This emerges from chats that the news magazine “profil” reported on Wednesday. Strache complained about appearances by former FPÖ politician Ewald Stadler in the Fellner media, threatening to stop advertising, and criticized an unpleasant article.
In a message to Fellner, Strache described the fact that Stadler was regularly invited by the Austrian media group, which includes the media “oe24” and oe24.tv, as an “extremely unfriendly act towards us.” Although Fellner did not respond, later messages show that Strache was probably successful with his intervention. Stadler was replaced by FPÖ veteran Andreas Mölzer. “At your request, I promised you that I would replace Stadler with Mölzer and implemented that immediately – but of course that only works if he is there,” wrote Fellner after Strache complained about Stadler appearing again and stopped advertising in the space.
“Pure hate speech and the most shabby defamation”
A report that alleged that Strache had shared an article by Holocaust deniers was also a thorn in the side of the then FPÖ leader. He complained to Fellner about “pure incitement and the most shabby defamation.” Fellner said that although he was in the Maldives, he would “immediately” arrange for “the story to be taken offline. That’s what I call cooperation.” Fellner has not yet responded to APA or “profil” inquiries.
Strache also exchanged ideas with tabloid journalist Richard Schmitt in 2019. At the time he was employed at the “Kronen Zeitung”. Strache asked about instructions from the “Krone” executive floor regarding reporting and the line towards the FPÖ. “No, unfortunately there are far too few instructions at the moment… some people do what they want,” Schmitt regretted in a message. The “instructions” were just the page line, Schmitt told “profil”. Such messages from him would also exist in exchanges with politicians from other parties. “The fact that politicians contact journalists in order to place their content/views in their media is really nothing new,” says Schmitt.
Strache was apparently also looking for an ally in Schmitt for an ORF restructuring, including abolishing the GIS fee and converting it into an AG. “I offered my knowledge of the political behavior of well-known ORF employees so that such improprieties can finally be put to an end,” Schmitt said.
