Status: 08/14/2022 8:37 p.m
The broadcasting council of the rbb wants to officially remove the resigned director Schlesinger from her office tomorrow with immediate effect. That’s what it says from circles of the rbb broadcasting council. She is accused of nepotism and taking advantage.
Public broadcasting is still under pressure in the wake of the crisis surrounding the resigned rbb director Patricia Schlesinger. Tomorrow the rbb broadcasting council will deal with her contract. Like it from circles of the Broadcasting Council, she is to be recalled from her office with immediate effect.
Initial suspicion: infidelity and taking advantage
The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Schlesinger because of the initial suspicion of infidelity and taking advantage. The allegations had become known through publications in various media. They range from questionable consultancy contracts to one that has since been put on hold rbbconstruction project, a salary increase for Schlesinger to a good 300,000 euros and an additional bonus system.
It is also about alleged food with “multipliers” on rbb-Costs in her private apartment and an expensive company car, for which there is said to have been a very high discount. A week ago, Schlesinger announced her resignation from the position at the head of the Berlin-Brandenburg radio station.
The 30-seat rbb broadcasting council currently has 28 women and men representing social trends, associations and politics. The chairperson is the evangelical theologian Friederike von Kirchbach.
DJV: Immediate dismissal better than contract termination
The chairman of the German Association of Journalists (DJV), Frank Überall, had previously asked the Broadcasting Council not to act hastily when it came to terminating Schlesinger’s contract. A dismissal without notice would be “certainly the better way”, wrote Überall in the “Tagesspiegel”.
However, the committee must pay close attention to “which payment obligations still arise from the contributions made by the citizens”. Whether Schlesinger’s actions justify immediate dismissal is legally still open.