s for an alternative to the monopoly of commercial television and did not want to leave the media to the advertising market. Information and education, culture and the strengths of exchange in democracy: public media were a central element for social democracy, which it was important to defend - and even introduce in Luxembourg. The fight was waged in many countries and also at European level, where the Luxembourgers Thorn (DP), Flesch (DP) Dondelinger and Santer (CSV) largely prevailed against various center-left advocates of public media in the spirit of maximum privatization. In Luxembourg, Robert Krieps, former Minister of Justice and Minister of Culture in the 1980s and spokesperson for the LSAP, advocated aggressively for the creation of public media. As a sort of compromise solution, Radio 100komma7 was created, however, after Robert Krieps’s death in 1990.

By the end of the 1990s at the latest, many social democrats around the world had switched to a more economically liberal policy, and Luxembourg was no exception. Looking at the 2004 election program, it can be seen that the LSAP had rejected Robert Krieps’ ideas and the socialists generally did not have much to say about media policy. It says: „With regard to the economic dimension of the cultural and media sector, partnerships between public institutions, companies and private initiatives should be actively promoted in management and financing issues“. It is no wonder, then, that the LSAP first left the field of media policy to the CSV and then to the DP completely.

Back to the roots?

At least programmatically, the LSAP has been gradually returning to its roots in recent years. It was not until the 2018 elections that the LSAP really had a chapter on media policy in its election programme again and also called for the introduction of a public television station. Although the Greens also wanted to at least „examine the creation of a public television program“ in their 2018 election program, and to advocate for public media at the European level, the DP is being left to wait when drafting the State Treaty, which has now come into force on January 1st of this year and has allocated up to €15 million per year to the CLT-UFA.

The discussions around the future of the State Treaty with the CLT-UFA, as Taina Boffrding also noted in the media committee, will soon enter a new phase. A plan will have to be drawn up during this legislative period for how things should continue after 2030. The LSAP will now have to accompany these discussions from the opposition bench, but perhaps for this very reason with even more impact than during government times.

One of the tales that RTL’s managers have told the Luxembourg state is that of declining advertising revenues. The reason for this problem is, among other things, the competition in the online advertising market. And since everyone now intuitively thinks of the large corporations Facebook and Google, there is a lot of pity for our traditional television station. The classic advertising spots on TV are somehow more likable than the ads on social networks that are tailored to user profiles and squeezed into the feed, right? At least this image seems to be what politicians have in mind when they decide to open their wallets. Millions in tax money now flow to CLT-UFA every year to maintain RTL media.

The future of advertising

RTL Luxembourg is not a traditional local company, but a division of CLT-UFA, a billion-dollar subsidiary of RTL Group and the Bertelsmann media empire. CLT-UFA includes, for example, the company AdConnect, which is also registered in Kirchberg. Since recently, AdConnect has also been offering advertising clients user-specific advertising on TV, based on geolocation. This move is part of RTL Group’s strategy to make the advertising market more interesting for its broadcasters with new technical options.

RTL Group has always been at the forefront of the latest developments. The purchase and recent sale of SpotX, an internet advertising company, shows how far RTL Group sees modern advertising technologies not as competition, but as a lucrative business. Delano quoted RTL Group and Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe as saying: „Advertising technology remains a strategic priority for RTL Group. To successfully transform our business, two factors are particularly important. One is higher reach, in both linear and non-linear TV. The second is better monetisation of our reach, through targeting and personalisation“. In the future, there will be hardly any difference between advertising on TV and online advertising.

And in Luxembourg?

In this country, RTL Luxembourg dominates not only the media market, but also that of advertising. The largest advertising agency in the country is the CLT-UFA subsidiary IP. Geolocation of potential customers is not necessary, because the media in Luxembourg already appeals to a very specific group: A shop does not have to be afraid to pay money for an advertisement that would reach people who live too far away. This puts RTL in a relatively good position compared to the competition from social networks. RTL makes millions in advertising revenue on all platforms, on radio, on TV and also on the rtl.lu website. The most lucrative is radio and RTL is said to be making a large deficit on TV. But what about the rtl.lu website?

Actually, the finances of rtl.lu should also be made transparent. After all, this medium also fulfills a „public service“. A proper separation between the revenues on the site and those generated by the TV content is difficult to achieve, for example, RTL also places advertisements in the replay of the TV broadcasts on rtl.lu. There are no official figures from RTL, probably also to prevent state funding from being questioned. The site rtl.lu is, however, one of eight Luxembourg sites that, according to the most recent „AdReport“, [received] a total of more than €16 million in advertising in 2022 (https://www.adada.lu/2023/03/luxembourg-adreport-2022-les-investissements-publicitaires-progressent-de-43-millions-par-rapport-a-2021/). Now the question arises: how much of those €16 million € are RTL’s actual revenue. Since the value of the platforms for advertising clients in this case is mainly determined by the number of visitors, a rough estimate could be made. RTL.lu has a market share of 35-40% among the eight competitors, so €5.6 to €6.4 million in advertising could flow on this site. However, the rtl.lu site offers significantly more content and also significantly more opportunities for advertising. Therefore, it can be assumed that RTL.lu’s share is once again well above this amount.

Transparency is urgently needed

The question arises with RTL as a whole whether the state is actually making a profit or sponsoring even bigger profits for a corporation. There is no evidence that RTL’s advertising revenue would decrease, there is no evidence that RTL would not adapt to new technologies in order to be able to sell advertising even more effectively.

Anyone who listens to the show „5 vir 12“ on RTL Radio probably doesn’t think much about art and culture. They probably wonder who had the idea to start a new round of the big heads without „jokes“ and with 2 per mille less. The host of the round of old white men is usually Christiane Kremer, probably RTL’s most renowned cultural journalist. Moment. Isn’t Christiane Kremer actually already retired since June last year?

Our national cultural idol

Christiane Kremer started working at RTL Radio Luxembourg in 1985. In addition to sports journalism, she was mainly responsible for culture. She ended her career at RTL last year as „Head of Culture RTL Luxembourg“. In this position and with one of RTL’s most famous voices, she was able to do anything, or rather publish anything. This ranges from (terribly random) opinion articles, such as the fictitious letter to Albert Camus, the concern about climate change as „bland sympathy“ and of course her own departure for retirement: „Apropos: I too am now starting a new chapter, after 37 years here in the house. […] But maybe we will still meet sometimes. For example here!“, to the publication of a really poorly photographed 170-picture gallery from the Vacation on the Way of St. James.

Where were the meaningless opinion articles, the lackluster radio talk or the completely uncritical moderation of the cultural development plan events that did it to the nation, or at least to Xavier Bettel? The then Prime Minister will certainly award the (ex-) RTL journalist with the „Ordre de la Couronne de Chêne“ on National Day in 2023: RTL reports on the laudation: „As a well-known journalist, she has managed to bring culture forward and communicate its content.“ Christiane Kremer does not only know culture as a journalist.

Kremer + Marteling = Kremart

In 2013, Christiane Kremer founded the publishing house „Kremart“ together with her RTL colleague Luc Marteling. Luc Marteling now works for the Centre for the Luxembourgish Language, but actually only waited there until the „Directeur de l’information“ Guy Weber retired from RTL, to take over in July this year. Both of them probably know very well how important visibility is for authors and authors, just like for all other artistic creators - and since they are finally no longer working for RTL, there is now no longer a problem with advertising the books and events of Christiane Kremer and Luc Marteling. And if Luc Marteling is back in charge at RTL soon, the Deontologies Code will be strictly adhered to again, right? At least the books that Christiane Kremer herself wrote as an author can now be advertised by RTL without any conflict of interest.

Ah, but, Christiane Kremer’s books have also been presented before by the cultural editorial team. After all, the publishing house „Kremart“ can and has always enjoyed enormous visibility on RTL. When the publishing house was re-founded in 2013, RTL advertised with a whole series of articles. Not advertising, but cultural journalism. With titles like „Kremart Edition: 6 books at once“ or even the „book of the week“, namely „Mother’s Day“ by … Christiane Kremer, the young publishing house got off to a good start. RTL probably forgot to mention that the publishing house is directly owned by two RTL journalists, who earn money from the sale of the book. Translations by Christiane Kremer, which Christiane Kremer’s publisher called „Coup de Coeur“, were presented by Christiane Kremer’s cultural editorial team, Christiane Kremer’s books were raffled in raffle games, and the bestsellers of the month in Luxembourg were newsworthy on RTL for a while. Coincidentally, at the time when Kremart books or/and Christine Kremer’s books were available.

Anyone who wondered how Christiane Kremer managed to succeed with a publishing house and her own books in addition to her journalistic work now knows: It’s beneficial to connect everything together.

Behind another forest of unspecific ideals (The information presented by RTL should be impartial, objective, pluralistic, analytical, clear, accessible, of quality, orderly, reliable and independent and correspond to what the public would rightly expect), subparagraph (h) of the current concession agreement between the state and RTL (CLT-UFA) is actually about the „missions and objectives“. However, it is more about content. It does not yet define exactly what volume different programs should have. In the respective chapters on radio, television and websites, more precise timescales are set out on this point - in the chapter on „missions and objectives“ it is first stated roughly which subject areas the „public service“ should cover.

Which topics RTL should cover

At this point, the concession agreement reads like a Wikipedia article on media work in general. RTL should cover national, European and international current affairs in politics, economics, „social“, culture and sport. They should „journalistically“ cover the work of national, European and international institutions and do this „from a perspective of citizenship education“. During election periods, RTL must organise special programmes so that people can understand the issues at stake in the elections. RTL is to transmit various specific information, including information on the weather, traffic and road safety, missing persons reports, information on certain services such as public transport and also job advertisements. Finally, RTL is committed to taking on the task of informing the population in the event of natural, nuclear and all other types of disasters.

Three thematic components are particularly highlighted, although relatively imprecisely:

• Cultural program: „CLT-UFA proposes a program of information, awareness and cultural promotion“.

• Sports program: RTL is to broadcast information and live broadcasts, but is also tasked with covering lesser-known sports and, in particular, making sports competitions for people with disabilities visible.

• Children’s program: RTL is tasked with providing „a coherent and advertising-free program“.

RTL’s Public Service has no mission and no goal

Not a word about the particular challenges in Luxembourg. Not a word about the task of a „Public Service“ medium in a democracy. Not a word about what the service should do in society at all, except to broadcast traffic reports and report on elections in this country as an absolute highlight. Because this chapter remains so general and meaningless, the „Public Service“ lacks a basis for setting priorities in its work. There are no „goals“ to be found, as the name of the chapter announces. There are no defined social missions, and the most specific statement to be found is probably the ridiculous note that RTL could perhaps also publish job advertisements. So there is a lack of a fundamental idea of ​​what a major medium in Luxembourg should do. It is precisely this void that makes you notice RTL. RTL is a commercial media outlet that has always aimed to make as much money as possible. And at the same time, it also tries to cover the very general subject areas that are included in the concession agreement.

So what is RTL oriented towards? It is unclear. Alain Berwick, former director of RTL, was asked in 2016, what values ​​RTL would represent. His answer was that RTL was obliged (in this he was obviously referring to the obligations from the concession agreement at the time) to reach „the largest possible audience“. His interpretation of this was that RTL should always be oriented towards the mainstream, towards „the masses“ and should never make a program for „the niches“. The idea that there would be a large „mainstream“ is far from reality in Luxembourg.

The next part of the series on the current concession agreement will focus on the monitoring commission that controls RTL. So far in the series:

1. “A particularly tight contract that will cause many problems.”

2. “A “public service mission” for a commercial broadcaster”

3. Quality control at RTL?

At the beginning of February, the pictures of the meeting of Luc Frieden, Jean-Claude Juncker and Jacques Santer were published in the press. Jacques Santer and Luc Frieden are also linked by the fact that both CSV politicians secured the post of Minister of Media in addition to the post of Prime Minister - and this at a decisive moment for Luxembourgers and European media history. Luc Frieden must draw up a plan for the future of RTL Luxembourg (CLT-UFA) by the end of his current term at the latest, a task that Jacques Santer has already carried out once as Prime Minister and Minister of Media and once as Chairman of the CLT-UFA Board of Directors.

