“Don’t be bored” is the current slogan of the Berlin-Brandenburg broadcasting company. And it hasn’t been boring at RBB for two months. At the end of June, the online magazine Business Insider reported for the first time about inconsistencies in the executive floor of the RBB. The director, who has since been sacked, and the management floor are said to have accrued bonuses far in excess of their annual salaries. There are also reports of dignified dinners of a private nature, which are said to have been billed as business meals by the broadcaster. It is also about Schlesinger’s glamorous company car, the luxury renovation of the executive floor and consultancy contracts for Schlesinger’s husband. Apparently the control bodies of the RBB have failed. But: The presumption of innocence applies, Schlesinger and others deny the allegations.
“The RBB is a shop where the door was open and you don’t know exactly what happened when the door was open,” says SZ media editor Claudia Tieschky. Her termination without notice was justified with the loss of trust. And it was important “to signal to the public that there will be no severance pay for them”. It is legally completely unclear what will endure from the allegations. The general public prosecutor’s office in Berlin, lawyers and not least the journalists of the RBB themselves are currently examining this. The unanimous withdrawal of confidence from the ARD directors is “a one-time event”.
But she “also suspects that what is happening in the RBB has nothing to do with us,” says Tieschky. Basically, it is a problem that “the ARD works so hermetically”, “is extremely opaque” and one hardly understands how the public broadcasters are controlled. “I think people just need clarity. The contributors who want to transfer the money every month know that this is not wasted.”
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