23. 01. 12. - 15:45

Küberl says ORF must end political deals

National broadcaster ORF managed to solve the Pelinka issue "one millimetre from the precipice", according to Caritas Austria President Franz Küberl.

Küberl is part of the ORF Stiftungsrat, a council with supervisory functions. He said yesterday (Sun) the state-owned broadcasting cooperation "must avoid giving the impression that it engaged in trading posts following elections".

The Caritas chief referred to the disputed nomination of Nikolaus Pelinka as manager of the office of ORF general director Alexander Wrabetz. Pelinka – a former spokesman for Social Democratic (SPÖ) Education Minister Claudia Schmied and ex-Federal Railways (ÖBB) public relations manager – withdrew his application last week.

Pelinka said he decided to pull out from running for the position "because the discussion regarding my application reached an unacceptable level". Pelinka – whose father Peter Pelinka is editor in chief of weekly magazine News – stressed when his nomination was disclosed that he had "no plan to be in the pocket" if ORF chiefs decided to pick another candidate.

Wrabetz announced one day before Christmas that he opted for Pelinka due to the great amount of trust he had in his abilities. The statement was issued before the ORF advertised the position in newspapers. Angered newsroom journalists launched a petition against the move. They underlined that their campaign was not targeting Pelinka as a person but politicians’ ongoing attempts to apply pressure and gain influence at the ORF.

Küberl said yesterday that the Stiftungsrat should have a "controlling and reflecting function" towards the ORF board. The Caritas head stressed that the company’s chiefs must ensure themselves that all kinds of attempted political interferences were blocked.

Pelinka represented the SPÖ – which forms a federal government coalition with the People’s Party (ÖVP) – in the Stiftungsrat council before he applied to become head of the office of the ORF boss. He is seen as the key force behind the reelection of Wrabetz as general director of the broadcaster. The vote took place last year. It followed months of heated public debate whether Wrabetz was still the right man for the job due to ORF’s high debts and decreasing market shares.

Reports have it that Pelinka now plans to study or work abroad. The ORF chief’s decision to abstain from picking him is seen as a victory of the group of reporters who engaged in fighting for an independent ORF. Now critics of Wrabetz want the TV, radio and internet channel to withdraw the nomination of provincial and technical department directors who have strong ties with the ÖVP, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ). They claim that the businesspeople and chief reporters were only hired due to their political background in an attempted sign of appreciation for the party’s support for Wrabetz last August when he was confirmed in office.

The ORF’s ORF 1 channel achieved a market share of 12 per cent in September 2011, up by 0.5 per cent compared to the same month of 2010. ORF 2 suffered a decline of 1.3 per cent at the same time. The state-funded station’s overall national market share of all of its TV programmes slumped by 0.8 per cent from September 2010 to the same month of 2011 when the channels – including TW1 which stopped broadcasting in October – reached 36.5 per cent. ORF had a share of 43.3 per cent in 2007.

The ORF achieved a domestic market share of almost 50 per cent in the late 1990s when it screened just ORF 1 and ORF 2. ORF officials said the economic environment was becoming increasingly rough due to the fast digitalisation. According to the station, 70 per cent of Austrian households currently have digital TV facilities. Digital television access allows consumers to choose between hundreds of international channels.

ORF launched ORF III three months ago. The new station mainly screens documentaries, operas and theatre performances and Austrian films. ATV, Austria’s strongest private broadcaster, reacted by starting ATV 2. ATV has a market share of five to six per cent. Rival Puls 4, which started operating four years ago, claims a market share of around 3.5 per cent in the group of viewers aged between 12 and 49.