June 12, 2023

With a written “request”, Brandenburg’s head of government, Woidke, tried to influence the rbb– to take board of directors. Media politicians accuse him of questioning the independence of the committees. The rbb-Personnel Council Chairperson considers the letter to be “brazen”.

The letter, including the salutation, is eight lines long and signed by Brandenburg’s Prime Minister “Dr. Dietmar Woidke”: He would be the board of directors of Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (rbb) grateful if they follow the advice of the audit offices on capping future salaries rbb– Artistic directors would “check and take into account” the “upcoming replacement” of the position.

Allegedly, the SPD politician continued, Berlin and Brandenburg intend to raise the salaries of directors at the rbb to cover in the future. The audit offices had proposed around 177,000 euros for this. After all, it is a job without economic risks. For this, however, the state treaty would have to be changed.

The letter that rbb24 Search and the NDR is handwritten on June 8th and was sent in the followingnoon rbb a. At this time, the Broadcasting Council met and listened to the candidate’s application speeches.

Please as “decree”?

Broadcasting Council member Christian Goiny, media policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives, sharply criticized Woidke for the letter. For Goiny, this is an encroachment on the independence of public broadcasting. The board of directors is the body that concludes the contract with the director and negotiates the terms. Woidke’s letter was “suitable to damage confidence in the independence of public service broadcasting,” Goiny said when asked.

Even if the letter was formulated as a “request”, it is clear from it that the Prime Minister expects this request to be complied with, Goiny continued: “One can exaggerate to say that Prime Minister Woidke instructs the Board of Directors by decree how to should behave in the current director election. This procedure is not covered by the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty.”

Sabine Jauer, member of the search committee and chairwoman of the rbb-Staff Council, considers the letter to be “bold” and a clear “violation of the independence of the rbb and the principle of being remote from the state.” By referring to the recommendations of the audit offices, Woidke also avoids “the political debate in the parliaments of Brandenburg and Berlin”, which ultimately have to decide on changes in the state treaty.

The deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group and at the same time spokeswoman for media policy for the party in the Berlin House of Representatives, Melanie Kühnemann-Grunow, called for the “independence of the organs of rbb” to be respected at all costs. The ongoing selection process for filling the directorship has “absolute priority”. It is important “not to exert any political influence”.

Neither Woidke nor his spokesman answered questions regarding the events during the day. No response was received from the Berlin Senate Chancellery by the set deadline either.

Who decides how high the salary can be?

On June 8, the applicants for the highest job in the broadcaster presented themselves to the Broadcasting Council. This was preceded by a discussion as to who would even be eligible for the election rbb-Intendance will be admitted on June 16th. In the original advertisement, there was initially no information regarding a possible cap on the salary. But during the job interviews, this is said to have become an issue – the applicant Jan Weyrauch was initially out of the running. However, this procedure met with criticism and the “sorted out” candidate was invited back at short notice.

This left Ulrike Demmer, journalist and former deputy government spokeswoman, Heide Baumann, most recently a member of the Vodafone management board, and Juliane Leopold, editor-in-chief of digital affairs at ARD-aktuell and editor-in-chief of tagesschau.de ready. And Jan Weyrauch, program director of Radio Bremen.

However, Woidke had already announced in January what he wanted for the occupation of the top job: a person with an Eastern background. At the same time, however, the principle of selecting the best applies to the election, which the councils must adhere to when making their decisions – as long as the law does not state otherwise.

The discussions regarding the level of salaries for the directors of ARD and ZDFwhich have lasted for a long time following the affair regarding the ex-rbb– Director Patricia Schlesinger up once more and have been stopping ever since.

Courts of Auditors call for reform of the top salaries

In his written “please,” Woidke is now relying on the Berlin and Brandenburg courts of auditors, who rbb check for a few months. They had already proposed a reduction in salaries for the top posts in the station in May. However, this requires a legal regulation, which does not yet exist.

It’s not the first time that Woidke has given the impression that he doesn’t take the independence of public broadcasting too seriously. In early February 2022, he sent a letter to the former artistic director Patricia Schlesinger rbb-Studio Cottbus invited. His constituency is in Lusatia, for which rbb-Studio Cottbus is responsible.

Woidke is said to have expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that Lusatia had previously been presented too negatively in the broadcaster’s program. At the editorial conference the next day, there was talk of an “attempt to exert political influence,” and participants reported bewilderment and irritation at Woidke’s actions.

At “Business Insider” Woidke then denied the attempt to influence, supplemented by the message: “It is well known that the State Chancellery sees a need to catch up when it comes to RBB reporting from and regarding Brandenburg.”

Less prominent politicians in control bodies?

Benjamin Ehlers, Chairman of the rbb-Member of the Board of Directors, also comes from Lusatia, more precisely from Cottbus. He is well networked in the Brandenburg SPD, belonged to the state arbitration commission and the party conference presidium. When asked, Ehlers pointed out on Monday that the board of directors was solely responsible for concluding the contract with the future director and “that neither the state parliaments nor the state governments are authorized to intervene in this area of ​​responsibility.” According to information from Ehlers, opposite Woidke rbb24 Search and NDR become even clearer: He gave him the “tip” as to who was responsible for what according to the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty. And he is said to have asked Woidke to respect exactly that.

If the courts of auditors have their way, there is also the question of the extent to which prominent party politicians should be represented on the broadcasting and administrative boards in the future. Whether Woidke’s note in the current letter to the rbb-Board of Directors also aims to take up this proposal in the new rbb-State treaty to enshrine, and whether in the new rbb-State treaty then actually a cap for the salary rbb– Top finds, time will tell.