After Press Council Managing Director Alexander Warzilek had already pointed out the financial difficulties of the self-regulatory body at the beginning of April, the 33 members of the three Press Council senates have now also asked Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) for an increase in funding.
In an open letter, the members of the Senate pointed out that the amount of funding for the Press Council has remained unchanged at 150,000 euros since 2010 and is now to be increased by 37,500 euros with the planned Quality Journalism Promotion Act.
More duties by law
“In view of the inflation since 2010 and the sharp rise in workload, however, this increase is not sufficient to ensure the normal business operations of the Press Council at the current level in the long term. All the more so as the draft law stipulates that the competence of the press council should be extended to purely online media,” it said.
In view of the planned funds, at least one of the three employees in the office – the members of the Senate work on a voluntary basis – would have to be made redundant, which would lead to cutbacks at all levels, Warzilek explained at the beginning of April. He spoke out in favor of 300,000 euros in funding per year.
Public funding accounts for about three quarters of the Press Council’s financial resources. The rest comes from the membership fees of the supporting organizations. The Press Council is committed to responsible journalism and deals with questions of media ethics. For the most part, he appears with decisions about media-ethical misconduct by the media.
