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"Die Presse" editor-in-chief Rainer Nowak apologized for the "tonality" of the chats
Photo: Herbert Neubauer / APA / picture alliance / dpa
The chats becoming known have put two top journalists in Austria under pressure.
In both cases, there is a suspicion that the closeness to the government is harmful to independent reporting.
According to the Styria Media Group, the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Austrian daily newspaper »Die Presse«, Rainer Nowak, is temporarily on hold.
At the public ORF, TV News Editor-in-Chief Matthias Schrom "starts his vacation immediately," the broadcaster announced.
ORF Director Roland Weißmann described the appearance of the chats as "devastating" and asked the ORF Ethics Council to examine them.
Nowak and Schrom deny the allegations in essence.
The allegations are to be dealt with internally.
In the course of investigations by the public prosecutor's office against former members of the government in the momentous Ibiza affair surrounding allegations of corruption, chat histories were published in the media.
Schrom, as editor-in-chief of the ORF 2 channel at the time, is said to have exchanged views with ex-FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache on the content of ORF reporting and on personnel requests from the right-wing party.
Strache therefore disliked a report in an ORF news program, to which Schrom is said to have reacted with understanding.
Complaints about the content of Schrom's administration have not yet been raised at the ORF.
"The investigative team feels free to work and is not hindered either with politically sensitive contributions or with research that does not suit the government," said Dieter Bornemann, Chairman of the ORF Editors' Council.
ORF Director Weißmann emphasized: "The ORF editors work without instructions".
Your reporting cannot be influenced.
Nowak: Interventions "end" in the editor-in-chief
In the Nowak case, the chats gave the impression that the editor-in-chief and the former head of the state holding company Öbag, Thomas Schmid, should have supported each other in their career planning.
Nowak is said to have sought the post of ORF director.
Nowak, one of the country's best-known journalists, recently addressed the readers of the bourgeois-liberal newspaper and apologized for the "tonality and inappropriate proximity" of the chat histories.
At the same time, he denied that he had put pressure on the editors in the interests of the government.
"I can assure you that in this newspaper interventions in our reporting, as they occur again and again in the departments of politics and business, are accepted by the editor-in-chief, but end there," says Nowak.
According to its own statements, the Styria Media Group decided to initiate an internal audit based on the allegations.
Until the results of the investigation are available, Florian Asamer, deputy editor-in-chief of »Presse«, will be the editor-in-chief.
feb/dpa