DThe RBB investigative committee in the Brandenburg state parliament heard from Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) in its twelfth meeting. Woidke said on Friday in Potsdam that he, like others, found out about possible grievances at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) from the media in the summer of 2022. According to his knowledge, Media State Secretary Benjamin Grimm (SPD) then asked the broadcaster for clarification. “I thought this approach was appropriate,” said Woidke: “The legal supervision of the RBB is not the responsibility of the Prime Minister.”
He was not invited to private dinners
Before the legal supervisory authority can intervene, the broadcaster's control committees must first take action, said Woidke. Legal supervision may only take action if the internal control bodies do not themselves correct undesirable developments that have come to light. State influence on public broadcasting is only permitted within very narrow limits. The constitution stipulates this in order to do justice to the remoteness of broadcasting from the state. The state of Brandenburg was responsible for legal supervision in 2022.
At various meetings and discussions with the former RBB directors Dagmar Reim and Patricia Schlesinger, Woidke said, among other things, questions about state treaties were discussed: “No grievances were discussed in these discussions.” He had no knowledge of anything from personal conversations with the station's management about any grievances. He was not invited to private dinners with the director. Contact with the directors was relatively rare. They were “restricted to a minimum”.
One present was returned and the other was auctioned off for charity
Regarding the question of possible acceptance of gifts from the RBB, Woidke said, “there were no gifts in the context of the meetings.” However, a total of two gifts from the station were sent to him. He sent back a DVD “Berlin and Brandenburg from above,” which was given to him in 2015 by the then director Reim. DVDs of the first two seasons of the series “Babylon Berlin”, which Schlesinger gave him as a gift in 2019, were accepted according to the regulations and then went into the fund for auctions for charity.
The state parliament's investigative committee was set up in November 2022. It should deal with the legal supervision of RBB by the Brandenburg state government and possible irregularities in the use of the broadcaster's financial resources.
The reason was the scandal that became known in the summer of 2022 involving allegations of nepotism and waste, among others against ex-director Patricia Schlesinger. Schlesinger and other executives then had to leave the station.
According to the state parliament, investigative committees have the task of investigating matters whose clarification is in the public interest and reporting on them to the state parliament. They primarily serve to ensure parliamentary control of the government. The aim is to uncover responsibility for political grievances. To do this, they must collect the necessary evidence in a procedure similar to a criminal trial. False statements before the committee are punishable by law.
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