Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil wants to “secure the independence of the ORF” with a constitutional complaint: “The ORF must be able to fulfill its mandate independently of political influence,” the SPÖ politician emphasized in a broadcast on Sunday. The state government will therefore request a revision of the ORF law by the Constitutional Court (VfGH) next week.
According to the state media service, the head of SPÖ Burgenland stated that the ORF must be able to carry out its core task “objectively, impartially and independently”. “If the main body of the ORF, the foundation board, is occupied by the government in accordance with applicable law, the independence of the ORF is not guaranteed. The independent media should control the government, not the government the media,” Doskozil stressed.
Reference was made to “side letters” from former and current coalition partners ÖVP and FPÖ or ÖVP and Greens on ORF personnel appointments. “Of course there have always been attempts to exert political influence in the past – no one is naive enough to deny that. But the chats that have recently gone public show that border crossings have recently become commonplace, which are seriously questionable in terms of democratic policy and constitutional law, but come under the ORF law,” Doskozil said.
The independence of the ORF should not be “paid lip service”, the governor emphasized. “Therefore, it is worth trying to have the Constitutional Court, as the supreme guardian of the Constitution, assess the current legal situation.”
Doskozil Complains About Government Influence On ORF Bodies
Public broadcasting in Austria is regulated by two constitutional laws: BVG broadcasting requires that the independence of its employees and organs is guaranteed. Dokozil demanded that the European Convention on Human Rights (which has constitutional status) should ensure that public service broadcasting is not dominated by a specific group, namely the government.
“In the view of the Burgenland state government, the ORF Act currently does not meet these requirements: for various reasons, the government has too much influence over the appointment of the ORF’s supervisory and control bodies, which should really be completely independent” , the report said. said.
“Government remote control not given”
First, the majority of the foundation and public council members are appointed by the government or the Chancellor. Furthermore, there is no regulation guaranteeing the independence and qualifications of the members of these important bodies.
In addition, there is no public selection or nomination process for these nominations, nor is there any possibility to subject these nominations to independent judicial or official review.
“All this means that the appointment of the said organs of the ORF is dominated by partisan politics, not being given the constitutionally required independence and ‘renunciation of government’,” it was announced. The state government is therefore requesting a constitutional review of the ORF Act and repeal of the relevant legal provisions by the Constitutional Court.
Source: Krone
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