The RBB Broadcasting Council is expected to meet for a special session this Monday.
(Photo: IMAGO/Michael Handelmann)
Berlin In view of numerous allegations, Patricia Schlesinger has resigned as RBB director. The Broadcasting Council of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) will hold a special meeting on Monday to discuss how the public broadcaster should proceed.
Schlesinger had already withdrawn from the ARD presidency a few days ago, after which there were calls for a resignation as RBB boss. An external investigation into the allegations is currently underway.
Schlesinger has been director of RBB since 2016, which is one of the smaller institutions in the ARD broadcasting network. Her second term began last year and would have lasted five years until 2026.
In response to Schlesinger’s resignation, the German Association of Journalists called for a “convincing new start” at the head of the ARD broadcaster. When looking for a successor, it is important to find a manager who is technically competent and has absolute integrity.
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Schlesinger said in a statement about her resignation on Sunday: Her responsibility applies to the RBB and its employees. “Currently, the journalistic and publicistic performance of the station is no longer in the foreground, but only possible and alleged misconduct on the part of the artistic director. I very much regret that and I apologize to the employees of the RBB for this development.
Politicians had previously called for her resignation as RBB boss. The RBB staff council expressed its dissatisfaction with the course of the investigation on the intranet. In addition, new details about the allegations came up in several media reports on Sunday.
The Broadcasting Council plans to hold a special session on Monday. This had already been announced before the resignation. The deputy director Hagen Brandstätter will take over the management of the RBB with immediate effect.
“Personal allegations and defamation”
The broadcaster boss had rejected the allegations of the past few weeks. In the message from Sunday, she spoke of “personal allegations and defamation”. It is the presumption of innocence. A whistleblower system was also set up at the broadcaster for the external investigation. Results are not expected for a few weeks.
At the end of June, “Business Insider” got the whole thing rolling. The allegations that have not yet been clarified range from questionable consulting contracts to an RBB construction project that has now been put on hold, a large salary increase for Schlesinger to a good 300,000 euros and an additional bonus system that was previously unknown to the public.
It is also about alleged food with “multipliers” at RBB’s expense in your private apartment and a luxurious company car with massage seats, for which there is said to have been a very high discount.
“Business Insider”, “Bild” and “BZ” each reported further details on Sunday. The reports dealt with a list of participants who were said to have attended the meetings in Schlesinger’s private apartment and a menu sequence. In addition, it turned again to alleged bill changes to the food.
“Bild” also brought an estimated sum of more than 650,000 euros for a conversion of the executive floor in the RBB for the ARD chairmanship into play. The money is said to have been spent on a massage chair and expensive furniture, among other things.
More: How Patricia Schlesinger became a system risk at ARD