From 1984, Jacques Santer was Prime Minister of Luxembourg and from 1989 also Minister of Media and Culture. He remained in this position briefly after the 1994 elections and signed the new concession agreement with CLT in early 1995, before becoming President of the EU Commission. A look at the different stages in Jacques Santer’s professional life shows how closely another powerful politician from Luxembourg is linked to the corporate history of RTL.

Fundamental decisions in the 90s

Jacques Santer faced major media policy challenges at the beginning of the 90s. The liberalization of the media market in Europe had the side effect that the monopoly of RTL in Luxembourg also had to fall, at least officially. Liberalization had actually been the major goal of the CLT, because it meant that the monopolies of the public media in all other countries that belonged to the internal market had fallen. Luxembourg, however, was the only country that did not have a state monopoly, but a private one. Paul Zimmer, Jacques Santer’s most important advisor, was able to negotiate additional frequencies for Luxembourg in 1984 in collaboration with the CLT. But these frequencies could not now go integrally to the CLT as planned. A first media law had to be passed in 1991, which would comply with EU guidelines, and a new concession agreement with the CLT had to be urgently negotiated. The prospect of an end to the CLT monopoly did not appeal to the then CLT director and former prime minister Gaston Thorn: he did not want to give up advertising revenue that could go to competition. Jacques Santer tried to make the whole process as palatable as possible for the CLT and practically let the CLT determine the conditions under which new media could be established in Luxembourg.

To further appease the CLT and prepare for the upcoming negotiations, Jacques Santer presented the CLT’s managing director, Jacques Rigaud, with the „Commander of the Oak Leaf Crown“ award in 1990. It is, by the way, the same award that Xavier Bettel presented to Bertelsmann heiress Liz Mohn in 2016, before the negotiations even started.

In parallel with the discussions on the national media market, the main focus was on conquering markets across Europe. New technologies, such as cable and satellite TV, should be used by CLT as early as possible. Under Jacques Santer, there was continued back-and-forth with Luxembourg’s attempt to secure a place for CLT on French satellites. As an alternative, the state built up SES to overcome its dependence, and Jacques Santer was able to celebrate a success in 1988 with the launch of the ASTRA 1 satellite. The first customer on the satellite, even before CLT, was Rupert Murdoch. Luxembourg was once again a pioneer for commercial media - however, RTL was not interested at all at first.

These were times of grand plans but also great disillusionments: it became increasingly clear that CLT was expanding, but also producing in other countries and paying part of its taxes there instead of building a „Luxembourgish Hollywood“ on the land specially designated for this purpose on Kirchberg. It turned out that although the state did everything to help CLT, CLT as a corporation only looked at maximizing profits. What a surprise. The state also did everything right to CLT, in view of the 1991 media law and the new concession agreement that was finally signed in extremis at the beginning of 1995. The orchestra took over the state, bought the Villa Louvigny at a much too high price and canceled all fees.

A fight against media pluralism in Europe

In any case, Jacques Santer could no longer hear criticism of the final concession agreement, the signature was practically his last official act as Luxembourg Prime Minister, before he went to Brussels to take up his new function as President of the EU Commission. He obviously saw himself in that position in the same vein as Gaston Thorn and Jean Dondelinger, and at least kept an eye on the development of the European media market in favor of the CLT.

At the end of the 1990s, discussions were held in Brussels on how to proceed with the issue of media liberalization. In many member states, there was concern that media pluralism would fall victim to the expansion strategy of large corporations. This was and is precisely the strategy of the German corporation Bertelsmann, which at the time set out to build a media empire - and together with the CLT, which was in the process of conquering the German television market in the „RTL Plus“ project. In the EU Commission, the Italian Commissioner Monti put a compromise proposal on the table to introduce a restriction: corporations would be allowed to have a maximum of 30% market share at national level. There was a majority within the EU Commission in favor of this legislative proposal - and it was also demanded by the EU Parliament - but the President of the Commission, Jacques Santer, ultimately blocked the proposal.

Jacques Santer was encouraged, among others, by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Luxembourgish DP politician Colette Flesch, who was Director of the Commission’s Media Department from 1990 to 1999, also influenced, supporting Jacques Santer’s line and defending the interests of the CLT and Bertelsmann. In an article earlier this year on European media policy, Süddeutsche, with a particular focus on the situation in Hungary, says that at this moment, under the responsibility of Jacques Santer, the foundation for a whole series of problems for media pluralism has been laid.

A Bertelsmann through and through

That was certainly Jacques Santer’s greatest favor for Bertelsmann, but by no means the only one. Thus, Jacques Santer, again against the majority of members of the Commission, advocated for merger plans between Bertelsmann and Kirch (Sat1), which ultimately did not come to pass. Jacques Santer also appears at Bertelsmann events, such as in 1996 and in 1998 at the Bertelsmann Forum - that is, as an active EU Commission President. In his speech in 1998, he leaves no doubt that he sees himself in line with the ideas of the corporation. In 1999, Jacques Santer’s time as EU President was over, when his entire Commission had to resign due to a number of corruption scandals.

Jacques Santer had not yet thought about retirement. He served on various boards of directors. In 2004, he replaced Gaston Thorn as chairman of the CLT-UFA board of directors. Jacques Santer also became a member of the RTL Group board of directors in 2005. For CLT-UFA, Jacques Santer signed the concession agreement with the Luxembourg state in 2017, shortly before his 80th birthday and before handing over his position to Jean-Louis Schiltz. In an interview with Paperjam he looks back on his career and says: „For me, and I am not alone, the most important thing was that RTL became definitively anchored in the Luxembourg and international audiovisual landscape“. He does not say whether he is referring to his time as Luxembourg Prime Minister, EU Commission President or CLT-UFA President. Or to all three functions together.

The current concession agreement has established rules for RTL’s work that are intended to define basic principles. In Chapter 1.1. „General Commitments“, various basic principles are listed, such as the fact that RTL may not incite violence. A paragraph deals with the protection of minors, but remains vague. Overall, it is necessary to „respect the intellectual and moral sensitivities of the public“ and „conform to good morals“ and it would be the task of „transmitting human values“.

High-quality quality

Another fireworks display of meaningless words is grouped around a term that Xavier Bettel also highlighted repeatedly in the presentation of the concession: quality. The concession agreement states: „regarding their content, they must be of quality“. What is meant by quality according to the agreement? Firstly, that the quality must remain at the same level as before. However, what this „level“ is is not defined. Secondly, that RTL journalists must have received training and should continue to receive training, including in the use of the Luxembourgish language. How often and by whom this training must be provided is not described. Thirdly, that the editorial staff, which is tasked with processing general information, must consist of professional journalists. However, there is no organisational chart of RTL Luxembourg: How many editorial staff does the broadcaster have anyway? Fourthly, RTL must have high-quality technical material to work with. That says nothing.

The „Land“ explains its desire to write conditions into the contract as a reaction to a recent affair: „Rédigé dictionnaire des synonymes en main en marge de l’interminable shitstorm consécutif à l’affaire Lunghi/Schram“. At that time, RTL and the Minister of Media were faced with a media scandal at the most inopportune moment. During the negotiations on a new concession agreement, very questionable practices at RTL were suddenly publicly discussed. It was clear that at that moment the contract between the state and RTL had to be criticized in order to get the project off the political stage. Hence the idea of ​​throwing around the concept of quality. That obviously worked.

Control is good, self-control is better

But how can one check whether RTL is actually adhering to the values ​​and vague quality criteria set? For example, over 50% of the articles on RTL.lu are posted online without an author name: Who checks whether only professional journalists have been commissioned to process the information?

State control is something that RTL and especially its parent company Bertelsmann have always fought against. Jean-Louis Schiltz had prevented any kind of state control of the media during his time as Minister of Media during the negotiations of the 2007 concession agreement as „too expensive“. Today he is Director of the CLT-UFA Board of Directors. And of course, the liberal Minister of Media Xavier Bettel did not want to be the one to give a public supervisory authority too much power over the media monopoly RTL. The concession agreement therefore repeats the Bertelsmann mantra of self-control in the hope of convincing the people.

How RTL should control itself

The journalists of RTL are bound by the concession to „veracity, objectivity and honesty“, but also to „loyalty to the publisher employer“. The concession emphasizes that RTL journalists must adhere to the „Charte des Journalistes de RTL Luxembourg“, i.e. to its own rules. The Code of Ethics of the Luxembourg Press Council is also mentioned elsewhere, but in a way that is ultimately not clear, but which is now truly binding: It would be „respecting the principles set out in the code of ethics of the Press Council“.

A „cascade of responsibility“ is to make the hierarchy responsible for content internally at RTL. It is then stated that RTL will set up its own ethics council, which will only consist of its own staff and will monitor content based on the RTL Code of Ethics. The ethics council can also only be activated from within RTL itself, not from outside. However, the state would learn the most important details via a report, and the CEO of RTL Luxembourg should exchange views with the government commissioner „in a close and regular manner“ according to the contract. ALIA, the actual media watchdog of Luxembourg, is barely mentioned - so firmly do we count on it that self-control would get all the problems out of the way anyway.

If the control system works, no one can control

Many details are unclear and many questions remain unanswered. One of the biggest problems is once again the absolutely non-transparent organizational structure of RTL. Who works for which editorial department, who is a journalist, who has to adhere to which rules and when does commercial and journalistic content mix? When does the own ethics council get involved, and how does it proceed?

The next part of the series on the current concession agreement will then deal with the content that RTL is supposed to produce. So far in the series:

• (1) „A particularly strong agreement that will still cause many problems.“
• (2) „A „Public Service Mission“ for a commercial broadcaster“

The beginning of the new legislative period was dominated by the discussion around the mendicity ban. Interior Minister Leon Gloden had given the city of Luxembourg permission to enforce this ban, even though there were legal ambiguities. In addition to the legal debate, it is about the visibility of poverty in one of the richest cities in Europe. But it is also about the presence of anti-Gypsy and racist resentment in the discussions. According to this state mandate, RTL should reflect the plurality of opinions - but racism is not an opinion.

The „neutrality“ in the debate around the ban on the use of tobacco

All political parties and many associations and individuals from civil society have joined the discussions around the ban on begging. RTL accompanies the discussions with a multitude of articles, interviews and reports, and tries to assert itself as the most important discussion platform. Is RTL in a dilemma? Its own concession agreement does not oblige RTL to reflect the plurality of opinions, but also not to provide a platform for discrimination against people based on their social status, skin color and origin. But this discrimination is precisely what partly forms the basis for the discussion about the ban on the use of tobacco. „Heeschen: Harassment or Human Rights?“ is the title of the show „Kloertext“, a title that shows the balancing act that RTL is trying to achieve.

That the moderator Caroline Mart refers to some of the people named as „Aarem Louder“, or These people by RTL journalist Pierre Jans „called „Strummerte“ in good Luxembourgish“ are a sign of how difficult it is for RTL to find the right tone. The result of the attempt to remain „neutral“ about everything and yet control the discussions as a media monopoly leads to a strange kind of journalistic nihilism by RTL. A good example is the „Commentaire“ by RTL journalist Pierre Jans, from which the „Strummert“ quote comes. Here, Pierre Jans first tries, as seems to be obligatory at RTL, to praise, deplore and protect the police. Then the interests of the businessmen are defended. But in the end, it comes down to the realization that at least some of those who want to do deserve compassion and that „they are being trampled on“. There is no editorial line at RTL, no self-image as advocates for fundamental rights or humanism, but the claim to speak to the broadest possible audience and to gain their loyalty.

Racism - an opinion held by many?

In a video on „Apart-TV“, the city councillor and MP Simone Beissel told how she would „feed“ Heescherten. She attributed a change in the city’s image to the skin colour of „Roma and Sinti“, whom she identified as the problem. The fact that a MP and municipal official so clearly and openly spread her racism also led to reactions. Simone Beissel’s anti-Gypsyism is extensively discussed and criticized by a number of media outlets with editorial lines, including Wort, Tageblatt and also by radio 100komma7.

