Scandals force public broadcasting to reform

Munich Anyone who believed that the end of the series of explosive, scandalous financial details from inside the ARD had come was wrong. It continues, even after weeks of revelations, in the old style.

Most recently, Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (RBB) drew attention again, whose director Patricia Schlesinger had been fired after Raffke was suspected. Now it turns out that Katrin Vernau, who was sent to Cologne by Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) as an emergency successor, needs an annual salary of €295,000 and a monthly rent subsidy of €1,000 for her second home.

For a broadcaster in financial difficulties that has to save everywhere, and for a public that has to pay 18.36 euros a month for ARD and ZDF, this is news from a distant world.