90

The dispute between press publishers and ARD (the consortium of public broadcasters in Germany) concerning the Tagesschau app demonstrated that German law with respect to the online activity of public broadcasters did not solve the competitive problems of the electronic press on the Internet. They result from hesitation by the Länder (the 16 German states) in dealing with European law in the context of Germany’s constitutional law. Called upon to make a clear and coherent decision for or against an independent public information service on the Internet, the Länder could take advantage of the experiences of their French neighbors. Many arguments favor the thesis that intervention of public-service broadcasters on the Internet would not be necessary to maintain a pluralistic expression of opinions.