Dhe Norddeutscher Rundfunk has now had external auditors once again certify that the political reporting from the state radio station in Kiel was not biased. According to the NDR, the auditing and consulting company Deloitte commissioned by the Schleswig-Holstein state broadcasting council came to this conclusion: The accusation of systematic political influence on the state broadcasting station’s reporting was not confirmed. But there are “opportunities for improvement in terms of editorial processes and the role of individual managers at the state radio station in Kiel”.
An internal investigation came to the same conclusion. She, too, found that the “political filter” mentioned did not exist, but that there were incorrect individual journalistic decisions. The criticism was raised by employees of the state radio station, who complained in large numbers about the miserable working atmosphere. As a result, the editor-in-chief Norbert Lorentzen and the political chief Julia Stein were transferred to other posts. Because of the loss of trust, said the state radio station director Volker Thormählen at the end of September, he informed the two “that I will no longer work with them”. Thormählen himself remained at his post.
“The good news is: the allegation of systematic political influence has not been confirmed, according to the audit, the reporting is balanced,” said NDR director Joachim Knuth. The Landesfunkhaus Schleswig-Holstein works “independently and according to comprehensible journalistic criteria”. At the same time, the test shows “that we have to be more sensitive to program conflicts and handle and communicate existing rules even more clearly. At this point, openness is the most effective protection to prevent suspicions from arising in the first place.”
Criticism was particularly aimed at an article about children who were deported and the role of the German Red Cross, and at an interview that was not conducted with the former interior minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Hans-Joachim Grote (CDU).
