Trade unions
Journalists and employers in media organisations are well organised and both have their own lobbying groups. On the journalists side there are two major organisations. First, the Deutscher Journalisten Verband (German Journalists’ Association - DJV), calling itself a “trade union and professional organisation.” The other journalist union is the Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (German Journalists’ Union - DJU), part of Ver.di, the largest service-workers’ and clerks’ trade union, which is in turn a member of the roof organisation Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (German Trade Federation - DGB), which has a powerful influence in German policy.The DJV is organised into 17 different, self-governed, federal organisations, operating in each federal state. It is further segmented into several commissions according to the different professional branches. With respect to the claim of being a professional organisation as well, the DJV offers dossiers on thematic issues such as ethics in journalism.
DJU has nine special divisions in the federal states and, as a clear-cut trade union, it is focused on specific services such as collective bargaining and sections for newcomers and freelancers.
Apart from journalist associations, employers like the publishers are organised in the Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger (BDZV) and the magazine press is represented by the Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger (VDZ). The commercial radio and television industry cooperates in the Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telekommunikation (VPRT). All three organisations lobby for commercial media and act as main critics of publicly funded public-service media with the argument of a distortion of competition.