On Monday there were two resignations in Austria – where resignations as a sign of assuming responsibility do not have a great tradition – which of course cannot be called that and are only temporary for the time being. Rainer Nowak, editor-in-chief and co-managing director of the newspaper The press, voluntarily put his positions on hold on Monday morning until any allegations had been clarified – thus anticipating an editors’ meeting scheduled for the afternoon. The Styria Media Group AG, which had expressed its confidence in Nowak at the weekend, now wants to “internally investigate” his behavior. Also on Monday, ORF TV editor-in-chief Matthias Schrom surprisingly said goodbye to vacation. In his case, according to ORF director Roland Weißmann, an ethics council should now investigate the allegations.
Both men had come under massive pressure due to a lack of differentiation from the politically powerful, which is called “Verhaberung” in Austrian. Because the evaluation of chats by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA), which is trying to clarify allegations of corruption against members of the former black-blue coalition in a wide-ranging process of corruption, had washed to the surface SMS conversations between journalists and politicians that private meetings and Suggest celebrations, appointments through article wording, and help with personal advancement. So Nowak congratulated the intimate of ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Thomas Schmid, on the board position at the state holding company Öbag and then wrote: “Now you have to help me with the ORF, please.” Answer: “Absolutely.” It was known at the time that Nowak wanted to become ORF general director.
In terms of content, he never gave in to pressure from the ÖVP, says Nowak
The closeness of the journalist, who is also the publisher of the press, to the ÖVP had already become public in the past; After an anonymous complaint, the WKStA had investigated, among other things, because Nowak is said to have campaigned for his partner’s career, which could not be substantiated. The investigative magazine dossier Nowak recently dedicated an article entitled “Der Grenzgänger” and questioned his journalistic independence. Nowak apologized for the chats, some of which were “embarrassing and stupid”. In terms of content, however, he never gave in to pressure from the ÖVP.
Meanwhile, Matthias Schrom, editor-in-chief of the public service, the ORF, has to face the question of whether he had let himself be pulled in front of the carts of the FPÖ. In an SMS exchange with the then Vice-Chancellor and FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache, he got excited about the supposedly left-leaning course of ORF1 and debated about personnel requests that the Freedom Party might like. Schrom now explains that he wanted to stay in touch with the FPÖ because of the pressure on the ORF, but he never passed this pressure on to the editors. The editorial board of the ORF nevertheless lets it be known that they are “horrified”, Schrom’s behavior is “unacceptable” and that the broadcaster’s credibility is at risk. The processing of the “political close relationship” must now continue internally. The dispute over the new media law presented by Media Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) and over a new journalism school under the Chancellery is likely to become even more heated.