Brandenburg’s AfD is already threatening the next RBB investigative committee in the state parliament for the next electoral term. This was announced by parliamentary group leader Hans-Christoph Berndt on Wednesday in the main committee of the state parliament. The latest allegations against Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) were also discussed there, who complained to the Cottbus regional studio of the two-state institution and ex-director Patricia Schlesinger last year about what he considered to be too negative RBB reporting on the Lusatian structural change to have.
State Chancellery Secretary Benjamin Grimm, who had attended the meeting himself, rejected this: Woidke had campaigned for Brandenburg to be appropriately taken into account, “there was no influence”. This was also explained by RBB director Katrin Vernau, who justified this solely with the immunity of the journalists of the station: “We know that our colleagues cannot be influenced.” The AfD calls for further clarification, “if not, it will create a new committee of inquiry in the next legislative period,” said Berndt.
The Business Insider online portal had recently made public the appointment of Woidke and Schlesinger in the Cottbus studio, including demands from the head of government and a previously secret study by the RBB from 2021 on the lack of consideration of Brandenburg in the RBB program. Vernau also does not want to publish the external program analysis from 2021 commissioned during Schlesinger’s term of office. This is no longer up to date: “We have to deal with the future and not with cold coffee.” She herself has not had time to read the study. The last word may not have been spoken. After the AfD criticism, Vernau wants to check again “whether it makes sense to make them available”.
