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Media Landscape - Austria

INTRODUCTION

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Magnitude and power characterize the Austrian media landscape. Magnitude relates to the relatively large size of the media compared to the smallish market of some 8.5 million people living in Austria. Power relates to the high degree of market concentration providing the dominating media actors with influence not only in their respective media markets but also in the political arena. Media policy in the public interest therefore is largely paralysed and vested interests manage remarkably well to define the rules of the game.

Austria is geographically located in the centre of Europe and is part of the German language area. It shares borders with Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Austria’s only urban area is Vienna with some 2 million people living in and around the Capital. Large parts of Western Austria are topographically characterized by mountains. Although there is some -Group.

Regional press and national press need to be distinguished. The former is characterised by strong regional newspapers, dominating up to 90 per cent of the regional markets. With only two exceptions, all Austrian provinces (Bundeslaender) are dominated by just one regional publisher who controls one, two or even three newspapers.

The national press consists of seven titles, published in the capital Vienna, including Oesterreich, launched in September 2006. Four of the seven titles are tabloid-style papers, while the remaining three titles compete within the quality newspaper market.


1. AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA

The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) became a Foundation in 2001. The Foundation’s Council is composed of 35 members. 9 of them are nominated by the Federal Government, 6 by political parties represented in Parliament. Another 9 members are nominated by the regional Governments, 6 members are seconded by the Viewers’ and Listeners’ Council (Publikumsrat) and the remaining 5 members by the ORF’s labour organisation. The public service television and radio have a strong market position. Private radio operations are dominated by press publishers.

In parallel to the re-organisation of the ORF, the Austrian Parliament adopted a new law on private television in Austria. Since 2001, private operators are eligible for licenses at the national and at the regional and local level.

These Austrian television channels compete with other German-language channels, spilled into the country by satellite and re-distributed by the cable systems. Foreign channels dominate the television viewing market. In 2005, some 54 per cent of all viewing in cable and satellite households was dedicated to foreign programmes.

In 2001, a new law on regional radios was passed and removed some obstacles for media companies to own and operate radio channels.

Since 2001, media owners (newspapers, radio, television) are eligible to own even 100 per cent of a radio station, as long as the reach of the radio does not overlap with the reach of its other media. There is a high degree of cable and satellite households.


2. DIGITAL SERVICES

The digital switch has not yet happened but digital television and radio are being tested. The Federal Law on private television (2001) established the Digital Platform Austria. This platform has elaborated a multi-annual concept on the management of the digital switch-over, one strategic key element of which was the creation of a Fund for Digitalisation.

The technical infrastructure for a national DVB-T network was separated from ORF’s programme activities and relocated to a new company named ORS (100 per cent ORF owned).


3. ONLINE MEDIA

Austria has a relatively high rate of PC ownership and internet connection.

The ORF with its broad variety of Internet services reached 2.9 million unique clients in July 2006, generating some 171 million page impressions.

The online media are dominated by traditional media owners and are in many cases little more than web-extensions of the main medium. However, the ORF, Der Standard and the Kronenzeitung (krone.at) have established independent online newsrooms and their websites do not – or only partly – correspond with the content of the main medium.


4. NEWS AGENCIES

The market is dominated by the Austria Presse Agentur (APA). It is far advanced in new information technologies and serves in addition to its members a large number of public and private clients.


5. MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS

Media employers and journalists have their own organisations in Austria. Journalists have founded their own union (//Sektion Journalisten//) within the National Union Federation of Austria (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund). The Federation participates in all relevant deliberations on media policy issues and negiotiates collective agreements for all employees.

Newspaper publishers are organised in the Verband Österreichischer Presse (VÖZ).

In 2003, private radio and television broadcasters have founded the Verband Österreichischer Privatsender (VÖP). By 2006, some 25 private radio stations and 8 private television stations were members.


6. NATIONAL MEDIA POLICIES

Austria’s media policy is characterised by strong formal regulation with little self-regulatory elements.

Radio and television are dominated by the strong market player ORF, governed by its Council. Despite the fact that the law restricts full-time politicians to become members of the Council, the ORF is strongly politicized.

Since 1974, the state provides all daily and weekly newspapers with annual direct payments. Subsidies go to all daily papers on their request (smaller amount) and to a few papers who are considered especially important for the diversity of opinions (larger amount). In 2003, the press subsidy scheme was reformed by a new law. The new scheme provides subsidies for the distribution of newspapers, for contributions to regional diversity and for the formation of journalists (school of journalism) and special projects.