Finally, the number one media outlet, RTL, also reports and invites Simone Beissel to the studio. Instead of confronting Simone Beissel with her blatant racism, RTL is once again trying to remain a kind of neutral platform. „You found clear words there,“ „you spoke freely and directly“: Already in the intro, journalist Carine Lemmer offers Simone Beissel a series of relativizations. The uncritical approach surprises even Simone Beissel herself, who was in the studio for a mea culpa. She responds with: „Thanks for the introduction, you got straight to the point“ and then explains that „in the heat of battle, one makes mistakes“ and thus not only gets by, but is even rewarded. Title of the article on RTL is composed of quotes: „The problem is real, it won’t hurt me to apologize“

The interview clearly shows that Simone Beissel does not actually distance herself from her own statements. However, it is not targeted interview questions that expose Simone Beissel. It is the fact that she feels completely understood by the RTL journalist, who apparently even motivates her to make further discriminatory generalizations. Simone Beissel says live on the radio: „They [the Sinti and Roma] have a view of things that is problematic“, „They all have mobile phones and are well connected“ „The citizens of the city are being spied on and harassed“. Instead of Carine Lemmer now stepping in and naming anti-Gypsyism, she indulges in pseudo-objectivity: „How should the police deal with this, do the police have to look at skin color and language?“ asks Carine Lemmer. Simone Beissel replies: „Mrs. Lemmer, you also walk through the city, you see from 30 meters what kind of people are sitting on the ground, how they behave and what they are like“. No reaction from Carine Lemmer so Simone Beissel continues and philosophizes about being able to lock up or expel the Sinti and Roma: „Let’s put them on the border. But since the borders are open, the risk is that they will be there again immediately“.

Who invented it?

What is forgotten in the debate about the begging ban: the controversy was started by RTL itself. Not at the end of last year, but years ago. In 2015, RTL, and especially the then RTL journalist and current ADR politician Dan Hardy, launched a downright campaign after the masses had already been riled up. One headline from RTL at the time was, for example, „The Heescherte are becoming increasingly bold“. On RTL’s side was Gaston Vogel, whose letters to the city council were republished by RTL every time. Because of one of those letters, there was even a complaint against Gaston Vogel - and against RTL. If you look at RTL reports from that time today, you can see how RTL had already covered all the issues and arguments at the time, including the racist prejudice against Sinti and Roma, who were even spied on with hidden cameras.

The new face of the old RTL

At the end of 2016, a new era began for RTL with the Lunghi affair and the negotiations surrounding the new concession agreement with the state. RTL was to move away from the sometimes aggressive opinion machinery. A kind of unprincipled platform was to emerge, with as little attack surface as possible, oriented towards what RTL perceives as the Luxembourg mainstream. RTL was mainly concerned with securing its own market dominance and thus its own business model and collecting millions from the state - everything that RTL itself could do as a subject of discussion was to disappear. But nothing has disappeared.

Apart-TV, the channel on which Simone Beissel was able to explain her views on the Sinti and Roma, is a project of ex-RTL journalist Marc Thoma. Gaston Vogel is now publishing his letters on the blog of ex-RTL editor-in-chief Guy Kaiser, who is himself also involved in the debate on the begging ban. The old RTL does not only exist outside, but also within RTL, for example with the sometimes open racist campaigns of RTL journalist Monique Kater on the situation in the Gare district. Overall, RTL now has a more polished surface. This should not be misunderstood, however: it is not that RTL now sees itself as a defender of fundamental rights and the values ​​of a democratic society. RTL has only modernized itself on the outside in order to remain exactly as they are on the inside. RTL is of course not letting the opportunity to keep the public on its toes with a polemic at the expense of minorities slip away today.

RTL Luxembourg is known to be heavily in deficit because TV is so expensive. This was stated by Christophe Goossens, CEO of RTL, to the relevant chamber committee. This was stated by Xavier Bettel (DP), who as the then Minister of Media introduced the RTL financing law. And this is also stated by Tom Weidig (ADR), who is the only MP currently with insight into RTL’s finances. But what would actually happen if RTL Luxembourg’s radio made a profit?

RTL Radio Luxembourg is part of the Public Service

In 2017, during the Chamber debate on the previous concession, RTL and Xavier Bettel emphasized: „They should have talked about the future of Radio Luxembourg, and various things were changed in the agreement, but it is clear that only Télé Luxembourg will be financed, reiterates the Prime Minister, for whom the difference between TV and radio is now clearer. RTL Radio Luxembourg is not a public radio station and should not be.“

Not long after, everything changed. In May 2021, Xavier Bettel presented the next concession agreement in the relevant chamber committee as follows: „For the first time, radio services will be fully integrated into the agreement. This expansion reflects the „cross-media“ reality of society while aligning with the obligations in terms of financial transparency.“

This ultimately acknowledged a reality that had previously been vehemently contested by both the state and RTL. Namely, that at RTL, radio and television are mixed anyway. The mixing occurs in terms of content, material and also personnel. For example, 9 RTL journalists are registered with the Press Council for both radio and television. The website rtl.lu is used by all media sectors and the content is often the same on the website, on radio and on television.

Transparency?

However, the transparency of RTL Luxembourg’s finances that Xavier Bettel spoke about does not exist. This is primarily because RTL Luxembourg is not an independent company, but part of CLT-UFA, a multi-billion-dollar Bertelsmann group. A look into CLT-UFA’s accounts is therefore not enough.

In a recent Land article from last year, CEO Christophe Goossens did not want to comment on RTL-Luxembourg’s turnover. Whether he is allowed to withhold such information is probably a legal question that still needs to be clarified. After all, it is not just a private company, but a „public service“.

However, Christophe Goossens should not be trusted: His figures have already proven problematic. In 2020, he reports to the Chamber Commission, among other things, that TV advertising revenues are far too low, namely 6 million instead of the actual figure of over 8 million.

The country then cites the report of RTL Group, the direct parent company of CLT-UFA. In the 2022 balance sheet, there is only one sentence: „The revenue generated in Luxembourg amounts to € 91 million (2021: € 75 million)“. However, you can’t start anything with this information, because this probably only means „revenue from external customers“, and it is unclear which other companies, such as BCE, IP or Eldoradio, were included here.

In the more revealing figures in the RTL Group report on advertising revenue, the activities of the Belgian and Dutch RTL are lumped together with the Luxembourg RTL in a „Benelux“ pot. There are therefore no public figures on the finances of RTL Radio Luxembourg. Or?

Is RTL Radio Luxembourg in deficit?

The only official figures available for RTL as a whole are those from a table in the current concession agreement. The „net advertising revenue“ of the entire RTL would be €15.5 million for 2024. According to the previous concession, which only provides the figures for television, television’s advertising revenue in 2023 was €9.2 million. It cannot be assumed that there were any major fluctuations in the period 2022 - 2024. Some €6.3 million in advertising revenue would therefore have to come in via radio and the Internet for RTL to break even.

The expenditure (not to be confused with the revenue) on advertising is listed every year in Luxembourg in the so-called „Ad’Report“. Can these figures be trusted? This report is always based on figures provided by IP, the advertising department of RTL, among others. They are therefore practically first-hand. A look at the most recent report shows that in 2022 €12.6 million was spent on TV advertising, €24.7 million on radio and €16.2 million on the internet. The ratios between TV, radio and the Internet in this report alone should be surprising: more than three times as much money is spent in Luxembourg on radio and the Internet as on television advertising. And yet, RTL’s advertising revenues from the Internet and radio combined are significantly lower than those from television? The ratio of advertising expenditure in the Ad’Report to advertising revenues in the concession agreement also seems suspicious: €12.6 million is spent on television, but RTL only records €9.2 million as revenue? Could this be due to the high production costs for television spots? It is known, however, that the production costs for a TV spot are significantly higher than for a radio spot - which again speaks in favor of higher radio revenues. It is worth taking a look at the details.

For TV, Ad’Report only has one reference medium - RTL TV Luxembourg. For radio, the picture is not so clear at first glance: Here, Ad’Report combines the figures of Eldoradio, L’essentiel Radio and Radio Latina with those of RTL Radio Luxembourg in its own statements. However, this does not mean that no statement can be made about the revenues of RTL Radio Luxembourg - quite the opposite.

The radio station is the golden donkey of RTL Luxembourg

There are official balance sheets for both Eldoradio and L’essentiel Radio. According to its own, public balance sheet, Eldoradio generated €2.8 million in advertising revenue in 2022, and L’essentiel Radio’s balance sheet for 2022 was €1.1 million. That leaves Radio Latina, which has a significantly smaller market share. If you compare market shares or even the prices for advertising (at Eldoradio at peak times €242 for 30 seconds, at RTL Radio Luxembourg €880), you can start to make estimates. RTL Radio Luxembourg has twice as many listeners as Eldoradio and a wealthier clientele. Logically, there should be at least €6 million in advertising revenue at RTL Radio Luxembourg. However, with advertising reports and elaborate games such as „Viva Vakanz“, RTL Radio Luxembourg has significantly more diverse sources. Are the radio’s revenues over €6 million?

Even looking at the Ad’Report, there might even be a good chunk more. The share of TV advertising expenditure that will later be recorded as revenue at RTL (i.e. figures from Ad’Report 2022 vs. figures in the concession agreement for the year 2022) is 70%. For radio advertising expenditure, there should be even significantly lower production costs. But to make a very conservative estimate, one can also apply 70%. In 2022, radio stations should have received €17.5 million in advertising revenue. Of this, €2.8 million will go to Eldoradio, €1.1 million to L’essentiel Radio and perhaps €0.6 million to Radio Latina. There would be min. €13 million left for RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg in advertising revenue, with lower production costs even more likely €18 million. This revenue should now actually be added to the revenue from television and from the website rtl.lu.

A serious suspicion

No matter how you look at it, and even if you have to question all the figures on which estimates have been made here, one thing is clear: RTL’s bill cannot add up at all. The advertising revenue mentioned in the table of the concession agreement only includes a part of all advertising revenue of RTL Luxembourg. So why are certain revenues not listed? Does RTL generate revenue outside of the parts that count as „public service“? But which parts are these and how are they separated from the other parts? The concession agreement does not provide for such a separation and in practice such a separation is not possible at all.

In any case, from the outside, everything indicates that RTL Luxembourg is not making a deficit overall - and that RTL Radio Luxembourg is by far the medium with the highest profit in the country. So does RTL really need the state funds to survive? Or is RTL making a bigger profit with the help of state funds? A profit that does not flow into the expansion of the program and into journalistic work, but into the billion-dollar Bertelsmann corporation? Christophe Goossens, Xavier Bettel, Tom Weidig, but also the officials in the Ministry of Media and the new Ministers of Media Luc Frieden and Elisabeth Margue, who have access to the hidden RTL figures, should know this.

After the preface of the concession agreement between the state and RTL, the first chapter is titled „Mission de service public“, which is then structured into an intro in four parts. In addition to the „General commitments“, these are specific rules for television, „sound radio“ and „digital platforms“. The intro will be taken into account below.

Already in the intro, you quickly realize that those who wrote this agreement wanted to create a text that, on the one hand, echoed as many principles, requirements and fundamentals as possible, but which, on the other hand, never became so concrete that RTL would ultimately have to adhere to any rules. Everything that is not already basically laid down by other laws remains vague.

A completely normal public-law media, like all the others?

This is what the intro says: „This mission is carried out, whenever this is not impossible due to circumstances or specific conditions in Luxembourg, by reference to the recommendations and declarations adopted at international level and in particular by reference to the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the governance of public service media adopted on 15 February 2012, as well as to the Declaration on the fundamental values ​​of public service media of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)“.

RTL should also adhere to the principles and values ​​of the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public-law media. RTL’s predecessor CLT was a long-time member of the EBU to be allowed to host the Eurovision Song Contest, but then found that the membership fees were too high and withdrew. This was consistent, because the EBU stands for everything that CLT-UFA, and especially the parent company Bertelsmann, has never and always strategically fought. The EBU stands for public-law media that see themselves as serving the mandate of democracies and as the opposite pole to the commercial media. However, the EBU is not only ideologically but also in practice a competitor to the commercial media: for example, the EBU also bids when it comes to obtaining the television broadcasting rights for major sporting events. The fact that an unspecified part of the RTL program, which is considered a „public service mission“, would now be guided by the „fundamental values“ of the EBU is naive at best. And that is why the concession agreement also provides for a lot of room for exceptions, fundamental values ​​only apply: „whenever this is not impossible due to circumstances or conditions specific to Luxembourg“. A perfect excuse for any situation.

