''Licht ins Dunkel'' ''(German for "light into the dark")'' is an annual

telethon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...

held in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

since 197

The telethon is held every year on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

for 14 hours on ORF2br>

Objective

The money raised is used to provide help for disability, disabled persons. Donations can be made by phone, SMS, fax or online. The telethon is a permanent project and donations can also be made at post offices, banks and via the Internet all year round, not just during the telethon. The word ''telethon'' itself is not used in Austria, but similar names such as ''Fernsehmarathon (television marathon)'' or ''Spendenmarathon (marathon of donations)'' are used.

Criticism

Although the sum of money raised is increasing from year to year, these telethons are facing increasing criticism from viewers complaining about the whole-day blocking of one of the country's most important nationwide public television channels which usually airs highly rated programmes about culture, society, politics and business. The telethon is also relayed on several regional public channels which either rebroadcast the nationwide telethon or organize additional shows on a regional or local level. Parts of the telethon are also aired on the German-language international satellite channel

3sat 3sat (, ''Dreisat'') is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel. It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany ( ZDF, ARD), Austria ( ORF) and Switzerlan ...

which is available throughout Europe - these parts of the telethon are relayed to 3sat's domestic service in Austria as well. Thus, viewers who are getting their television signals solely over the air and do not have access to satellite reception or cable-TV usually get 6 to 10 different channels of which at least three broadcast ''Licht ins Dunkel'', parts of it, or regional telethons of ''Licht ins Dunkel'' on December 24, which is another source of annoyance for this group of viewers. Since Austria is a highly organized

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...

with very high

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

es to pay for a tight

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

system, national healthcare which is free for everybody and government-provided help for people in need, many viewers consider additional money raising on public television as highly annoying or unnecessary. Some people even complain about ''Licht ins Dunkel'' since they do not wish to be confronted with the lives and problems of disabled persons on Christmas Eve. Even some associations of disabled persons heavily criticized ''Licht ins Dunkel'' since disabled people are commonly depicted during the telethon as if they were completely helpless and unable to make their lives. Every year, some businesses consider the show as another advertising opportunity and make very high donations just in order to be mentioned one more time on television. In 2008, several leading politicians appeared on the show which caused another wave of criticism - many viewers had the opinion that politicians should rather optimize the welfare state to provide better help for people for whom the public welfare services are not sufficient instead of pledging for donations. Due to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, slightly fewer people were able or willing to donate. The total sum of donations in 2008 was about 5.5 million

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

which is still an increase of 10% compared to 2007.

References

External links

Licht ins Dunkel (official site)
* {{Authority control Telethons Recurring events established in 1973 1973 Austrian television series debuts Christmas television specials Non-profit organisations based in Austria Austrian television specials German-language television shows