Double dismissal at RBB: After the scandal surrounding ex-director Patricia Schlesinger, which became known in the summer of last year, the broadcaster is now also parting ways with two directors who apparently had received special payments.
The fact that RBB has been in a crisis since the Schlesinger case is nothing new. Now both administrative director Hagen Brandstätter and production director Christoph Augenstein are said to have been dismissed without notice. The reason given was that both had already received special payments in connection with the ARD chairmanship for a year and a half – this chairmanship was only taken over by the station a year ago, on January 1, 2022. The amount of the unlawful allowances is said to have amounted to 1,700 euros per month. Further information has not yet been announced. Augenstein and Brandstäter themselves have not yet made any statements of their own to the RBB.
After the possible option had been reported in advance and Brandstäter, who had temporarily replaced Schlesinger as director and is currently on sick leave, had already been advised of the early termination, the RBB now made a decision. According to the current director, Kathrin Vernau, a further step has been taken with this double dismissal to help the crisis-ridden broadcaster start in a new direction. She described the whole thing as a “break”.
When Schlesinger was recalled by the Broadcasting Council in August 2022, the background was covered in the media: nepotism, felt, exaggerated salaries and other crooked affairs were proven to her, which made some payers of the broadcasting fee go on the barricades and prompted the RBB to dismiss her without notice and to fire extraordinarily. The 61-year-old will also have to forego the payment of pension due to her various machinations, as was then decided.
With Christoph Augenstein and Hagen Brandstätter, RBB is now resigning from the last two executives who are left over from the “Schlesinger era” and their management.
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