Last but not least: When the Pope and RTL are supposedly moving in the same direction

 Since the end of January, the German private channel RTL has been broadcasting a new season of the casting show "Deutschland sucht den Superstar", or DSDS for short. For the fifth time, the jury led by meanie Dieter Bohlen has been lambasting very young teenagers thirsting for attention and celebrity status with harsh, pointed judgments. Last year, the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM) therefore initiated an investigation into the "possible socio-ethical disorientation of children and young people". Taking into account the results of the hearing, the KJM then decided that RTL had violated youth protection regulations in certain afternoon programs in January 2007. Insulting comments by the jury as well as the editorial preparation and staging of the appearances of some candidates were likely to impair the development of children under the age of twelve. It shows how people are belittled, mocked and ridiculed, and now RTL itself is asking the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen (FSF) to scrutinize the new season. From Thursday, an expert opinion will be drawn up on each individual episode, said the Cologne-based broadcaster's youth protection officer, Dieter Cjaza, to Bild am Sonntag. It almost seems as if RTL is taking the line of Pope Benedict XVI, who recently called for caution when consuming media. Have the people in charge of RTL recently been in Cologne Cathedral? - No, not at all. The board of the FSF is made up of representatives of German private broadcasters and is headed by none other than Dieter Czaja himself. RTL is therefore only filling the advertising drum with a superficial sense of responsibility and a splash of holy water. It certainly doesn't hurt the ratings.