RTL, a modern medium in the digital age

Another point in the intro: „This public service mission must be carried out in a dynamic and modern manner, taking into account developments in technology and the needs of the public. For the implementation of this mission, CLT-UFA uses the opportunities offered by the different means of electronic broadcasting, distribution and reception in the digital age to the best of its ability.“

What does dynamic and modern mean? What is meant by „development in technologies“? These are empty words that give the impression that they come directly from the DP election program. What is meant by „needs of the public“? What kind of public? The situation of the public is extremely complex in Luxembourg, but the concession agreement does not define „public“. How does RTL meet the needs of the public of young people under 25? What needs does RTL see in the Arabic-speaking community in Luxembourg? Do border workers belong to the public? What about the public with a Portuguese migration background? And further: what does it mean that RTL uses different means of diffusion „at best“? Why is there talk here of „electronic reception“ and the „digital age“? That means everything and above all nothing. It does not bind RTL to anything. Could a person from the „public“ complain to RTL on the basis of this agreement, alleging that RTL is not fulfilling its mission dynamically enough?

After the phrases from the intro, the next part of the series will look at the „”General Engagements“. Is there finally something concrete here?

RTL Eent, like any good „public service“, does not just have the mission of entertaining. Informing, enlightening and making complex texts understandable and accessible are also part of our tasks. In the new series „Empty Promises, Lies and Dreams from RTL’s convention“ we explain chapter by chapter what is at stake in the agreement between the state and RTL - and why the whole thing is not worth the paper it is printed on.

The document

„Convention portant sur la prestation d’une mission de service public en matière de télévision, radio et activités digitales conclue entre l’État du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg et CLT-UFA et RTL Group“ is the official name of the contract between the state and RTL. The document can be found online (https://download.data.public.lu/resources/convention-portant-sur-une-mission-de-service-public-en-matiere-de-television-radio-et-activites-digitales-avec-clt-ufa-et-rtl-2024-2030/20230118-163638/convention-2024-30-signe.pdf), there is nothing to hide anymore. In the past, convention agreements were always strictly secret, but after the Pirate MP Sven Clement went through the institutions to get a glimpse of one of those agreements, the contracting parties spared themselves the secrecy this time. This was probably mainly due to the fact that this time a financing law had to accompany the convention and be voted on in the Chamber - and in order to release almost €105,000,000, the people’s representatives would have to be informed about what it was actually about.

The agreement was signed on June 14, 2022, after the financing law had been [voted on] in the Chamber a little over a month earlier (https://www.chd.lu/fr/dossier/7914). Xavier Bettel, then Minister of State and Media, signed for the state, while former Minister of Communications Jean-Louis Schiltz and Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe signed for CLT-UFA, who also signed for RTL Group, together with Elmar Heggen.

How the new concession agreement came about

The current convention was needed, because the previous agreement expired on 1 January 2024. The previous convention, which was also drawn up under the responsibility of Xavier Bettel, provided for a direct state subsidy to RTL Luxembourg for the first time. Before a financing law could be passed in the Chamber, only a 3-year term and a subsidy of approx. €10 million per year were provided for.

After winning the 2018 elections, Xavier Bettel set out to subsidize RTL again. Although the LSAP and the Greens managed to at least cautiously write the alternative to CLT-UFA subsidies into the coalition agreement: „a public television channel would possibly be created“, Xavier Bettel was not impressed by this. Even an opinion from the media watchdog ALIA, which suggests a significantly more pluralistic direction, was ignored by the then Minister of Media. In a „orientation debate“ in the Chamber, Xavier Bettel himself simply draws the conclusion: a public television would be too expensive, which is why we should continue to sponsor RTL for a „Public Service Mission“. Xavier Bettel is therefore conducting a kind of „study“ that is unsurpassed in its one-sidedness. As an example, Xavier Bettel mentions the costs of ARTE and acts as if the introduction of a public television in Luxembourg would result in a direct burden on taxpayers.

And so the debate is over. Xavier Bettel will next present a fully negotiated new concession agreement to the Media Commission of the Chamber, but the most explosive part is still missing for a proper discussion: the budgetary dimensions. These will be presented to the Chamber Commission a few months later, however not by Xavier Bettel, but by Paul Konsbrück, a former RTL employee who has now negotiated the new concession with RTL on behalf of the state. The finances are mentioned for the first time, instead of the 10 million that applied until now, it is now up to 15 million. €, the maximum that would be possible under EU law. The deputies learn that a financing law is now necessary - and this is also being rushed through the chamber at high speed shortly afterwards. Before people really noticed, the next contract with RTL was signed for the period 2024 - 2030.

The Foreword

The preface of the convention consists of various phrases, such as this one: „Considering that the independence, honesty and impartiality of information, as well as the objective presentation of controversial issues, are essential conditions for ensuring respect for the pluralism of the expression of convictions and opinions“. According to the preface, honesty, independence and objective reporting are therefore intended to protect pluralism of opinion. This statement obscures the problem that Luxembourg has with the monopoly of RTL: Instead of enabling and promoting plurality through many different medias, the state has assigned a single medium, and one with a commercial orientation, to create this pluralism.

On the other hand, the preface consists of mentioning a number of legal texts that set the framework for media work but also for the subsidization of private corporations. Two texts from the EU are mentioned. The first is the decision (2012/21/UE) of the EU Commission, which defines the maximum amount (€15 million / year) and the conditions for state subsidies to commercial companies. It is a relatively strict text, after all it is about competition law. A large number of control mechanisms are explicitly required and defined, which can also be found in the convention agreement, but which were presented by Xavier Bettel and RTL as a voluntary transparency effort.

Thus, among other things, it states this provision in the text of the Commission’s decision, which RTL Luxembourg, which runs a commercial program in parallel with the „Mission de Service Public“, could still be a disaster: costs that cannot be attributed to the provision of services of general economic interest are all direct costs, an appropriate contribution to the common costs and an appropriate return on capital. No compensation may be granted for these costs.“

The second EU text mentioned in the preamble to the concession agreement is the Communication (2009/C257/01) from the EU Commission. This generally concerns state aid for public media and also private media with a public mandate, as is the case with RTL Luxembourg. Here too, a whole series of control mechanisms are put in place to ensure that no market distortion occurs.

In addition to the two EU texts, a national legal text is also mentioned, namely the Media Act of 1991, which has already been amended several times. Overall, this is the legal framework that the Luxembourg state and RTL Luxembourg actually have to adhere to. Or should.

This is the first part of a series of articles about the concession agreement between the state and CLT-UFA (RTL Luxembourg). The second part can be found here.

As the only representative of parliament on the RTL „Follow-up Commission“, which examines compliance with the concession agreement between RTL and the state, Tom Weidig has exclusive insights. Files that the government and RTL have so far kept secret are on the ADR MP’s table. Tom Weidig’s statements and views are therefore decisive for a functioning control and the ADR has recently put itself in a favorable position. In this powerful position, Tom Weidig now has a problem: If he criticizes RTL’s financial tricks, he risks that Luxembourg will get a public television in the future. And that must be prevented.

RTL and the identity of the country

Petition No. 3001 by ADR Nord treasurer Carlo Kirsch, in which he calls for a stop to subsidies for RTL, is „against our party line,“ said Tom Weidig in a post on Facebook. And Weidig was, exceptionally, right: RTL1 also reported at the time how hypocritical the petition is. There is obvious confusion in the party: What are you for now, and what exactly did you want to stir up more?

With the vote on the RTL financing law in May 2022, Tom Weidig tries to explain to his party colleagues, the ADR has taken a position in favor of state support for the private media monopolist. The Wort reported on this post yesterday, and asking within the ADR ranks only leaves the surface of the disagreement.

In the comments to the post, Tom Weidig partially addresses the discussion. He sees „no alternative“ to RTL TV. In his view, the only other option, a „TV 100komma7“, as he calls the creation of a public television station, must be prevented. The ADR therefore sees itself as a pro-RTL party. As with other far-right parties, it is not the commercial private media that pose a threat, but the public media that are committed to democracy. Although the ADR wants to have more influence on the content of RTL’s programming in its program, the party and the broadcaster seem to get along well with each other, with a few exceptions, as we have already shown here on the site. Tom Weidig even goes so far as to say about the Bertelsmann subsidiary „Without RTL we would lose a lot of our identity“ and RTL would „do a lot for our language“.

Can a far-right RTL fan control RTL?

The most explosive thing about the discussion: At the moment, apart from the Ministry of Media, only Tom Weidig can really control RTL. He alone has access to the important documents that the government and RTL have withheld from the public until now. By 31.01. this year at the latest, RTL must have submitted the next audit of its finances for 2023. Based on this audit, it is decided to again finance millions to RTL. Basically, Tom Weidig is obliged to intervene.

It is up to Tom Weidig to investigate why all the companies and structures around RTL Tv Luxembourg, e.g. the Advertising Directorate IP and the technology and broadcasting company BCE, but also RTL Radio Luxembourg and RTL NewMedia (Online) make millions in profits - but it is precisely at RTL TV that the million-dollar hole is practically created, which the state then has to fill. Tom Weidig must unravel what RTL has deliberately and maximally non-transparently welded together: the mixing of content, personnel and material between RTL Radio, TV and online. Where are the advertising revenues that run on the Internet with TV contributions accounted for? Who pays the staff who work for both TV and radio? The ADR deputy must exert pressure, demand evidence and properly get involved in the case.

But his Facebook comments show that he is practically eating out of RTL’s hand and repeating the spin of RTL management - combined with ridiculous comparisons.

Tom Weidig also knows that RTL might not survive a financial scandal. And that then the public television feared by the right-wing radicals could emerge. The question is therefore: Does Tom Weidig even want to properly control RTL?

„There’s no stopping here,“ blares Raoul Roos (season 2, episode 8), „Help us“ shouts RTL presenter Loïc Juchem as he runs through a small town in Senegal looking for someone who will give Luxembourgers a free ride. His teammate is upset that they’ve probably been running in circles - in his opinion, it’s the fault of those who tried to explain the way to them: „You don’t know your own town, that’s not normal“ (episode 5). That’s probably the sound when people from the richest country in the world are traveling to one of the poorest countries (ranked No. 1 vs. No. 164 on the GDP scale [IMF 2022]).

Perhaps the most problematic format of RTL

„Ausgesätt“ is one of the most elaborately produced shows on RTL Tëlee Luxembourg, the broadcaster that takes on a „Public Service Mission“ for the state and has been granted millions in subsidies for this. In „Ausgesätt“, two teams are sent to a destination unknown to them until the start of the trip, where they must then complete „challenges“ to ultimately win a prize. The show is a painstaking mix of advertising, poverty tourism and neocolonialism.

The first season of „Ausgesätt“ was „presented“ by Voyage Emile Weber and the second by Luxair Tours. The public is shown travel destinations that can be booked in the respective catalogues. The candidates visit countries and cities and win a holiday in a 5-star luxury hotel. The show itself is a unique advertisement for luxury holidays. However, the travel agencies keep their costs relatively low: the additional prize money is only €1,000 and part of the „challenge“ is to practically get by without money on the spot.

This means that the candidates are practically just hitchhiking and making their way through the cities. The landscape, the cities and the people become the backdrop for a kind of sporting competition. RTL presenters Raoul Roos and Loïc Juchem portray themselves and their team members as gladiators who must perform inhumane acts, surrounded by laughing children running barefoot through the sand, women in colorful clothes filmed in close-up and a „wild“ nature around them. They mock local workers as a „salt jury“ (episode 4), curse at bread that is „rock-hard“ and make fun of the coffee they are offered out of hospitality (episode 9).

Neocolonialism on RTL, presented by Luxair Tours

The program „Ausgesetzt“ is a perfect example of the phenomenon described by researchers as „tourist gaze“ and „ethnotourism“. An overview of the scientific disagreement with this is provided, for example, in the text „Travel and Conquest: Forms of Appropriation in the Context of Travel and Tourism“ (Habinger, 2021 - BPB). White tourists intrude into the privacy of people on site as a matter of course, here even with the RTL camera, and delight in the „authenticity“ (episode 9: „The candidates […] spend the night with a traditional nomadic shepherd and are supposed to shear goats“) and experience the people’s daily life as a unique adventure (episode 4: „The team must compete with each other in the traditional salt hut“), which they can climb into and out of.

