“Moral image” – allegations against ORF-Lower Austria state director Ziegler

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Internal chats and emails from the ORF state studio in Lower Austria, reviewed by “Presse”, “Standard” and “Spiegel”, created a stir and painted an unfavorable picture for former editor-in-chief and current state director Robert Ziegler. Ziegler has repeatedly campaigned for the TV presence of State Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) and conducted a kind of message control in favor of the People’s Party.

He also influenced political coverage with references to be understood as “wishes”, the “standard” describes a “moral image of a broadcaster closely tied to the state government and funded by GIS fees”. The Ö1 “Abendjournal” also referred to the ORF editorial statute, which guarantees the independence of the editors in the design of the contributions.

Systematic interventions, “mandatory” interviews and an ÖVP of Lower Austria using the ORF as a platform: the allegations that employees of the current state director would make weigh heavily, also reports the “Presse”, referring to emails and chats Ziegler’s time as editor-in-chief (2015 to 2021).

Minute instructions
As an example, when reporting on the Leopolditag 2020, Ziegler gave detailed instructions on how to judge a video by Mikl-Leitner. A well-known case is that Ziegler later wanted to have an original sound by Mikl-Leitner included in a cultural contribution for the “ZiB”. The editors were anything but happy with the management style, apparently also from documents.

The ORF is unaware of any evidence
The ORF responded by stating that there were “strong tools to ensure the independence of the reporting and its editors”. These have been further improved this year by the new editorial statutes that CEO Roland Weißmann negotiated with the editorial staff. “There are no internal complaints against then-editor-in-chief Robert Ziegler.” The ORF is also unaware of the alleged evidence on which the current media reports are based. “The company will of course investigate the anonymous allegations against Robert Ziegler.”

The messages are particularly explosive because of the upcoming state elections
“These are diffuse and incomprehensible allegations,” Ziegler replied. “I am not familiar with the alleged bundle of documents.” For six years he “as far as I know and believe” headed the editorial office of the State Studio of Lower Austria, doing great and successful work. With a view to the upcoming state elections in Lower Austria at the end of January, the reports are particularly explosive. The other parties immediately reacted with sharp criticism and demanded his resignation.

Source: Krone

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