Photo: Frank C. Müller (CC BY-SA)

RTL is in direct competition with other media that also rely on advertising sales. As a news director, you can also come up with creative ideas.

As a commercial medium, RTL still generates its revenue mainly from advertising. This means that RTL is in direct competition with other media that also rely on advertising sales - for example, advertising newspapers. Has RTL exploited its position to gain advantages?

Roy Grotz, the so-called „news director“ at RTL Radio Luxembourg, does not publish any articles on rtl.lu. When it does happen, it’s almost always either „interludes“ in which he styles himself as the nation’s coach and with titles like „Ripped off the bottle!“, „Roll up your arms and let’s go“ or even „A nod to the barn door“ in which he tells his truths about politics - or are they articles in which he reveals his insider knowledge from the CSV? He has good connections in the party since his time at Saint-Paul. In fact, he’s always talking about big politics.

It may come as a surprise, then, when Roy Grotz takes on the job of a simple employee of rtl.lu, namely copying press releases and creating an article from them. This is what happened in mid-December with the article „The fight against free advertising in mailboxes is getting worse“, an article that was also directly translated and published by RTL Today and RTL Infos into English and French, respectively. Roy Grotz presents the public with information from an information flyer from the Post Office, describing how the rules for free advertising in mailboxes will change from 01.01.2024. A change that Roy Grotz is clearly looking forward to, he writes „It is good news for all those who regularly get upset that the mailbox is overflowing with advertisements and flyers of all kinds“.

Roy Grotz is probably making sure that the „lutte“ he has proclaimed is carried out with all the means at RTL’s disposal: it is prominently featured in the weekly review and is shortly afterwards the subject of a micro-street poll by RTL. An interview with a lawyer should shed additional light. So Maître Jean-Jacques Schonckert, known from RTL Afterwork, is allowed to explain once again at length and in detail until even Dan Spogen understands how the „garbage“ in the mailbox could now be stopped. The lawyer also takes the opportunity to appeal to politics. They should once again follow up with a Grand-ducal regulation and define more precisely which advertisements are all prohibited. RTL has been working on this topic for a long time and has repeatedly published articles, such as in September this year in which the focus is also on election advertisements by parties. Another example is the report on RTL Tëlee Uganks 2022, where the Ministry of the Environment made the first considerations on how paper waste should be reduced in the future.

Is RTL simply fulfilling its mandate as a state-subsidized „public service“ to inform the population well? However, it is not the law itself, but RTL that is starting a „fight against free advertising in letterboxes“. It is a fight against paper waste, which nevertheless gives people the opportunity to continue to advertise. The RTL editorial staff could also have focused on informing people how they will now have to deal with advertising - instead of letting a lawyer talk about „garbage“ and spreading outright misinformation with headlines like „Finies les publicités gratuites dans les boîtes aux lettres“.

However, the core of the problem is not unbalanced journalism, but precisely the core of RTL’s business model. The so-called „folder“ advertising, i.e. advertising newspapers in letterboxes, has been continuously decreasing over the years, but according to Ad’Report after 2021, it still accounted for a volume of over €5 million. Companies that now have even less interest in distributing advertisements via free newspapers are looking for other support. They will probably end up with the largest provider of advertising distribution in the country: IP, the advertising agency of RTL. RTL is therefore using its state-subsidized market power and its influence on public opinion to go against competition in the advertising market.