The show is also an example of neocolonialism, the continued existence of economic dominance from outside over local economies. Countries like Senegal find it difficult to find benefits for the local economy from the tourism sector, because this industry is controlled from outside. Luxair Tours offers holidays in Senegal, among others, at the „RIU Baobab Hotel“, a 5-star luxury resort of the Spanish group „Riu Hotels & Resorts“, which has a turnover of over 800 million per year. RIU has already been criticized for poor working conditions for the local workforce. The winners of the „Ausgesetzt“ challenge were allowed a holiday in this hotel after they had spent as little as possible all day through the Senegalese cities. Hardly anyone in the local population can afford a place in the hotel, winners from the hotel flow to Spain and workers are partly recruited from other countries. The money that flows between Luxair Tours and RTL and between new customers and Luxair Tours due to the show also mainly ends up in the Luxembourg economy and not in that of Senegal.

Advertisement that is not labeled as advertisement

RTL is a commercial broadcaster that participates in all stupidity as long as it makes money. But RTL also has to abide by laws and is bound by rules through a concession agreement with the state. These rules do not prevent the problematic content of „Ausgesetzt“, although the program clearly reproduces racist stereotypes. But in fact there are rules that should at least prevent this „program“ from being on a par with the state-funded TV program of the „service public“ broadcaster RTL. But „Ausgesetzt“ is neither labeled as an advertisement nor recognizable as such in the TV program, the format is even interrupted to broadcast other advertisements. The fact that RTL does not adhere to legal restrictions on advertising is, however, rather the rule than the exception.

Here too, RTL mixes everything up again. Which staff is paid by RTL, by IP, by BCE? Does the content belong only to (state-subsidized) TV or also to radio and „RTL Play“, where does the advertising revenue go and who bears which costs? All of this should be clearly separated and displayed transparently, but it is not. RTL always does exactly what they want - and not just here at home, but now also in Senegal.

Not only is the DP closely connected to RTL, the CSV also historically has a close network of connections with the largest broadcaster in the country - and this is despite the fact that the CSV was already connected to the largest print medium „Luxemburger Wort“. And how far the CSV did not hesitate to establish hegemony in the media in the past was shown, among other things, by the discussion in 1981 when the CSV wanted to place the Wort director Heiderscheid on the board of directors of the CLT. On RTL One we have already reported on Jean-Louis Schiltz, who was Minister of Communications and then joined CLT-UFA, the group behind RTL, and also showed how Viviane Reding, as EU Commissioner, governed in favor of Bertelsmann, the parent company of CLT-UFA. But the list is much longer.

To get an overview of the relations between RTL and CSV, three categories are again set up here. An attempt has not been made here to go too far into history, but to paint a picture from around 1991 (the vote of the first media law) to the present day. Of course, there were also previously some significantly more flagrant mixings of politics and media. To perhaps pick out the two most important examples: Gust Graas was the long-time general manager of CLT, the company behind RTL. He is a kind of founding figure of RTL TV, and was also head of personnel since 1962 and later involved in all the central projects for the further development of CLT-UFA. Gust Graas was not neutral in terms of party politics, but he also played a role within the CSV, having founded the CSV youth organization CSJ. Pierre Werner was not only Prime Minister of Luxembourg, but also later director of the board of directors of CLT-UFA.

The following list is probably not complete, if you still know names, please write us an email.

1) Familiar faces who wanted to jump into politics

• Long-time RTL journalist Frank Kuffer, who ran for CSV in the 2013 elections, was heavily speculated. Not long before, he was one of the most important political journalists on RTL, who also liked to comment against the parties, especially against the LSAP, and he was already on the list for CSV in the north. Result: last place. Frank Kuffer was left without a job and went to work at the Lycée in Ettelbruck before being recruited by the CSV as head of communications for the EU deputies. Today he represents the CSV in the municipal council in Erpeldange and is responsible for the press work of the CSV faction.
• Nico Keiffer, RTL sports journalist, is also not doing well in the elections. At the beginning of 2018, Paperjam revealed that Nico Keiffer will probably be a candidate. Nico Keiffer does not deny this, but he is not resigning either but continues to work at RTL as long as possible. He has been active at RTL since 1983. After his Waldefaite, however, according to his own statements, he is rather „done with politics“. However, things do not seem to work out anywhere else, so he soon becomes a CSV employee and, together with Frank Kuffer, takes care of the party’s communications.
• Felix Eischen has been a member of the CSV since 1987, according to Paperjam (https://paperjam.lu/guide/biography/0579233074/felix-eischen), his career starting a year later at RTL. From 1988 to 1997, Felix Eischen was a reporter for RTL Radio Luxembourg before moving to Tëlee, where he worked as a presenter until 2007. From 2001, he was also a „head of service“ for RTL Magazine. After a short time as an insurance agent, Felix Eischen ran for the CSV in 2009 and was immediately elected to the Chamber. He was re-elected in 2013, 2018 and 2023, was briefly CSV Secretary General in between, and now serves as chairman of the Parliament’s media commission, among other things. In addition, Felix Eischen is the mayor of the municipality of Kiel.
• It has been 30 years since then, but the current Prime Minister Luc Frieden also contributed to RTL for a while. From 1981 to 1994, he recorded a regular column on legal and European political issues for RTL Radio Luxembourg, before entering the Chamber for the first time in 1994. In his later political career, he was briefly Minister of Media in 2013 and is currently Minister of Media in addition to his position as Prime Minister.

2) Powerful decision-makers who act in the interests of RTL

• As Minister of Communications, Jean-Louis Schiltz signed the new concession agreements with RTL in 2007 and advocated for the interests of CLT-UFA at EU level. He then sat on the CLT-UFA board of directors as CSV faction leader, left politics, but retained his seat. His career within the media group eventually led him to the position of Vice-Director of RTL Group. As CLT-UFA board director, he signed the State Treaty on the other side in 2020.
• Jacques Santer’s last official act as Prime Minister was to sign the concession agreement with CLT-UFA, before becoming Commission President in Brussels in 1995. In his new European role, Jacques Santer continued to fight for the interests of the Luxembourg media group and advocated for the deregulation of the television market. After the end of his European career, it was not long before Jacques Santer switched to the private sector and in 2004 replaced Gaston Thorn at the head of the CLT-UFA.
• Another Minister of Communications from the ranks of the CSV was François Biltgen, who had already received an insight into the CLT-UFA before his ministerial mandate. His mandate as Minister of Media falls at a time when no new concession has been negotiated with RTL, but he is preparing the next stages in RTL’s favor. For example, the urgently needed reform of media supervision is proving to be significantly less effective than it should be.
• Of course, Jean-Claude Juncker often equated the national interest with the interest of RTL and maintained a good relationship with RTL’s parent company Bertelsmann. In 1996, Jean-Claude Juncker facilitated the merger of CLT with Bertelsmann and thus helped create the largest media group in Europe. As EU Commission President, he promoted former Bertelsmann lobbyist Martin Selmayr to his chief of staff.
• Another influential CSV politician is René Steichen, who in his political career was both a minister and an EU commissioner and later sat on the board of CLT-UFA. He was also chairman of the satellite operator SES, and at a crucial moment oversaw the interplay between SES and CLT-UFA.

3) Why state or RTL when both can be done at the same time?

• Françoise Hetto-Gaasch worked for RTL Télee Luxembourg from 1993 to 2004, before she ran in the 2004 parliamentary elections and even made the jump to parliament in 2009 and even managed to join the government. However, Françoise Hetto-Gaasch was already politically active for the CSV before the 2004 elections, at the municipal level in Jonglënster, where she sat on the municipal council from 1999 and was also mayor for a short time in 2007.
• Another current minister who worked as a freelancer for RTL is the Minister of Sports and Labor Georges Mischo, and this according to his own statements after 9 years. He was, among other things, RTL „Schwammkorrespondent“ and this even after he had already participated in the parliamentary elections for the CSV in 2013 (however, he had missed the jump to parliament by a long way). At the time, Georges Mischo was also already sitting on the municipal council in Esch.
• Viviane Reding started out as a journalist, but at „Wort“ and not at RTL. Later, as an EU Commissioner, the CSV politician championed the interests of RTL’s parent company Bertelsmann. Following this mandate, she was a member of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Board of Trustees from 2015 to 2023 and at the same time a member of the EU and Luxembourg parliaments.

With the 1991 media law, which was made necessary by an EU directive, RTL’s monopoly on radio frequencies was broken for the first time in Luxembourg. A shock moment for the only radio station in Luxembourg until then. Internationally, RTL had wanted precisely this radio liberalization in order to break the monopoly of public-law media in other European countries and to be able to do good business with commercial media. But in Luxembourg, RTL did not want to give up its own privileges. Since then, RTL has been fighting in Luxembourg with all sorts of tricks to get its monopoly back.

Media monopolies are poison for democracy and pluralism of opinion. Luxembourg is shown the red card every year in the Media Pluralism Monitor of the EU. This has not changed anything, well, we are Europeans*we are Luxembourgers*we are only if it suits our fancy. However, it is not only against European values ​​that are violated, but also against national laws. How could and can RTL still assert itself again and again?

The list of radio stations is short

Historically, and even today, in order to operate a „national“ radio station in Luxembourg, FM frequencies were required - and there are not very many of them. Until 1991, all the „good“, i.e. nationwide national frequencies, were in the hands of RTL. Other stations, for example the predecessor of Radio ARA, „Radio Grénge Fluesfénkelchen“, were essentially pirate stations broadcasting illegally and even had to do so from abroad. In 1992, 5 frequencies were released by RTL and finally there were alternatives: in addition to Radio ARA (which received two very weak frequencies), there were DNR, Radio Latina and Eldoradio. Radio 100komma7 was the first to join later and after a long dispute and was even the first to be included in the RTL afternoon program. Before 100komma7 received its frequency, RTL made it clear that this potentially dangerous competitor was not allowed to broadcast any advertisements, so there was no danger, at least in the advertising market.

Eldoradio

DNR, RTL2 and L’essentiel Radio

Radio ARA and ARA City Radio

Radio Latina

RTL Radio 97.0 & 93.3

In the overall picture, CLT-UFA owns number 1 (RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg), number 2 (Eldoradio) and number 4 (RTL Radio 97.0 & 93.3) and owns shares in number 3 (L’essentiel Radio). The legal radios, Radio Latina, 100komma7 and Radio ARA, together do not even reach 10% of the public in Luxembourg and do not represent any competition for RTL.

Is there more?

But RTL would not be RTL if it were satisfied with its extreme dominance. RTL knows that control of the market was already about controlling frequencies in 1991. The frequencies that are still operated in analogue via antenna will probably soon become obsolete, and according to the Ministry of Media, „DAB+“ technology is the future for broadcasting radio programs. RTL therefore needs control over DAB+, and they are already in the process of securing it.

The DAB+ multiplex will most likely be put in place by BCE, which has already carried out the test phase for the ministry. BCE is of course another subsidiary of CLT-UFA. The places on the multiplex are limited, and RTL is on time to make itself as broad as possible with the new web radios „RTL Gold“, „RTL Today“ and „RTL LX“.

Note for reasons of transparency. Richtung22, the group that built this website, had a program in the youth programs „Graffiti“ on Radio ARA, and two employees of Richtung22 previously worked for Radio ARA, or the Radio ARA project „Radio Art Zone“. There has been no direct connection between Richtung22 and Radio ARA for over a year. However, individual members of Richtung22 still cooperate with the station on various projects.

Since January 1st this year, the new state contract between the state and CLT-UFA, the group behind RTL Luxembourg, has been in force. RTL can receive up to 15 million euros per year from the state to offset a deficit. How exactly RTL can be financed - after all, a private company is being commissioned by the state without a tender - is clarified in the contract, and also had to be voted on by the Chamber via a financing law.

It is a complicated matter. After all, RTL would have to show exactly how the ominous deficit would arise and therefore present an account that transparently lists all its activities. The members of the media committee of the Luxembourg parliament will be presented with the financial part of the contract for discussion at the meeting on September 21, 2021. The Minister of Media Xavier Bettel has excused himself, speaking for the government: Paul Konsbruck. A person who knows CLT-UFA best.

