The crisis surrounding the recalled director Patricia Schlesinger leads to another personal consequence at RBB – at the head of the broadcasting council control body.
The chairwoman of the RBB broadcasting council, Friederike von Kirchbach, resigns with immediate effect in view of the crisis at the public broadcaster ARD.
The 67-year-old said in a statement on Saturday. There is now another personal consequence in the affair about allegations of nepotism against the recalled director Patricia Schlesinger.
Von Kirchbach said: “RBB is about to make a new start. After ten years as Chair of the Broadcasting Council, I would like to make a contribution and make my office available.” With the dismissal of Schlesinger as director, the committee cleared the way for new structures and people in the ARD broadcaster. “For everything that comes now, I see new people in charge, so I’m resigning,” it said.
It’s about self-criticism
At the same time, she emphasized that the current debate about the RBB and the public service system should not be about people, for her the matter is in the foreground. “This includes the self-critical review of our work in the Broadcasting Council in the past. It is important to me to have helped initiate this discussion.” On the other hand, she is not willing to have her professional integrity as a pastor and pastor called into question, this is happening publicly and is not acceptable to her. A few days ago, at a special session in the Brandenburg state parliament on the Schlesinger case, von Kirchbach said that the Broadcasting Council was behind her work.
The ARD directors have lost confidence in the current management of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) in dealing with the affair surrounding the dismissed broadcaster Patricia Schlesinger. “We, the directors of ARD, no longer have confidence that the station’s management will be able to process the various incidents quickly enough,” said ARD boss Tom Buhrow on Saturday. According to dpa information, a lack of education in the controversial bonus system for executives is said to have played a role.
Schlesinger has been facing allegations of nepotism and felony for weeks. She rejected this. The Berlin Attorney General is investigating. An external investigation into a law firm is ongoing. On Friday, the online medium “Business Insider” published new allegations against Schlesinger because of their personnel policy. A detail of the report was also that von Kirchbach is said to have married two managers in the current RBB management.
The Broadcasting Council works on a voluntary basis
Von Kirchbach has chaired the supervisory body since 2013 and has been a member since 2007. She was sent by the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. The deputy chairman of the Broadcasting Council, Dieter Pienkny, will take over the official business on an interim basis for the time being. The legislative period of the honorary and independent body ends at the end of the year. The Council is made up of representatives from various organisations, institutions, associations and politicians. He should represent the breadth of society.
The Broadcasting Council is one of the control bodies in the public broadcaster, it keeps an eye on the program work. The committee also elects the director. On Monday, the members of the Broadcasting Council recalled Schlesinger. The Board of Directors, as the second control body, is now dealing with the specific termination of the contract. He wants to meet in Berlin on Monday. There is also the question of a severance payment for Schlesinger. (dpa)