Purpose / Activities

Parliamentary 'Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs'

In the current 17th legislative period of the German Bundestag the Parliamentary 'Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs' has got 24 members.

Its working areas include all cultural and media-related issues that are not already the responsibility of the federal states, i.e.

the National Holo-caust Memorial in Berlin

redrafting of the laws regulating foundations

promotion of culture in the new, East-German, federal states

campaign for pre-serving fixed book sales prices

promo-tion/subsidising of German film productions

foreign cultural affairs (as described under: Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and the Media)

Subcommittee 'New Media'

The Subcommitee 'New Media' currently is comprising 13 members.

Its brief is to 'prepare the ground' for inter-disciplinary, cross-sectional decision-making on central issues of the information and science society.

The sub-committee has to deal with various subjects and therefore assumes a critical cross-sectional function in German politics. It is the conviction of the main Com-mission that this also includes investigating the possibilities and problems arising from and with the integration (convergence) of the new, digital, infor-mation technology with the classical, analogous, media of radio and televi-sion.

Further topics inves-tigated first by the sub-committee are the ethical questions relating to the use of the old and new media, to freedom of publication and at the same time protection of youth from bad influences from television programmes and the world-wide web contents. The sub-committee is concerned with the technical challenges posed by digital technology and networks, by E-commerce, electronic signatures, copyrights, charging of fees or data protection within the web.