RBB interim boss Katrin Vernau was subsequently no longer in the running for the director election. An application made by a member at the broadcasting council meeting on Thursday evening to allow the 50-year-old to vote was rejected by a majority at an extraordinary meeting, as broadcasting council head Oliver Bürgel announced.
The director election at the public ARD broadcaster is on June 16th. With the failed application, it remains with three candidates. The application period ended at the end of April.
The RBB interim director Vernau had not officially applied as a candidate in the tender because it was “not a new application”, as she emphasized again on Thursday at the Broadcasting Council meeting. But she is happy to continue her work. Before the decision of the Broadcasting Council, there was a debate, among other things, about possible reasons for challenging an extension of the list of candidates after the end of the application period.
After the decision, Vernau let it be known that she “respected the decision of the Broadcasting Council” and was “not happy, but without resentment”. She “started her work at the RBB without any further personal ambitions and is now continuing it.” There are necessary changes and the reorientation of the station at RBB in the coming weeks, which she wants to work on. “At the same time, we are preparing everything for a trusting and constructive handover,” says Vernau.
The candidates for the office of director were the former government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer (50), the editor-in-chief of digital news from ARD-aktuell, Juliane Leopold (40), the former Vodafone manager Heide Baumann (50) and the current program director of Present Radio Bremen, Jan Weyrauch (55), to the Broadcasting Council.