Austria - October 2023

The Constitutional Court ruled the current appointment process to the two top bodies of the public broadcaster ORF – the board of trustees and the audience board – to be vulnerable to political capture and therefore unconstitutional. In particular, the ruling determined that the government has too much influence in the appointment process and that civil society has too little, enabling politically motivated appointments in favour of the ruling government majority. This violates the constitutional requirement for plurality. The court has requested changes to be made by March 2025. The ruling also explicitly guarantees the constitutional requirement for the existence of a public broadcasting body. Attempts to terminate public broadcasting entirely or to reduce its tasks or funding would thus be unconstitutional.

Sources:  International Press Institute, Austrian Constitutional Court, ORF, Süddeutsche Zeitung