Paul Konsbruck was at the time the closest advisor and chief of staff of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. Right at the beginning of Xavier Bettel’s first term as Prime Minister, Paul Konsbruck moved to the state as a communications advisor - from CLT-UFA. At the media group, he first worked for many years as a journalist for RTL Radio Luxembourg and then was editor-in-chief of Eldoradio, a subsidiary of CLT-UFA. In 2017, Xavier Bettel appointed Paul Konsbruck as „Government Commissioner“ within CLT-UFA. The fact that it is also Paul Konsbruck who not only presented the agreement between the state and CLT-UFA to the media commission, but also negotiated it, is not questioned by anyone.

There is no real discussion. Also, the media ministry only handed out the important papers to the deputies very shortly before the meeting and Paul Konsbruck avoids all important questions, for example how much revenue RTL receives from advertising. At the end of the meeting, the announcement: „Mr. Konsbruck informs that he will be leaving the civil service and that Ms. Anne-Catherine Ries will be the future government commissioner for CLT-UFA“. That Paul Konsbruck will leave his post and be placed in a management position in the economy, where he can earn a handsome salary until he retires at the age of just 40, has been known for months. Getting the agreement between the state and CLT-UFA in dry conditions is really his very last act, Paul Konsbrück practically arranges a deal between his two ex-employers. After that, he will find himself in a position where the bonds with both will be of great use to him.

Since Xavier Bettel excused himself for the meeting and Paul Konsbruck is no longer working for the government a week later, there is actually no government representative present at the absolutely most important moment in the parliamentary discussion on the RTL state contract. Was this done deliberately, because it was known that this was actually the most sensitive part of the convention up for discussion? Basically, the parliamentarians were being made fun of. They didn’t have the necessary information, no time for preparation and not even a real contact person in front of them, but an ex-CLT-UFA employee who wanted to bring the best possible but extremely shaky deal for CLT-UFA to a dry roof on his last day of work.

It is September 2018, Luxembourg is in the middle of an exciting election campaign. And yet Prime Minister and Minister of Media Xavier Bettel still manages to find his way to Gütersloh, where he is embraced by Bertelsmann heiress Liz Mohn and Bertelsmann and RTL Group CEO Thomas Rabe. What was it about?

Was the visit supposed to be a gesture of solidarity from Europe’s largest media group, a small support for his friend and election campaigner Xavier Bettel? Or was it about discussing a spectacular deal around the company „Majorel“ and thereby giving Xavier Bettel arguments to refute the impending criticism of the staff reductions of RTL Group in Luxembourg? Or was it about something much more important and essential? About the comment function on rtl.lu?!

Since Luxembourg is fortunately not a serious democracy, Xavier Bettel was able to single-handedly, in the middle of the election campaign and without discussion in parliament, simply sign a supplementary agreement with Bertelsmann to the convention between the state and CLT-UFA. CLT-UFA is a Bertelsmann subsidiary and the company behind RTL Luxembourg. The agreement itself remained secret, of course. Xavier Bettel nevertheless had his ministry declare the positive news.

„As part of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel’s visit to Gütersloh, an extension of the concession agreement between RTL Group and the Luxembourg government was also signed. This addition to the existing agreement, which renewed the public programming mandate for radio and television in Luxembourg for the period 2021 to 2023, will be extended to RTL Luxembourg’s digital platforms.“ (Source: Communiqué Service Media 05.09.2018)

Of course, no one in this country could do anything with that information. The CSV wanted to return to power and with that, their ability to think critically had already been put away in a drawer as a precaution. Sven Clement no longer wants to be dragged to court over another secret agreement. The press houses were so busy with their own downfall that they didn’t notice how, in passing and without announcement, a „Service Publics“ internet site had been launched. Even though it was in direct competition with all their own sites. The fact that TV, radio and internet were being mixed even more at RTL and that RTL could manipulate its finances even better: It didn’t interest anyone.

Years later, however, what was actually signed in Gütersloh became indirectly public. Fortunately, Xavier Bettel had remained Minister of Media and his Chief of Staff and former CLT-UFA employee had found a way to transfer a lot more money to CLT-UFA. They were no longer in the throes of an election campaign, but in power and could now openly admit everything. In the new convention, namely the one from 2024-2030, there is a small chapter entitled „Engagements relatifs aux missions de service public des plateformes digitales exploitées par CLT-UFA“. This is probably at least partly the text that was in the secret agreement of 2018. It is about elevating the site rtl.lu to the stage of a „Public Service“. What does this have to do with the RTL user comments, you ask?

In the agreement, the state obliges RTL.lu to provide, among other things, the following essential functions: „forums, chats, blogs and comment sections allowing users to enter into dialogue with CLT-UFA and to provide comments and other content, in connection with the content“. You may now be wondering where the chats, blogs and other opportunities with which you could enter into dialogue with RTL are. Where is the large and transparent exchange to which RTL.lu has committed itself. Where is the „Public Service“ that rtl.lu ensures for society, in order to, erm… strengthen democracy and give a voice to unheard voices?

But it has always been right under your nose. You just didn’t recognize it. Yes, exactly, the user comment function on RTL.lu is part of the „Public Service“! It is an institution, a kind of cultural heritage - and we should simply be grateful that in this most beautiful form of citizen participation, we are receiving the recognition that Xavier Bettel fought for in Güterloh.

The following list of comments was downloaded from the site rtl.lu and anonymized. Enjoy your service Public.

The fact that the DP is historically closely connected to RTL has already been impressively shown on RTL One by the example of the first DP state minister and long-time CLT-UFA director (CLT-UFA is the group behind RTL Luxembourg) Gaston Thorn. But will they also win the party’s prize, with the best overall connections to the media monopolist?

Whether it’s ex-star reporters like Joëlle Hengen or current DP and RTL employees like Sebastien Gudenburg: many members of the RTL staff find a place in the DP. RTL One has already reported on Tanja de Jager, who after 14 years at RTL was able to convert her level of awareness into a mandate on the city council and continued to maintain good ties to the broadcaster. To get an overview of the relations between RTL and DP, three categories are set up here. An attempt has not been made here to go too far into history, but to paint a picture from around 1991 (the vote of the first media law) to the present day. The list is probably not complete, if you know any more names, please write us an email.

Those who are not on this list are people who have made the link between RTL and the state through their family. These do not represent direct and personal ties. For example, RTL presenter Caroline Mart, whose father was a DP minister and whose aunt sat on the city council for the DP, or Karin Schintgen, who was the head of communications at CLT-UFA from 1990 and was also married with DP politician Paul Helminger.

1) Famous faces wanted to jump into politics

• Max Kuborn, according to RTL „Journalist, TV chef and first Luxembourg weatherman“, worked at RTL from 1995 to 2009 and was one of the most famous faces, with over 5,000 appearances on screen. However, he was not only active in front of the camera, but also Communications officer for the Litzenburg programs of CLT-UFA. For the 2009 European elections he tried to jump into politics on the DP list, but failed. He was then still active in the DP section in Walfer.

• Corinne Cahen, like Max Kuborn, started at RTL in 1995, but for the radio. She was employed here until 2001, including as a France correspondent and also as a presenter in the areas of politics, economics and law. From 2001 to 2004, she worked freelance for RTL and managed her shoe store on the side. There was therefore some time between her active time and the first time she was elected to the Chamber in 2013.

• Monica Semedo worked for RTL TV from 1996 and hosted the children’s program „Häppi Diwwi“. She later appeared in the programs „Planet RTL“, „Planet Hits“ and in Meteo. The jump from RTL to the DP took place without a long transition phase. Monica Semedo ran for the first time in the parliamentary elections in 2018, failed, then ran for the European elections in 2019 and entered the European Parliament.

• Tania de Jager was [seen] from 2001 to 2016 on RTL in various TV formats[][https://rtl1.lu/people/ex-w-benefits/2024/01/01/tanja-de-jager/]. In 2017, Tanja de Jager ran for the DP for the City Council, to which she was also elected. Her candidacy for the 2018 national elections remained unsuccessful.

• In 2013, after more than 12 years at the broadcaster, Joëlle Hengen practically started the DP election campaign from the RTL microphone in order to obtain a seat in parliament. The prominent RTL journalist does not succeed in this, but she is nevertheless [placed in a ministry] by DP party president Fernand Etgen.

  2) Powerful decision-makers acting in the interests of RTL

• Xavier Bettel briefly sat on the CLT-UFA board of directors as head of the DP faction in 2010. When he became Prime Minister in 2013, he also took over the position of Minister of Media. The negotiations of two contracts between the state and RTL took place under Xavier Bettel’s supervision. With Paul Konsbrück, Xavier Bettel recruited a CLT-UFA employee (Eldoradio) as head of cabinet and gave him free rein in negotiating the second state contract. According to his own statements, Xavier Bettel also has a personal friendship with Bertelsmann heiress Liz Mohn. The Luxembourg Prime Minister honored her in 2016, during the negotiations on the new treaty, with a high award.

• Colette Flesch was mayor of Luxembourg City from 1970 to 1980, then deputy prime minister in a government with Pierre Werner, where she was also minister of justice, small and medium-sized enterprises and foreign affairs. For the period from 1990 to 1999, Colette Flesch interrupted her long series of high political mandates and also her time on the CLT-UFA board to move to the EU Commission as director of the media department. The EU Commissioner for Media at the time was the Luxembourgish Jean Dondelinger, who could use all the help he could get to make a big gift for CLT-UFA. Colette Flesch was thus in a key position at a crucial moment to release CLT-UFA’s expansion plans to the European market.

• For Henri Grethen, „national interests still coincided with the interests of the concessionaire (CLT-UFA), who had done a good job for this country so far“. The DP MP supported the CSV-LSAP government in 1991 when the first media law was written from the opposition. Although he criticized the real estate deal in 1997, still as an opposition politician, with which the state gave the media group millions, as a minister he later sided with CLT-UFA more than once, for example when the group wanted to sell its Luxair shares. Under the ultra-liberal Minister of Economics, RTL Group went public, which paved the way for Bertelsmann to ultimately secure even larger shares in the group.

• In the opposition at the time, alongside Henri Grethen, was Anne Brasseur, who wanted to protect CLT-UFA from state competition and in 1996 introduced a law to immediately abolish the still young Radio 100komma7. At that time, CLT-UFA was interested in operating the 100komma7 frequency itself.

• Other DP politicians have a more important connection to CLT-UFA, such as Simone Beissel, who took over the chairmanship of the media committee in parliament, Gilles Baum, who as faction leader also sits on the CLT-UFA board of directors, even though he sometimes forgets and also Guy Arendt, who as a confidant of Xavier Bettel ensured that the financing law for CLT-UFA passed through parliament but was also already involved in getting the Lunghi affair back under control.

3) Why state or RTL when both can be done at the same time?

• Henri Roemer worked for CLT (later CLT-UFA) from 1989 onwards, Gaston Thorn had hired him as a spokesman for the media group. Within CLT-UFA, Henri Roemer held central positions, he built up the Dutch branch RTL4 of CLT-UFA and sat on the board of directors of the German RTL Plus. Henri Roemer had been in the DP since before 1979, starting in the party youth JDL and at the end of his life he was still section president of the DP Woltz.

• Sebastien Gudenburg currently works as a „New Media Strategist“ for the DP and at the same time for RTL Radio.

• Josy Simon worked for both CLT (the predecessor of CLT-UFA) as head of security and served in parliament for the DP. As a delegate of the RTL staff he is also on the CLT-UFA board of directors

• Marc Hansen was one of the most famous faces on RTL from 1995 to 2009, including as a sports journalist. In 2009, however, he ran for the DP in the national elections and gave up his job at RTL. The exact moment when Marc Hansen left RTL, however, was a few days after the elections. Marc Hansen did not make the jump to parliament, but was hired by the DP for the communications department. In 2013, Marc Hansen became a minister. In addition, Marc Hansen had already been a member of the Useldéng municipal council for the DP since 2005 (until 2014), that is, during his time as an RTL journalist.

This is a much-discussed question in most European countries - and in Luxembourg?

How does RTL report on the ADR?

