The director of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), Patricia Schlesinger, is resigning. “Patricia Schlesinger is resigning from her position as director of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) with immediate effect and resigning as head of the station,” said the public broadcaster on Sunday, previously reported “Bild”. The 61-year-old resigned as chair of the entire ARD community on Thursday, but the pressure has continued to grow since then.
Schlesinger said in the message: Your responsibility applies to the RBB and its employees. “Currently, the journalistic and journalistic performance of the station is no longer in the foreground, it’s only about possible and alleged misconduct on the part of the director. I very much regret that and I apologize to the rbb employees for this development.”
“For me, the withdrawal is a logical consequence of my promise to always and first stand up for the interests of the RBB,” added the 61-year-old.
There had previously been calls for her resignation as RBB boss from Brandenburg politics. The RBB staff council expressed its dissatisfaction with the course of the investigation on the intranet. In addition, new details about the allegations came up in several media reports on Sunday. The Broadcasting Council plans to hold a special session on Monday. This had already been announced before the resignation.
The broadcaster had denied the allegations against her. In the message from Sunday, she spoke of “personal allegations and defamation”. The presumption of innocence applies, the external investigation is currently underway. A whistleblower system was also set up at the station for this purpose. Results are not expected for a few weeks.
At the end of June, “Business Insider” got the whole thing rolling. The previously unsolved allegations range from questionable consulting contracts to an RBB construction project that has now been put on hold, a large salary increase for Schlesinger to a good 300,000 euros and an additional bonus system. It is also about alleged food with “multipliers” at RBB’s expense in your private apartment and a luxurious company car with massage seats, for which there is said to have been a very high discount.
“Business Insider”, “Bild” and “B.Z.” reported further details on Sunday. The reports dealt with a list of participants who were said to have attended the meetings in Schlesinger’s private apartment and a menu sequence. In addition, it turned again to alleged bill changes to the food. “Bild” also brought an estimated sum of more than 650,000 euros for a conversion of the executive floor in the RBB for the ARD chairmanship into play.
Schlesinger has been the director of the RBB since 2016. Previously, she was head of the culture and documentation program at NDR. Schlesinger would have held the ARD chairmanship until the end of 2023.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated.