All Austrian news media provide a mission statement declaring their fundamental orientation, as required by the Media Act (Mediengesetz, 2021: para. 25). However, as the law does not contain any further instructions about the length and content of these mission statements, some news media keep them short and non-specific (e.g., Kronenzeitung, Standard, Falter). Many of them refer to the independence of the medium and its responsibility for democracy and human rights.
Interviewees confirmed that internal rules on reporting exist (one newspaper’s editor-in-chief addressed them as “golden rules”), but most of them referred to some sort of informal and internal culture for self-criticism and newsroom standards. One respondent put the rule very simply: “The story must be true”. Written compliance rules exist only in exceptional cases in private media, but undue behaviour by journalists is sanctioned by management according to house rules.
In contrast to these rather relaxed applications of self-regulation rules in the private sector, ORF journalists work under strict and codified internal rules, required by law. The internal code of conduct[i] and the very detailed journalists’ statute[ii] regulate rights, obligations, and standards of journalistic work. This includes strict compliance rules concerning the activities of leading journalists outside their ORF employment, refusal of presents and other benefits offered by third parties, and so forth. Journalists are held to refraining from any activity that might create doubt about ORF’s independence. An internal ethics council, comprising representatives of the management and journalists, settles disputes on the application of these rules.
Compared to 2009, the level of self-regulation has substantially improved for the public sector’s ORF, but remained weak for all other media.
[i] Verhaltenskodex (https://der.orf.at/unternehmen/leitbild-werte/verhaltenskodex/index.html)
[ii] Redakteursstatut (https://der.orf.at/unternehmen/leitbild-werte/redakteursstatut/index.pdf)