In Luxembourg, the ADR, at the latest with the orientation for the last elections and various scandals, aims to be a right-wing radical party. All the newspapers in the country find their own way of dealing with the ADR and positioning themselves, according to their own editorial line. How the ADR is portrayed in the public debate in Luxembourg, however, lies mainly in the hands of RTL, which has the most significant influence through a television monopoly and absolute dominance in radio and online information.

Critical reporting or even just political issues are generally not really on the menu on RTL. RTL is more apolitical than neutral. There is a deliberate attempt to keep content and ideological issues to a minimum. Politics is turned into a people story on RTL, RTL produces infotainment, with a clear emphasis on the entertainment side. The way in which these right-wing radicals are dealt with is also the same. So we talk to ADR front-runner Fred Keup cooking spaghetti carbonara, to the new ADR MP Tom Weidig about his hobbies (chess and meditation) talking and to Alexandra Schoos walking through the forest - all without a critical question, without any order. In the most recent report on the ADR New Year’s Eve party, RTL journalist Jeannot Ries limited himself to holding the microphone to Fred Keup and letting him speak freely. Not only is there a lack of critical background, but there is an overall depoliticization of the reporting.

Education work against right-wing extremism as part of the „public service“?

There are isolated exceptions on RTL, which are precisely because RTL generally hardly allows criticism of the ADR. In September last year, RTL journalist Fanny Kinsch uncovered the connections between ADR and Civitas and raised it during the election campaign. Both the radio and TV report and the additional interviews were done by the journalist practically alone. The subsequent case shows that this single moment of critical reporting actually did not seem to be intentional.

ADR politician Fernand Kartheiser is filing a lawsuit before the press supervision authority because of this report, but this fact is not addressed by RTL. On the contrary, RTL gives Fernand Kartheiser a lot of space to respond to the criticisms leveled at him by other media outlets such as 100komma7. RTL also does not publicly defend its journalist against the criticisms of the ADR, which sees the report as a political attack and tries to use the discussion as a platform for its criticism of the „mainstream media“.

RTL only takes a cautious position when it is not about Luxembourg. In a recent „Commentary“ RTL journalist Anne Wolff takes a dig at the German AfD and speaks of an „opportunity“ to „counteract the trend to the right“ before the European elections, among other things. The fact that the ADR is on the verge of a historic success in the European elections and will join the faction of the Italian and Spanish neo-fascists remains uncommented. That is also the case.

Public media are at the center of a political debate across Europe.

Armin Wolf is an Austrian television presenter and journalist, he moderates the most famous news format „ZIB 2“ on the public channel ORF. In Austria, Armin Wolf is also known for his criticism of right-wing extremism, especially in the form of the far-right party FPÖ. For his work for press freedom, Armin Wolf has been often awarded. Armin Wolf also shows how the FPÖ is making the media, especially the public sector, a subject of the election campaign. A number of media outlets have expressed solidarity with Armin Wolf, including the ARD magazine „Monitor“.

A clear stance against right-wing extremism is not automatically found among all service audiences, but a clear line from right-wing extremist parties against public sector broadcasters is nevertheless necessary. The AfD wants to privatize ARD and ZDF in Germany, Marine Le Pen has the same proposal in France. In Italy, where the Fratelli d’Italia are in power, the public service was not only weakened, but restructured in a „coup“ and the most important positions were filled with right-wing extremists.

There is no imminent danger in Luxembourg that the ADR would come to power - but this party has now put itself in key positions to gain influence. „Media that receive state press support should also give space to opinions that do not correspond to their own „editorial line“,“ the ADR demands in its election program, thus questioning editorial independence.

RTL: No help in the fight against right-wing extremism

In Luxembourg, RTL, a private company, is supposed to fulfill the „Public Service Mission“. In this regard, the private media have historically been more right-wing. They are not obliged to democracy but to the wallets of their shareholders and see the public media as competition that should be suppressed. RTL is mentioned here in a row with the media of Silvio Berlusconi and Rupert Murdoch. Helmut Kohl promoted RTL into private television in order to suppress the public media. Especially when it comes to the issue of dealing with right-wing extremism and defending, it is fatal to democracy that Luxembourg has a private medium instead of a public one.

As a private broadcaster, where commercial interests have always been at the forefront, RTL, like other commercial and tabloid media, is prone to right-wing sensationalism. The police are not questioned, sexist content increases audience numbers, right-wing polemics (e.g. security in the Gare district) are pushed and car shows celebrate material possessions and status symbols. It is not surprising that some of the people who shape the discourse on the extreme right in Luxembourg today come from the ranks of RTL. Bas Schagen, a former RTL journalist, was one of the most active Corona conspiracy theorists in Luxembourg, the EX-RTL journalist Dan Hardy is now vice-president of the ADR, hosts „ADR-TV“ and is running for the party in the elections. He could even return to the Chamber if Fernand Kartheiser makes the jump to the European Parliament. Guy Kaiser, former editor-in-chief of RTL Radio Luxembourg, runs a prominent right-wing blog on which he shares right-wing conspiracies. For example, the one that „the media“ is infiltrated.

A dangerous situation

The ideas of an increasingly radical right-wing are also widespread in Luxembourg. Where pluralism of opinion ends and right-wing conspiracies and anti-democratic and anti-human propaganda begin, not only the courts but also the media must face up to this in this country.

Do you already know this show? RTL advertises it in the „Highlights“ section - a piece of junk on RTL Play: The „Energietipps“. The journalistic gloss can therefore be found where other RTL television shows are also shown - in conjunction with „plain text“ or „No Art on Air“.

The little hook: The show „Energietipps“ is probably nothing more than advertising. And advertising must be labeled as such according to EU law. There is a difference whether you, as a viewer, see an advertising clip and know: Here a company is trying to persuade me to consume with a particularly positive portrayal. Or one thinks: Here, critical journalists report with the greatest possible objectivity on something that I can take seriously.

After all, RTL is still hanging a little fig leaf in front of the „Energy Tips“. The program begins with a short intro of greasy advertising music, which is hard to buy off a good mood. A distinctive male voice sounds: „Energy Tips. Together with the Climate Agency - your partner for energy and climate“.

Cryptic. Because what exactly is done in the program „together“ with the Climate Agency remains unclear. Does anyone get any money here? Does the Climate Agency determine the content and RTL does the production? What exactly is the partnership with this company? And why „your“ partner? Is the Climate Agency a partner of the audience? Or has RTL perhaps mistakenly assumed that it actually means „Our Partner“ or „Our Advertising Partner“?

A look at the program reveals little. The 3- to 4-minute format is structured like a normal report: A voice-over narrator guides you through the events. Then, most often, a „normal“ consumer appears who uses a product or wants to save energy and tells something about it. And then there is an „expert“ who gives tips. What is striking is that in every „report“ it is the same expert who speaks, namely Sarah Juchems from the Climate Agency. The company’s logo is usually displayed in large numbers. Sometimes she says things like: To install solar panels, you need basic advice from the Climate Agency. But she doesn’t say this like an advertisement, but in the tone of a neutral expert. Everything seems as if it were a normal TV report.

The impression of a „serious“ and neutral program is also triggered by the logo of the Luxembourg government. Because yes: The Climate Agency is a „groupement d’intérêt économique“: A public-private partnership, where state money is collected from taxpayers and where profits flow back into the pockets of entrepreneurs. When it comes to mobility, the Climate Agency recommends electric cars, and not, for example, the much more climate-friendly public transport, which is also free and should actually be a climate project of the government. Strange that such advertisements are also made with the support of the government. But is the Climate Agency perhaps more concerned with profit and less about the climate when promoting Teslas and solar modules?

But in any case, we are of course most interested in what the relationship with RTL is now. The „Energy Tips“ therefore act like a journalistic report in which the Klima Agence is asked as an expert. The Klima Agence - which was previously called My Energy - is a client of RTL’s advertising company IP. And in some mobile views of the RTL.lu website you can also see it: The small line called „Advertisement“ directly above the „Energy Tips“. If you click on RTL-Play, however, nothing of it is visible anymore.

It is also not clear whether the „Energy Tips“ are actually produced by the advertising company IP or directly by RTL. So commercials should actually be IP-related. The „journalists“ of RTL should have nothing to do with the production of commercials. However, the Climate Agency regularly posts photos of the „expert“ Sarah Juchems in front of a microphone in the recording studio on Facebook: „A look behind the scenes of the RTL Expert“.

Particularly astonishing is the TV reportage in the RTL Journal, where the Climate Agency is reported on throughout positively - and not at all critically. Or the show „Dir hutt d’Wuert“, where two representatives of the Climate Agency were able to advertise their company. Here, purely journalistic formats are being abused to serve as a PR platform for a profit-oriented company.

The reasons behind this remain a mystery: Either RTL and IP receive money from the Climate Agency at least for the show „Energietipps“ - and they do not label it as advertising, as is forbidden. Or RTL and IP don’t get any money at all and advertise for free in this and other formats - which would not only be stupid, but also violate all journalistic principles. Sad but true: Both variants are equally likely.

What the values ​​of RTL were, Maison Moderne wanted to know in an interview in June 2016 from the then director of RTL Luxembourg. Alain Berwick knows what kind of answer he needs. Negotiations with the government are underway on a new concession agreement, in which RTL is to receive a direct subsidy of millions for the first time. So he has to present his channel as a serious source of information.

There would be a „code of ethics“, Alain Berwick answers. „Commerce and journalism are separated“, anyone who would cross this divide „has no place with us“. Even anyone who accepts a gift over €75, or does someone a favor with a report, „has no place with us“. Alain Berwick knows that it depends on the good image of „the RTL brand“ to be accepted in Luxembourg and to maintain its monopoly position. So he claims things that he must know are absolute nonsense.

Mixing is not a problem, but the logic behind RTL Luxembourg

A striking example? At about the same moment that Alain Berwick philosophizes about the values ​​of RTL, RTL reports on the app „Kliber“, which is supposed to help with job searches. RTL does not just report once, but with many reports about Kliber and also presents the app at „RTL Job Day“. „Kliber S.A.“ is, however, a company in which RTL itself has become an investor, with Alain Berwick personally sitting on the board of directors.

The fact that there is no separation between journalism and commerce at RTL is therefore not a recent phenomenon. Alain Berwick himself stood for this very mixing like hardly anyone else. Alain Berwick started his career at Cactus in 1983. Via IP, RTL’s advertising department, he landed at CLT-UFA in 1986. In 1993 he became director of IP and in 1994 additional director at RTL Radio and Television. Alain Berwick is simultaneously head of advertising and head of media. As if that weren’t enough, in the course of his career he sits on the board of directors of CLT-UFA and also of BCE, is chairman of the board of directors of Eldoradio, director of „Media Assurances S.A.“, which is part of CLT-UFA, as well as a shareholder in pretty much all the dubious corporate structures that were built to get the big deal with the RTL building in Kirchberg. He is the architect of the money machine RTL Luxembourg.

First an inglorious departure, then a sensational comeback?

Ironically, Alain Berwick had to resign just a few months after the interview about RTL’s values, after he interfered in editorial decisions and thereby helped trigger the Lunghi affair. The incident was the logical consequence of the type of boulevard journalism that Alain Berwick had established at RTL. „RTL Boulevard“ and „Model made in Luxembourg“ are also two of the show formats that stood for the Berwick principle. Along with Alain Berwick, Marc Thoma and the radio’s editor-in-chief, Guy Kaiser, are also leaving, RTL. For the top of RTL, the rule is: everything must change so that everything can remain the same.

Isn’t Alain Berwick now just a thing of the past? Guy Kaiser is now just running a right-wing polemic blog and Marc Thoma is failing with „Apart-TV“ and things have also become quiet around ex-director Alain Berwick. After leaving RTL, he is just bringing a few real estate deals for RTL to an end and is sitting on the board of directors of large corporations. Unfortunately, there seem to be signs that Alain Berwick could be not only the past, but also the future of RTL, as Paperjam reported. According to the newspaper „Land“, a concept by Alain Berwick is on the table at RTL Group. Together with investors, the ex-RTL boss wants to take over the profitable radio chain and the lucrative website RTL.lu in 2030, after the end of the current concession agreement. Presumably to re-establish his values ​​there.

