ORF general intervenes

Explosive accusations: TV boss now on “probation”

Peter Schöber is under close scrutiny as head of TV following an audit report.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Vienna Press/Andreas Tischler)

Monday afternoon at ORF with a bang: At a staff meeting, Director General Roland Weißmann confirmed the allegations against ORF III Managing Director Peter Schöber revealed by the "Krone" newspaper. The TV boss is now virtually on probation due to some "problematic management behavior".

Following a report to the whistleblower office set up last summer for anonymous tips, the explosive investigations began at Küniglberg. Around 50 former and current employees testified as witnesses to the "Schöber system" at the independent and independent compliance office. Among other things, this involved statements, some of them shocking, that were allegedly made by the ORF III managing director at internal meetings. This climate of fear was also the reason why almost half of the staff had left the broadcaster in recent years. Research has indeed revealed a high staff turnover at the broadcaster.

Statements about intervention for politicians
Further accusations have been made, all of which Schöber vigorously denies: He would always have had a very strong say in who should appear in which story and who should not. The fact that one or other politician "still had to come in with an original quote" was the order of the day. The actually strong editorial statutes were not always taken so seriously.

This also meant that the boundaries between professional and private were not taken so seriously. It sometimes happened that a colleague had to supervise the painting work at Schöber's home during working hours. There was also a spicy business trip where someone had to take a charging cable belonging to the station manager to his private apartment at the Ottenstein reservoir.

Disempowerment in personnel matters, no more intervention in the program
In any case, the audit report is now complete - and it contains some explosive material! The investigation confirmed "problematic management behavior" in some cases. ORF Director General Roland Weißmann was therefore forced to take action, as he announced at a staff meeting on Monday.

The consequences for the TV boss, who with an annual salary of 283,000 euros is one of the top 10 salary emperors in the media giant's subsidiary: Peter Schöber remains ORF III Managing Director, but is under close observation and is de facto disempowered. Due to a change in the structure, direct intervention in program issues is no longer possible. There are also no more unilateral decisions on personnel issues. Decisions can only be made in consensus with the second managing director, Kathrin Zierhut.

 Probation" also includes a regular mediation process and training for all employees. As well as a separate arbitration board. General Manager Weißmann will be regularly informed and assumes "that there will be no more management misconduct from now on".