phoenix

phoenix is a public channel operated jointly by ARD and ZDF and launched in 1997. What sets it apart from other news channels is that it does not summarise: it carries events whole. Sittings of the Bundestag, party conferences, press conferences and committee hearings are transmitted from beginning to end, uninterrupted and without commentary.

That format has made the channel the raw record of the political process in Germany. For a reader who wants a speech in full, an entire sitting, or an argument uncut, it is a source with few equivalents. The remaining schedule is given to documentary and background programming.