The Dual CR Responsibility of Media Companies: We Only Create Entertainment, Don’t We?

Abstract

UFA has been making entertainment for more than 100 years, now for all broadcasters and platforms, daily and weekly series, movies, casting shows, crime series, historical multi-part series, daily soaps, movies, factual formats, family series, quiz shows and, most recently, documentaries. As diverse as the genres, formats, and playout methods may be, all our products are united by the desire to entertain. Success is always measured by ratings, but also by reviews and viewer feedback, the “buzz” a show generates in the press and now also on social media. As program makers, we have of course always had an attitude behind our content. In addition to entertaining and offering escapist moments, it has always been important to address socially relevant topics, for example, to give discussions a new perspective. Film has had this claim since its beginnings, and filmmakers have always had this responsibility. However, the examination of one’s own attitude and responsibility has become more intense in recent years against the backdrop of an ever faster, louder, and more extreme theoretical discussion and practical development of topics such as information technology, the understanding of democracy, economic systems, climate change, and power relations. The amplitude of opinions became larger, the polarization more extreme. Facts and the term Truth play a role above all in journalistic reporting. As producers of entertainment, it is not our original task to clarify facts. Nor is it easy for us to grasp the values involved in the public value debate. In principle, less value is attached to entertainment than to information, for example. But even without defining the value of entertainment at this point, we can and must be aware of our responsibility and our social impact through our communicative reach. We have the opportunity to consider diverse perspectives in our work. Our stance on numerous socially relevant issues also plays an increasingly important role for our current and future employees. As a large media company, we are also increasingly being asked to adopt a socially responsible stance. And so we too must and want to face up to our responsibility as producers and employers more consciously than ever before, and the diversity of perspectives in front of and behind the camera is no longer just a possibility but is becoming our responsibility. Let us take another step back.