allegations of nepotism |
NDR radio station boss is retiring for the time being
After allegations of nepotism, the director of the NDR state radio station in Hamburg, Sabine Rossbach (63), is retiring from her post for the time being.
This was announced by the public broadcaster on Friday. “Sabine Rossbach will rest her work at the Landesfunkhaus Hamburg in the coming weeks until the test results on the allegations in the room are available. She has also announced that she will not return to her position permanently,” the broadcaster said.
Ilka Steinhausen, previously deputy director of the state broadcasting center and head of radio at NDR 90.3, will take over the provisional management of the state broadcasting center in Hamburg.
Serious allegations had been made against Rossbach. In the editorial office, she is said to have pushed reporting on topics for which her daughter’s agency does the PR.
► Rossbach’s older daughter Anna Hesse is said to have placed clients of her PR agency in NDR programs for years. The editors of the “Hamburg Journal” are said to have been personally instructed by the Funkhaus boss by email with the words “We should have” and “Please report”, as “Business Insider” reported. “We in the editorial office have always wondered why we should report on certain things,” says one editor.
According to NDR, these processes are now being checked by an anti-corruption officer.
Rossbach’s younger daughter received NDR permanent employment
Also explosive: While experienced employees often do not even get a permanent position in public institutions after ten years, Rossbach’s younger daughter got one of the few permanent positions at “NDR Kultur”.
A more qualified applicant is said to have been deported to the radio station “NDR 90.3”. Employees say to “Business Insider”: Rossbach and NDR culture boss Barbara Mirow “played castling to accommodate the Rossbach daughter”. An NDR spokeswoman rejected this accusation.
In response to the accusation, Rossbach had her lawyers say: “Ms. Rossbach was not involved in the process of hiring her younger daughter as an employee in the NDR Kultur program area and had no influence on the appointment of her daughter”.
It was only in August that BILD revealed that Rossbach’s partner Dieter Petereit (63) collected 50,000 euros a year as an external music consultant at NDR in Lower Saxony – although there was a permanent employee for his job.