In the troubled Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the 78-year-old theologian Stephan Reimers is supposed to examine the corporate culture. “I need, if you will, an inventory for the entire NDR,” said director Joachim Knuth when the plan was presented on Thursday. Reimer’s “climate analysis” (Knuth) is to include the station’s production and administration employees by January. The goal is a “new culture of trust and editorial cooperation,” said the director, and went into the problems in Hamburg and Kiel. “We are struggling with significant atmospheric problems in both radio stations.” Reimers was the representative of the Evangelical Church in the Federal Republic and the European Union, he headed the Hamburg Diakonie, where he published, among other things, the homeless newspaper Hinz and Kunz initiated and worked in the management bodies of Action Reconciliation and Welthungerhilfe. He was also a member of the NDR Broadcasting Council and the Radio Council at Deutschlandfunk.
The NDR is currently investigating the allegation at the Landesfunkhaus Hamburg Director Sabine Rossbach violated compliance rules and favored relatives; she is leaving her post, the anti-corruption unit of the NDR wants to announce the results by mid-October. In the Landesfunkhaus Kiel there is an allegation of political influence; an investigation presented by two NDR employees this week did not find any evidence for this, but restricted that a reliable statement could not be made due to the short time available. The report summarized that there was a disturbed atmosphere in the state radio station. On Wednesday it was announced that NDR executives Julia Stein and Volker Lorentzen would be transferred from Kiel; Funkhaus director Volker Thormählen, on the other hand, remains; Director Knuth now explained that after many discussions he had decided that Thormählen should stay. Thormählen took the logical step of releasing Stein and Lorentzen from the task of ensuring rapid clarification and order in the television sector in Kiel, Knuth said.
Intendant Knuth also admits his own mistakes
The director, who has been in office since January 2020, also acknowledged his own mistakes. A comprehensive report by the editorial committee, which addressed complaints from employees from Kiel as early as December 2021, he would have “better taken to me” instead of leaving it to the responsible state radio station director and the legal department – “that was not good”. Knuth was also asked during the press conference whether he might have been living on another planet for a long time or why he didn’t notice anything about what was happening. The station boss referred to his assumption of office in the Corona period; as a result, visits to the regional studios were only possible virtually.
When asked, Reimers said he would definitely talk to the director for his investigation. He was commissioned by Knuth, but there would be no control in the background. “Throughout my life, independence has been a very important value to me.” He will begin his task immediately and sees his role primarily as “listening and asking the right questions”. The discussions that he will have with employees in all areas of the NDR will be treated with absolute confidentiality.
According to Knuth, Reimer’s expense allowance is in a “very low five-digit” range; a process manager who is already at the Landesfunkhaus Hamburg is to assist him. At the same time, the state broadcasting council in Schleswig-Holstein has commissioned an international auditing company to clarify the allegations against executives at the state broadcasting center in Kiel.