No warning, no conversation, just the termination: The management of the Austrian state broadcaster fired a TV cameraman who ravaged the Greens on the social media platform Facebook. The ORF employee commented on the latest orders from the turquoise-green federal government: “Finally the green Nazis are back.” And the obvious opponent of compulsory vaccination also wrote cynically: “Adi, you’re back. We should reactivate Mauthausen for the unvaccinated. “
The security manager of the ORF, the former green politician Pius Strobl, is said to have wanted the cameraman to be kicked out immediately. He would have said, however, that “only the boss can do it” – and thus General Director Alexander Wrabetz was also involved in this embarrassing episode for ORF: Wrabetz ended his employment with the author of the Facebook post.
The expulsion of the cameraman is hotly debated on ORF: The vast majority of employees who spoke to the eXXpress are of the opinion that the termination was absolutely justified. However, there is also a minority who think differently about it. Quote: “If the cameraman had said everything about the then co-governing FPÖ at the beginning of 2019, then the employment relationship would probably not have been terminated so quickly.”
Alexander Wrabetz is director general of ORF until December 31st, and Roland Weißmann will take over state broadcasting on January 1st.