‘Toxic’ Culture? Television’s Handling of ‘Outdated’ Cultural Productions

Harald Steinwender gives insights into his work as a film producer and program executive at public service broadcasting. There he sees two developments unfolding: an expression of general suspicions towards movies of certain genres or cultural-historical contexts from the public, and a defensive reaction from the television station, which readily removes productions from the program in order to avoid accusations of racism and sexism. Steinwender acknowledges the difficult position state television stations are in, but also critically discusses the lack of debate within the stations, which, according to him, are conditioned by a climate of insecurity regarding contemporary sensitivities. This shying away from critical debates sometimes translates into censorship and condemnation of films which ultimately reduces their aesthetics to being ‘problematic.’ In order to address the issues at stake, Steinwender argues for a less moralistic and more detail-oriented approach.