Germany

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Communications
The German Basic Law guarantees the freedom of the press. Germany has high newspaper readership and a well-informed population. In 1998, the country had 398 daily papers, with a total daily circulation of 25.5 million copies. Major daily publications include the Frankfurter Allgemeine, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt, and the Berlin Tagesspiegel. Der Spiegel and Die Zeit are weeklies with national circulation. Party-owned and government-run publications in the former East Germany were privatized after 1989.
Fees tied to the ownership of television sets finance the three major German public television channels. The channels are organized into 12 broadcasting regions, each with several radio stations. The channels produce their own shows or purchase foreign films and programs. Additional private and foreign channels and cable television are available. Television ownership is nearly universal.
The German telephone system is modern, automatic. The system relies on satellites, cable, and microwave radio relay (MRR) networks. Before unification, this state of development did not apply to East Germany, where only the government and the secret police had efficient communications at their disposal. Since 1990, however, massive Western transfer payments have given East Germany a highly advanced communications systems, although the distribution of private telephones has not yet caught up with West German standards.


Transportation
Germany has a highly developed transportation system including a limited-access superhighway known as the autobahn. There is no speed limit on the autobahns, but frequent reconstruction projects and congestion keep the speed down. Since East German roads had not been upgraded and expanded much since the 1930s and the volume of motor vehicles on them rose greatly after unification, a large part of the funds transferred from the West have gone to expand the German highway system.
The country's ex...