You probably knew that there is an English RTL with „RTL Today“ and a French RTL with „RTL Infos“ in this country. But did you know that RTL.lu not only publishes articles in Luxembourgish, but also in German? We have selected and linked a few news items for you:

• RTL - Massive lawsuit against Google over alleged antitrust violations
• RTL - Chinese student sentenced to six months in prison in Hong Kong
• RTL - Thousands dead in devastating floods in Libya

RTL.lu in German, that sounds strange. A look at the author of the article reveals, however, that these are articles from „AFP“, the news agency „Agence France-Presse“. And the articles were directly pulled into the RTL site’s system and even put online. However, they were not linked on the site itself, and so these articles can only be found if you play with the article numbers in the URL. Or you can run a web crawler over the site and see all the articles from the past year listed in a table.

RTL’s „journalistic“ work processes

Around 55% of the articles that are in the RTL system and have also been published are those in which AFP is the author. However, these cannot be found on RTL itself, and this is because RTL’s editorial team then translates the articles they like and at the same time replaces the author „AFP“ with „RTL“ and thus labels the article as its own content. Of the articles that are actually linked and can be found on RTL.lu, only 15% are marked with the names of journalists and over 70% with the author „RTL“. Under „RTL“ not only the translated agency reports are published, but also all other copied content, for example police reports. This is against the rules of the press code, which stipulates that the author of the article must be identified, but what does RTL care about the press code? This is always a good way to hide how many articles were written by which editorial team - or sometimes even by IP employees.

The staff of the French-language RTL Infos still sometimes writes „RTL avec AFP“ there, but the complex journalistic work of translating was not done here either. The part of the editorial team that translates the articles into Luxembourgish therefore has more work to do. This has probably led to people becoming creative in order to produce as many articles as possible as quickly as possible without much effort. Let’s look at our examples.

Short, concise and sensational

From the list of agency reports stored in the system, the RTL „journalist“ selects one that seems important enough to be translated. However, these are not always AFP reports, sometimes other agencies also have their reports loaded into the system. In September, there are major floods in Libya. This is an event in which media houses around the world mainly rely on information provided to them by press agencies. The agencies themselves rely on many different sources, which they then cite in their articles. RTL has loaded over 50 AFP articles into its system, 13 of which are translated and appear on rtl.lu. To save even more work, they are not only translated, but also heavily abridged.

For example, RTL takes over the DPA’s report on the danger of a cholera outbreak in the flood zone. A large number of other press outlets also copy the DPA report, but unlike RTL, they do not just cite DPA as the source, but also take over the majority of the background information. RTL thought it would save space and time, reducing the DPA report to the sentence „International aid teams speak of a catastrophic humanitarian situation“ and translating the first three lines of the text:

„The Ministry of Health in Tripoli warned that, especially in the city of Darna, drinking water was contaminated with corpses, animal carcasses, waste and chemical substances. Dozens of children have already fallen ill. Drinking water has also been mixed with sewage.“

If you compare the translation with the original, you will notice that RTL has not only deleted a source reference, namely „Arab News“, within the text, but also apparently made too much of the description of the cholera disease in the translation:

„In Libya, after the severe floods, there are fears of a possible outbreak of the gastrointestinal disease cholera. According to the newspaper „Arab News“, the Ministry of Health in Tripoli warned of an infection with the dangerous bacteria. In the severely affected coastal city of Darna, groundwater has been polluted by corpses, animal carcasses, garbage and chemical substances, it was said. Dozens of children have fallen ill there from polluted water.“

So let’s note: RTL does not just copy press releases from other agencies, they also do not cite sources or original authors and in some cases they also delete information that simply takes up too much space between all the advertisements on the site. The point here is not to inform the population, but to have just enough so that people continue to come to the site every day and it has more audience for its continuous advertising.

One of the most important minds behind the overpowerful advertising agency IP is not the racist head on the logo, but Camille Ney.

You’ve probably heard his name before, if not, you definitely know his voice. Close your eyes, imagine you’re listening to RTL and after the famous phrase „Wousst der schonn?“ a male, not too dark, relatively monotonous and slightly nasal voice appears. Yes, that’s him. That’s brand value. Every child knows right away that this is RTL. But even the children are wrong.

„Wousst der schonn“ is not an RTL format but an IP format. Viva Vakanz, Camille’s probably most famous show, too. Camille’s talents are manifold and, even if his voice doesn’t sound like it, the man has virtually unlimited energy, which he can channel into his many side businesses.

The party animal and the man of pleasure

As „Sailor K1000“ (Ka-Mille), he performed together with his colleague „Käpt’n Ändä“ and [created] the atmosphere at RTL fiestas and similar cultural events. A party man, entertainer and an „artist“, is what his colleagues at RTL call him when [advertising] his new CDs on the air. „Work colleague“ could perhaps have been said more transparently. But RTL often has working relationships with people they interview as guests, so that would be just a boring detail.

The head behind IP doesn’t just have a lot of different job titles, but also a lot of different headwear: sailor’s cap, IP plums, RTL cap and even a gourmet hat?

„It’s true that I have several caps. It’s also true that I like to drink and eat. It turns out that I hosted the shows Viva Vakanz and Viva la vida on RTL for 25 years. For that, I traveled a lot and I used to end my stays abroad with a short visit to a fine grocery store to bring back gourmet souvenirs.“ This is how Camille explains the inspiration behind his delicatessen shop. The busy man also runs a fine grocery store in Zolwer.

The radio person?!?

Whoever thinks that Camille would neglect his work at IP because of all his other responsibilities, is kidding himself. This man even works on vacation. Just post all the vacation photos on rtl.lu, pack the RTL microphone and put on the RTL jacket and voila two flies with one blow. The contribution that is recorded there with the RTL microphone is again intended for IP, but Camille produces all his contributions for RTL at heart.

Or is Camille Ney actually employed by RTL and IP at the same time? He seems to work only as „Head of Productions“ at the advertising company IP, but also, according to his self-description on the IP website, as „Product Manager RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg“. Or does this mean that „RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg“ is just one of many products of IP? It probably remains a mystery. This is what you say when RTL violates the press code, which prescribes a clear separation between commercial (IP!) and journalistic (RTL?) work.

Because Camille is of course also a serious journalist, even one of the kind who is allowed to comment on RTL. Camille stands in front of the red logo in the RTL studio and delights the world with analyses such as: „Shouldn’t we all take the initiative to treat each other more kindly and thus turn our cross of nation branding, which is very popular in the voting booths today, into a smiley“. Or also „The music of Palma has never been a Harvard essay and just like with the current gender mania, the question should be allowed: Do we have any worries?“. Wait, „gender mania“ isn’t that a term that was made famous by the far-right FPÖ and is now [used] primarily by the German AfD? Maybe Camille isn’t a serious journalist in every comment, but maybe he’s sometimes a sexist Ballermann-Sailor K1000 on the RTL microphone.

Many hats - or everything under one hat?

But who needs separations between advertising, journalism, après-ski and delicatessen shops? Camille can do it all. At the same time. For example, he can publish an article about a shop on rtl.lu and at the same time own this shop. How is that possible? Maybe it’s like this: Camille Ney, owner of a grocery store, turns to Camille Ney, head of production at the IP advertising agency. Camille commissions and pays Camille to make an advertisement. Camille then takes the advertisement to Camille Ney of RTL, with whom Camille Ney of IP has a deal. Camille then publishes the advertisement on RTL that Camille produced for Camille. Or Camille organizes a sweepstakes. Or he has the singer of „One Last Time“, Andrea Galleti, present Camille Ney’s shop in a „Business-Interview“. And then Camille probably plays the song by K1000. And what do you call the whole thing? Public service.

Is the grocery store Fine in Zolwer too small an example for you of how well Camille gets everything under one roof? But that example can be played out on a larger scale.

During Corona, the Foire Agricole commissioned Camille to design a digital offer so that people can also visit the fair from home. Camille brings „FAE TV“ to life and is looking forward to another sister company of IP and RTL, namely BCE, joining in. RTL reports on how wonderfully it all works. Not just once, but all the time and in the national news section. It is Camille Ney himself who moderates „FAE TV“. „FAE TV“ is consequently also streamed on rtl.lu. What is advertising, what is reporting? What does the taxpayer pay for, what does the client pay for? And who does Camille work for? For himself, of course.

Anyone who wants visibility in Luxembourg can hardly get past RTL. However, you can’t just buy visibility on RTL, through an advertising contract with the IP, but you can also have visibility just like that. Like Luc Marteling.

Luc Marteling has worked as a journalist for RTL since 2008 and was most recently editor-in-chief of the RTL.lu website. However, a position as editor-in-chief behind a website does not mean that you have to forego visibility on the website and on all other RTL media. It rather means that you can put yourself in the foreground everywhere, use the RTL.lu website as your private social media page and, why not, also advertise your own books.

Luc Marteling was a guest on the talk shows Kloertext and Live Planet People. He presented his book on RTL, and RTL presented many more of the books that Luc Marteling collaborated on and that he published with his publisher. He took photos from his terrace that were published in weather articles. He has made many lewd comments and he has [published] articles on the site under his name (https://infos.rtl.lu/actu/luxembourg/a/1203642.html) - or even under the stylish abbreviation „LM“.

Old habits

Mid-2019, Luc Marteling made a career change. As RTL.lu reported, fresh from the government council, its own editor-in-chief has been selected for the new position as director of the Centre for the Luxembourgish Language (ZLS). A change in career, however, does not mean a change in visibility for Luc Marteling.

Luc Marteling continues to be a Kloertexter, is a guest on Live Planet People, and books from his publisher are still regularly presented. He takes photos that are then published in weather articles or in reports about Paangecher. RTL publishes pretty much everything that ZLS wants to tell the world, including an exclusive interview with Luc Marteling - one wonders who called who first. And Luc Marteling continues to publish articles on the RTL.lu site in his name… Wait, does Luc Marteling still have access to the site rtl.lu? Of course not. Or does he? There is a mysterious author named „LM“ who posts recent articles online, coincidentally about Luc Marteling’s ZLS.

How practical, if you can easily create his own visibility on RTL - regardless of whether you work there or not.

Have you ever interviewed yourself? No? Then it’s high time! Put some money in your pocket and go straight to the RTL editorial office, or the advertising company IP – basically it doesn’t matter, because they sit in the same offices, have the same phone number and can barely tell each other apart.

If the sum is right, your own interview will be published without any problems in the form of a completely normal RTL article. The good news: you can spread whatever you want! Advertising for your company, some half-truths about a topic like the economy or climate change… it doesn’t matter.

The „Chief Strategist“ of Quintet Private Bank, Nicolas Sopel, shows you how it’s done: The header image is - of course - him. The headline reads: „The world in 2024: Global investment outlook“. So now you get the impression that RTL has interviewed an expert on financial developments. The text also looks like an interview. The font and layout are exactly the same as in all the other articles. As in an RTL interview, there are questions in bold, followed by paragraphs that seem like answers. Only later do you realize that the bold is very arbitrary and that the whole thing is a completely self-written text.

The practical thing is: With such a self-portrait, you don’t need to be afraid of critical inquiries. You now think: There are no critical inquiries at RTL anyway! So where is the difference? A very apt observation. And yet, with a complete self-staging, you simply have much more freedom to set a topic yourself. Maybe it’s also the case that you sat around for a long time waiting for an RTL interview request that simply never came. If that’s the case, then you’re paying for the long-awaited visibility. And not as an advertising banner on the edge of the page, no! But as a completely normal article in all the other RTL articles.

The nice thing is: As an RTL article, what you’re blabbering about suddenly appears in a light of objectivity and neutrality. It’s press. It’s not written by the press, but it looks that way. To make sure that the advertisement doesn’t stand out so much, Mr. Sopel inserts a few quotes from Greek philosophers into the first paragraphs, which he probably learned by heart in the 5th grade. „I know that I know nothing.“ After all, it is obvious that the good old Socrates, as a Hellenic genius, already meant the FinTech industry and the investment business. Simply profound.

Does all this fall under the category of surreptitious advertising, which is actually prohibited by law? But where does it come from: There is a small hint above that it is „sponsored content“. The inattentive readers will not see this, but legally RTL is - hopefully?! - on the safe side, its pockets are full, and the authorities have not said anything so far. A profound philosophical saying fits this, which our RTL1 editors used for their doctoral thesis in philosophy at the time: „What I don’t know, doesn’t make me hot“. But then everything is cool.