A new initiative is now also involved in the discussion about austerity measures at the ORF. “Together we stand up for a high-quality, holistic media landscape,” emphasized Philipp Leindl, initiator of “ORFeo”, on Wednesday at a press conference in Vienna. He described the rumored measures as “completely non-transparent” and sensed “political calculation”. They want to mobilize against the “unacceptable cuts” and a public campaign is planned for March 18.
The “alliance of culture, sports, science, journalism and civil society”, as the student Leindl described his initiative, advocates, among other things, the “continuation and expansion of those formats and institutions” “that fulfill the statutory public service mandate of the ORF ” fulfill. These included the RSO Vienna, ORF Sport+, orf.at, the wide range of music on Ö1, FM and programs for children and young people. ORFeo (an “artificial word”, according to Leindl) is supported by the IG authors, Reporters without Borders, Sport Media Austria, Baukultur for Media Diversity and the Children’s Rights Network – “as well as organizations that don’t want to step in front of the curtain yet”.