Lindner calls for a voluntary salary cap at public broadcasting
Christian Lindner calls for leaner boardrooms and administrations in public service broadcasting
Source: dpa/Robert Michael
Christian Lindner is of the opinion that no director of public service broadcasting should earn more than the Federal Chancellor. “Here a self-commitment is necessary to be economical with the money of the fee payers.”
Dhe FDP chairman Christian Lindner calls for a voluntary salary cap for top staff in public broadcasting. “At the top of the public service, the earnings are sometimes enormous,” said the 43-year-old Federal Minister of Finance the “picture on sunday”. “I’m against any envy debate, but no director should earn more than the Chancellor. A self-commitment is necessary here in order to be economical with the money of the fee payers.”
For comparison: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64, SPD) earns 362,277.72 euros (Chancellor’s basic salary plus MP’s diet). WDR director Tom Buhrow (63) receives an annual salary of 413,000 euros, as does ZDF director Norbert Himmler (51) with 372,000 euros.
If you only take the chancellor’s salary of just under 300,000 euros as a benchmark, that’s where according to ARD information also the future ARD boss and current SWR director Kai Gniffke (61) with 361,000 euros NDR director Joachim Knuth (63) with 346,000 euros and BR boss Katja Wildermuth (57) with 340,000 euros above that.
Lindner also considers a reform of the number of managerial and executive employees in the stations to be necessary: ”Overall, the executive floors and administrations should become leaner in order to pay the editors who make the content appropriately instead.”
The discussion about the director’s salaries was fueled by the RBB affair. Its director Patricia Schlesinger, who has since been dismissed, was criticized for, among other things, allegations of felt and an increase in her basic salary by 16 percent to 303,000 euros in 2021.