Another strand of controversial media policy concerns the unprecedented high degree of media ownership concentration in Austria. The largest newspaper equally owns the only terrestrial national radio channel and in almost all provinces the dominant newspaper publisher also owns the main radio channel and in some cases also the regional television channel. This concentration happened despite the fact, that the cartel law in Austria requires the Cartel Court to check whether the merger or acquisition in question would endanger journalistic and media diversity.

Austrian cable networks must carry all national channels, that includes the two channels of the ORF and the relevant local and regional channels. Other than this general rule, cable operators are free to allocate their bandwidth to television, radio or other services. Some large cable networks offer “triple play services”, including radio and television as well as telephony and broadband internet connection. In accordance with European law all foreign channels can be received in Austria without restrictions.


7. ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS

The reform of the Austrian Broadcasting legislation established a Federal Senate of Communication (Bundeskommunikationssenat). This senate looks into alleged violations of the Broadcasting Act, as well as into individual complaints against radio and television programmes.

Violations of personal rights or breach of the journalist’s Code of Ethics in the press were followed up by the Press Council (Presserat). In 2002, the Presserat was dissolved. Up to 2006, no formal institution has replaced the Presserat. Its Code of Ethics still exists, but no organisation is watching over its implementation.


8. RECENT MEDIA DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS

The tabloidisation of the press is an ongoing phenomenon.

The high degree of media concentration is likely to continue with a low number of powerful media owners. This includes the public service broadcaster who plays a major political role in Austria. This strong position guarantees on the one hand the future of the public service system. On the other hand, it conflicts with the independence paradigm of public service broadcasting.

Internationalisation at the ownership level might continue. While readership is still low for German newspapers and magazines, large parts of the television audience is already oriented towards German channels with increasing trends.


9. PRIME SOURCES FOR DETAILED INFORMATION

Information on Austrian media is scattered over many institutions. The ORF publishes some basic statistics on market shares and programme profiles on its website (http://www.orf.at). The mass media regulator RTR has some useful information on regulation, law, press subsidies etc. on its website (http://www.rtr.at). With regard to the press, the Publishers' Association publishes an annual handbook on the press (Pressehandbuch), containing most relevant data on printed media in Austria.

There is a specialised press (e.g. Horizont Austria; on advertising and agencies) and media sections in newspapers (Der Standard, Die Presse and their online editions). Furthermore, the Austrian News Agency (APA) publishes a weekly bulletin on media developments. More popular information can be found in the weekly journal TV Media, functioning not only as television programme guide but also as forum for a debate on media policy issues. Finally, a monthly magazine (Extradienst) reports on the media business.


10. REFERENCES

  • Dörfler, Edith/Pensold, Wolfgang (2001): Die Macht der Nachricht. Die Geschichte der Nachrichtenagentur in Österreich. Molden, Wien.
  • RTR (Rundfunk- und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH) (2006): Tätigkeitsbericht des Digitalisierungsfonds. Wien.
  • Steinmaurer, Thomas (2004): Das Mediensystem Österreichs. In: Hans-Bredow-Institut (Hg.): Internationales Handbuch Medien. Baden-Baden. (Nomos). S. 168-179.
  • Steinmaurer, Thomas (2002): Konzentriert und Verflochten. Österreichs Mediensysteme im Überblick. Studienverlag, Innsbruck.
  • Trappel, Josef (2004): Austria. In: Kelly, Mary / Mazzoleni, Gianpietro / McQuail, Denis (Hg.): The Media in Europe. The Euromedia Handbook. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi. (Sage). S. 4-15.
  • Trappel, Josef (1997): Austria. In: Group, Euromedia Research (Hg.): The Media in Western Europe. The Euromedia Handbook. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi. (Sage). S. 1 -16.
  • VÖZ (Verband Österreichischer Zeitungsherausgeber und –verleger) (annually) Pressehandbuch. Wien.


11. AUTHOR

Josef Trappel is the head of IPMZ transfer, Center for knowledge transfer and applied media research at the Institut for Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. He earned his Dr. in Mass Communication Science from the University of Salzburg, Austria. Prior to joining the University of Zurich in 2003, he was head of the media research department in an international consultancy company in Basel, Switzerland. His scientific and research work concentrates on changes in mass media structures and their implications on mass communication.

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12. MEDIA RESOURCES

Newspapers

Audio/Visual Media

Media Institutions

Blogs/Civil Media

Excerpt from EUROPEAN MEDIA GOVERNANCE: THE NATIONAL AND REGIONAL DIMENSIONS, published by Intellect (http://www.intellectbooks.com).

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