Letter to the Foundation Board

“Taken for a Fool”: New Controversy Over ORF Election

Westenthaler wrote—in a rather impolite manner—to Heinz Lederer (left).(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

A battle is raging at ORF over 13 top jobs. Foundation Board member Peter Westenthaler has now vented his frustration over the “election” in a letter. He refers to it as a “secret matter.” The “Krone” knows why he’s only partly right—and how the election is really unfolding.

August 11 is the day of reckoning. That’s when the Foundation Board will meet in a closed-door session to decide who will lead the ORF into a new era alongside Director General-designate Clemens Pig. Four management positions at Küniglberg and nine regional directorates were advertised. This time, everything was conducted according to a new procedure.

But this is now causing discontent. Because only Pig knows who applied. A dedicated email address was set up through which candidates could apply. Only the future Director General has access to it. Until now, the members of the Foundation Board had always been able to see who was currently vying for a top position at the public broadcaster.

Peter Westenthaler finds this level of secrecy excessive. On Monday, he sent a letter to Heinz Lederer, the chairman of the board of trustees, in which he expressed his anger over the appointment process.

How is a Foundation Board member supposed to make decisions at all if they aren’t even informed about all the applicants?

Peter Westenthaler

Those in charge “being taken for fools”
“While the elected ORF Director General and the chairman of the Foundation Board declare the candidates’ applications a secret with bizarre explanations, a select few media outlets are very much being provided with information about the names and number of applicants,” writes the former politician, who now serves on the board as part of the FPÖ delegation.

Those responsible for the appointment are “being taken for fools and left in the dark,” Westenthaler continues. “How is a Foundation Board supposed to make any decisions at all if it isn’t even informed about all the applicants?”

He is referring to EMFA, the new EU law on transparency and traceability of appointments. It is being applied for the first time in ORF “elections” and is a sensitive issue for everyone involved. This is because they must now justify why they are voting for whom. In the event of a lawsuit, this justification will be made public.

Is the criticism justified?
Westenthaler is right to accuse the process of being shrouded in secrecy, but at the same time he is not, because the Foundation Board has now defined how it intends to proceed with the appointments, as the “Krone” has learned. Accordingly, the candidates will be reviewed next week. Clemens Pig is bringing in one HR consultant each from Switzerland and Germany for this purpose. The evaluation will be based on scoreboards that rate the applicants according to defined criteria. 105 people have expressed interest, some for multiple positions.

The following week, a shortlist will be drawn up; it is scheduled to be completed by July 31. The pool of candidates will be narrowed down to just a few names per category. Individual interviews will be conducted with all eligible candidates, after which a decision will be made.

On August 6, the members of the Board of Trustees will finally be informed of whom Pig wants on his team. The résumés, scoreboards, and evaluations will be uploaded to the board’s internal web portal. From that point on, each of the 35 representatives will have full access to the data.

Five days later, the appointments take place. Either all 13 future directors are confirmed as a package, or individual votes are held. The Board of Trustees must decide this before the meeting begins.