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NDR logo in Kiel
Photo: IMAGO/Winfried Rothermel
It's about being close to the CDU and preventing unpleasant reports: the NDR radio station in Kiel has been in turmoil for weeks.
The executives are accused of influence.
Political boss Julia Stein, editor-in-chief Norbert Lorentzen and state broadcasting director Volker Thormählen are leaving their offices for the time being.
An internal review report does not see the accusation against the station executives confirmed.
"We could not find any evidence of a 'political filter' in the Landesfunkhaus Schleswig-Holstein," says the report published on the NDR website.
“We take a critical view of individual day-to-day decisions, but for such a massive allegation, the reporting by the state radio station would have to be systematically evaluated over a longer period of time.
That was not possible in the time available.«
The external review of the allegations initiated by the State Broadcasting Council control body is still ongoing.
Results from the commercial law firm commissioned are not yet available.
A group of 96 employees had previously withdrawn their trust from the top management in an e-mail to NDR director Jochaim Knuth and demanded a perspective.
A trusting cooperation with these executives can no longer be imagined »regardless of the results of the various investigations«.
In the report on the internal review, which the NDR itself initiated and commissioned journalists to do, the authors describe "serious distortions" in the state broadcasting center in Kiel.
The management structure was very hierarchical, little was discussed or explained.
Among other things, it is recommended: »It must be looked at more closely than before to see whether management principles are being observed in NDR, in all areas of NDR and also in the state broadcasting houses.«
Media reports a few weeks ago raised the question of whether there could have been a kind of filter by the superiors in political reporting.
For example, it was about an interview that an NDR journalist wanted to conduct, but his superiors refused.
Executives and broadcasters rejected allegations of a "political filter".
cpa/dpa