“The Broadcasting Council is one of the two controlling bodies of public broadcasting in Berlin-Brandenburg. He monitors compliance with the mandate set out in the RBB state contract and advises the director in general matters relating to offers,” says the 30-strong facility’s tasks.
The council’s most important right is to elect a new director – the most difficult duty is voting out. And that’s probably what it’s all about on Monday, when the committee will again have a special meeting about the RBB affair, which has now become the Schlesinger case. The question is in which direction the session will develop: discussion or voting out? Because in the meantime new allegations against RBB director Schlesinger have become known.
The meeting of the Broadcasting Council on Monday is the second extraordinary meeting after the allegations against the RBB leadership. Several members of the council have pushed for this, said Friederike von Kirchbach, the chairwoman of the panel. The meeting is not open to the public because it is about a personnel issue.
“Because of the ongoing pressure on director Schlesinger at the RBB leadership even after the resignation from the ARD leadership, we have to agree on whether the trust of the council in Schlesinger as RBB boss is still given,” von Kirchbach justified the short-term convening of the panel. At the meeting, the director herself is also to be questioned.
A few new questions should have been added over the weekend: The Springer publication “Business Insider”, which got the RBB affair rolling, followed up with a new report. With reference to leaked information, the portal writes that in addition to her salary, which increased by 16 percent to 303,000 euros in 2021, the director also received a five-digit bonus as a “variable salary component”. This is not the only extra benefit that Patricia Schlesinger is said to have received. Since the RBB has granted her the private use of company cars – and the two chauffeurs – she has to pay tax on the pecuniary benefit. According to RBB, taxation is carried out via “components of remuneration”. This would mean that the broadcaster also bears these costs. In addition, “Business Insider” wants to have found out that Schlesinger’s husband Gerhard Spörl also used the company car for his own business trips – including to the Berlin Exhibition Centre. Spörl had received a well-paid consultant contract for media coaching from trade fair boss Martin Ecknig through the mediation of RBB administrative board chief Wolf-Dieter Wolf.
Since the first special session, at which Schlesinger and Wolf on the one hand rejected all allegations and promised comprehensive clarification – not only Schlesinger’s withdrawal from the ARD leadership has happened. There had also been other new allegations before the Business Insider report – such as the secret contract for the Audi A8 luxury company car and possibly significantly higher costs for the media house construction.
After Thursday, there were already several calls from politics, which also demanded the end of Patricia Schlesinger’s RBB directorship after the resignation of the ARD chairmanship. Party affiliation was not the only deciding factor. Petra Budke from the Brandenburg Greens openly spoke out in favor of Schlesinger’s resignation as RBB director, “to avert further damage to the RBB!”. For her Berlin party colleague Antje Kapek, on the other hand, “the moment had probably come when the RBB committees had to come to an assessment”.
Unlike Budke, Kapek sits on the Broadcasting Council and is not alone in her reserved attitude. “Schlesinger needs a clear message that the salami tactic must be over. She must provide the names of those attending the dinners. But I don’t see the time yet for resigning,” another council member told the Tagesspiegel.
The invitation to the Broadcasting Council meeting came from Friday, the report by “Business Insider” from Sunday, “Bild” is said to be followed up on Monday – the day of the meeting – with another Schlesinger story, which, among other things, deals with the establishment of the director’s offices could go.
However, the invitation to the Broadcasting Council meeting could not have been issued more quickly, three days are the lower limit according to the statutes. In order to have a quorum, at least half of the council members must be present – although it is sufficient to be connected.
In recent years, the Broadcasting Council has not been conspicuous by being harsh on the directors – despite the persistently poor TV ratings and dissatisfaction among the workforce that has reached unimagined heights. On Monday we will see what is left of the immense leap of faith.