Basic data on the Austrian media system, in particular on media legislation, are easily accessible online and provided by the Federal Chancellery. Furthermore, the administrative media authority KommAustria and RTR provides regular reports on developments in the Austrian media and telecommunications markets (see also Indicator E6 – Content monitoring instruments).
ORF is required by law to annually publish business reports containing information on its financial performance (ORF, 2019). Furthermore, since 2008, ORF publishes annually a report on the fulfilment of the public service mission (latest edition: ORF, 2019).
Private media companies are not obliged to publish their business results and refrain from doing so. Therefore, data on the advertising revenues of private media companies are not accessible to Austrian citizens. According to law (Mediengesetz, 2021: para. 24–25), all media companies must provide information on ownership as well as their fundamental orientation in their imprint. Most of them publish this information online, but ownership is often complicated and complex, with several subsidiary companies and shareholders. Although not widely and actively provided, media ownership information is transparent – with very few exceptions.
