On the first weekend after Patricia Schlesinger, director of the two-country broadcaster, announced her resignation from the ARD chair, the staff council of the broadcaster urged a new start.
The allegations against Schlesinger – compliance violations, nepotism, wasteful handling of the contributions of the fee payers, including the construction of the new digital media house of the RBB – are still in the room.
According to the statement on the intranet, the withdrawal opens up the possibility for RBB to restart. “But only if the slate is really wiped clean now.”
Referring to questions from interviewees and friends (“What’s going on with you?”), it is warned that the ongoing legal clarification is not suitable for calming people’s minds. “Our crisis makes it clear that a lot of things don’t work at RBB. We miss a good deal of tact – in the artistic director, in the directorate, in the board of directors, but also in parts of the administrative and broadcasting boards.”
The RBB staff council finds it completely unacceptable that Wolf-Dieter Wolf – who has also been criticized for consulting contracts – only allows his chairmanship of the board of directors to rest, but not his mandate as a member of the board of directors. In addition, he continues to lead the supervisory board of RBB Media, which a station spokesman confirmed on Saturday when asked by the Tagesspiegel.
The new start “to regain our credibility” includes, among other things, an objective review of the existing buildings, which calls into question the need for a new digital media house, as well as supervisory bodies “which really do independent control and are independent of the management and which society and the workforce can trust .”
The director still has a lot to clarify so that things can become calmer and more trusting among her employees. On Monday afternoon, the Broadcasting Council will hold an extraordinary meeting because of the ongoing allegations against its director.