Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg – ARD leadership withdraws the trust of the RBB management and thus increases the pressure
The directors of the other senders no longer have confidence that the acting management of the RBB will be able to process the incidents quickly, emphasized Buhrow. However, this is in the elementary interest of ARD, the long-suffering employees and also the people in the RBB broadcasting area. The director of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Knuth, emphasized that the employees of the RBB deserve the solidarity of everyone. They are and will remain part of the ARD family and can be sure of the support of the other senders.
This means that the pressure on the management team around the managing director Hagen Brandstätter to resign from office is also growing within the ARD. The ARD community, with its nine state broadcasters, traditionally attaches great importance to unity and acting with one voice.
Von Kirchbach: Contribute to the new beginning of the RBB with your resignation
A few hours ago, the chairman of the RBB Broadcasting Council, von Kirchbach, resigned from his position with immediate effect. In a statement, the 67-year-old said that with her resignation she wanted to make a contribution to the new beginning of broadcasting in Berlin Brandenburg. The current debate about the RBB and the public service system should not be about people, but about the matter.
Von Kirchbach emphasized that this includes a self-critical examination of the committee’s work in the past. It is important to her that she helped initiate this discussion. However, they are not willing to have their professional integrity as a pastor and pastor called into question.
Vice Chairman takes over
There is now another personal consequence in the affair about allegations of nepotism against the recalled director Schlesinger. Von Kirchbach has headed the Broadcasting Council since January 2013 and has been a member of the body since 2007, which she is also leaving with immediate effect. She was sent by the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. For the time being, the deputy chairman of the Broadcasting Council, Pienkny, will be in charge of official business.
Meanwhile, committees of the Brandenburg state parliament and the Berlin House of Representatives are planning a joint hearing of the top broadcasters at RBB. Meanwhile, there are new allegations against Schlesinger. The online medium “Business Insider” reports, citing booking documents, that supposedly retired RBB employees continue to receive their salary. Several cases have been listed, including one at the head of advertising subsidiary RBB Media.
BR director “stunned and angry”
This message was broadcast on Deutschlandfunk on August 21, 2022.