Powerholders are present in Austrian news media primarily in two ways: on the one hand, the public service broadcaster ORF is institutionally bound with politics, and on the other, ownership of quite a number of news media is firmly tied to business interests. Although political parties no longer play a significant role as media owners (the conservative peoples’ party ÖVP owns one rather small regional newspaper, Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt), the largest parties recently started their own online media (zur-sache.at, kontrast.at).
The ORF-Act grants fundamental independence from powerholders to ORF (ORF-Gesetz, 2021: para. 32). Nevertheless, the close relationship to political parties and authorities becomes obvious in staff decisions taken by the board (Stiftungsrat), which is also in charge of appointing the director general (ORF-Gesetz, 2021: para. 20; ORF-Gesetz: para. 22). Once in office, management and journalists are entitled to operate with full independence from political interests. The ORF television editor-in-chief confirmed the strict distance between politics and news reporting in day-to-day routines. Politicians sometimes try to intervene, but with no success. ORF news journalists are further protected by the journalists’ statute, which clearly stipulates that journalists are fully independent in their editorial work (ORF, 2002: para. 2). Furthermore, ORF management must defend and protect journalists from any external intervention (ORF, 2002: para. 4).
In 2011, there were two important non-media institutions present in the Austrian media sectors: the Catholic Church (Katholischer Medien-Verein, Styria Media Group) and the financial service provider Raiffeisen Holding (Kurier, Verlagsgruppe News, Profil, Mediaprint, Kronehit, Sat1 Austria, etc.) (Grünangerl & Trappel, 2011). Since then, the soft-drink giant Red Bull (Red Bull Media House, ServusTV, Servus in Stadt & Land, Red Bulletin) has joined them. All three are active in various media sectors (book publishing, print, radio, television, online).
The high level of media ownership concentration (see Indicator E1 – Media ownership concentration national level and Indicator E2 – Media ownership concentration regional level) and the many interrelations between different media companies have some negative effects on journalists’ employment (Kaltenbrunner, 2013: 109). It is more difficult for journalists to change from one media company to another if the same owners also control alternatives for journalists and management staff.
Our respondents, however, denied any direct impact of owners on journalistic daily routines. Concerning the daily journalistic practice, the chairman of the journalists’ union admitted that attempts to directly influence journalists or newsrooms are sometimes made by politicians, but with little or no effect.
