Experts criticise new law gutting Austrian public broadcaster ORF

The Austrian government looks to reign in its independent public broadcaster ORF following significant pressure from private sector media companies, in a move harshly criticised by experts.

In Austria, the public broadcaster ORF – financed through a general levy of €19 per household – has been a mainstay of TV news. In past years, it branched out into the digital space, offering succinct news pieces in text.

This did not sit well with traditional publishers. After months of wrangling, the Austrian government proposed reform on Wednesday.

“A strong society needs a strong, independent and diverse media landscape,” Sigrid Maurer, chief of the Greens, said.

The changes to the public broadcaster will entail mandatory savings of €325 million at an annual budget of up to €1 billion. At the same time, its main income source, the general levy, will be reduced to €15.30.

Perhaps the most significant change will be an upper bound on the amount of online text news ORF may publish, capped at 350 a week. This has sparked jokes in the sector along the lines of: “The pope just died! Too bad, we’re already at 350 for the week.”

Leaked documents have shown that private media companies pushed for a much more restrictive 100-a-week cap. This, and the lack of deeper-cutting reform, has sparked criticism.

“It’s not about offering a bit of information. That is not exactly a contemporary approach to online formats. What is needed is responsiveness, interactivity, involvement and empowerment,” media expert Josef Seethaler told APA.

A representative of ORF’s editorial board bemoaned the reform for having failed to reduce the amount of political oversight on the broadcaster, while enforcing low-impact measures on text-based news.

“Whether these restrictions are beneficial to the business model of private media is something that experts have massive doubts about,” Dieter Bornemann, board representative, told APA.

(Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | EURACTIV.de)