The previous deputy finance director and chief producer of the ORF, Roland Weißmann, will be the new general director of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. This Tuesday, the 53-year-old was elected director of the public broadcaster by the 35 members of the foundation council, in which the ÖVP has the majority of votes. The Greens, coalition partners of the ÖVP, also voted for the applicant, who is considered the conservative candidate.
The dispute over the decision, which had already been seen as purely political and anti-democratic, increased again after the vote. According to the critics, it was never about technical competence, but about the candidate’s political compliance with the ruling ÖVP party. The Greens received massive criticism from, among others, writers such as Elfriede Jelinek, Michael Köhlmeier and Robert Menasse, who attested the party that “submission” was “ugly”. The right-wing populist FPÖ in turn sensed a “turquoise coup” on ORF. Politicians who campaign for a referendum to fight corruption also criticized the ORF election. Irmgard Griss, for example, former President of the Supreme Court, said: “It is diametrically opposed to the social status of public service broadcasting if it is misused as a plaything for power politics and post-cheating.”
Weißmann will take up his post at the turn of the year, when the term of office of Alexander Wrabetz, who has headed ORF for 15 years, ends.