“At the top of the public service, the money is sometimes enormous,” said Lindner of the “Bild am Sonntag”. “I’m against any envy debate, but no director should earn more than the Chancellor. A self-commitment is necessary here in order to be economical with the money of the fee payers.”
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) currently earns around 362,000 euros (Chancellor’s remuneration MPs’ diet). WDR director Tom Buhrow (413,000 euros) and ZDF director Norbert Himmler (372,000 euros) earn more.
Lindner also believes that a reform of the number of senior and leading employees in the stations is necessary: ”Overall, the executive floors and administrations should become leaner in order to pay the editors who make the content appropriately instead.”
According to a study by the Swiss analysis company Media Tenor (exclusive to BILD am SONNTAG), negative reporting on public broadcasters has increased dramatically. In 2020, 23 percent of all articles about ARD reported negatively, by 2022 it was already 57 percent. Roland Schatz, head of the analysis company: “You normally only see a negative rating of over 50 percent for companies like Wirecard or other insolvent companies.”
