By Gunnar Schupelius
Nepotism and waste will only come to an end at the RBB if truly independent inspectors are deployed. But they cannot be seen far and wide, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Patricia Schlesinger, the director of the RBB, was fired without notice on Monday. But that’s not the end of the case. She was the famous tip of the iceberg.
It’s not just about nepotism and corruption. It’s about the normal waste of broadcasting fees, about where the 220.32 euros that every German household has to pay every year end up.
The executive floors of the RBB are far too big, the salaries far too high. Below the directorship it is teeming with directors and their entourage. There is the administrative director with 260,738 euros gross per year. There is the program director with 246,340 euros gross per year, the production and operations director (244,144 euros) and the legal director (238,095 euros). In this information, the basic salary is added to the additional remuneration, which is distributed according to a secret bonus system.
At least 27 highly paid executives received regular bonuses on top of that. They were then called “variable performance-related salary components”. For what performance? And with what right do the RBB officials push such breathtaking salaries to each other?
Who ends this? Who cleans up with that? It will not be WDR director Tom Buhrow (413,000 euros gross/year basic salary). After research by “ZDF Frontal”, he had long known about the secret bonus system at RBB. When it blew up, he was “disappointed and angry”.
His colleague, the director of Bavarian Radio, Katja Wildermuth (340,000 euros gross/year basic salary), will not be either. After all, Bayerischer Rundfunk is also a land of milk and honey. The technical director there, for example, receives a gross annual salary of 266,000 euros and has two drivers for her Audi A7 company car. This was revealed by the BILD newspaper.
Tom Buhrow, Katja Wildermuth and the other directors prefer to shout: “Stop thief.” They claim that the RBB swamp is an exception in the ARD, and distract from the fact that they themselves live with their officials like God in France.
In Berlin, then, of all people, Dieter Pienkny is said to be the great enlightener. He is now at the head of the broadcasting council, which should control the RBB, but did not control it. He succeeded Friederike von Kirchbach, who had to resign when it became known how attached she was to the director who was supposed to control her.
Pienkny claimed on Tuesday morning on Deutschlandfunk that he had “meticulously” set to work. what does he mean with that? Does he really think he will shrink RBB’s big water head?
He will never be able to do that. Pienkny has been on the Broadcasting Council for 22 (!) years. There he just as little exercised his control duties as Friederike von Kirchbach. It’s a really bad joke that he now wants to play the big cleaner.
The Broadcasting Council will not be re-elected until February. Of course, he would have to be dissolved and re-occupied now, by people who are no longer in league with the RBB bigwigs.
But that doesn’t happen, so there’s no tidying up. Schlesinger is gone, the Mischpoke continues.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]