The large European public television stations, faced with the challenge of the coronavirus

The annual meeting of DG7 of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in which the heads of public television BBC, ZDF, ARD, FT and RAI have participated, addresses the coronavirus response.

Rosa María Mateo, provisional sole administrator of RTVE, has participated in the DG7 annual meeting of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) together with the heads of public television BBC, ZDF, ARD, FT, RAI and the EBU itself.

A meeting in which the response to the coronavirus has been addressed, the production challenges with security requirements, initiatives to share content and the intention to maintain and increase collaboration between all members of the EBU.

In the course of this telematic meetingRosa María Mateo highlighted that "the two main objectives during this crisis are to protect the health of the staff and guarantee compliance with the public service. Work is being done on the de-escalation plan that will follow the guidelines of the health authorities and will therefore be a dynamic plan, adapting to the circumstances, and slow."

"At all times the health of the workers has been and will be taken into account. He has also referred to the good audience data and the need to adapt programming to the new situation."

Ulrich Wilhelm (ARD) has highlighted that now the public media "are stronger than when we entered the Covid-19 crisis and we must maintain that strength. Society recognizes the importance of our work but the growing polarization that occurs in our countries could go against us."

Marcello Foa, from RAI, explained that the “de-escalation” will be done step by step, decisions will be made week by week and the possibility of combining remote work with going to the headquarters one day a week is being considered.

Delphine Ernotte, France Télévisions, highlights the objective of strengthening cultural life and adopting measures that guarantee security. He also affirms that this is the moment in which public broadcasters have to take advantage of the situation of strength that we have and turn this crisis into an opportunity to be more united and therefore stronger.

Frank Dieter Freiling, representing Thomas Bellut of ZDF, has expressed that “public service media will be required to do much more with less or at best the same budget.”

The participants have agreed that the role of public service media has been reinforced in the current circumstances, and that they have demonstrated a great capacity to adapt. They also assume the need to reach agreements with the cultural sector, defend the privacy of citizens and fight against misinformation.