DThe earthquake in Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) is not over yet: The chairwoman of the RBB broadcasting council, Friederike von Kirchbach, is resigning with immediate effect in view of the crisis at the public broadcaster ARD. The 67-year-old said in a statement. There is now another personal consequence in the affair about allegations of nepotism against the recalled director Patricia Schlesinger.
“RBB is about to make a new start. After ten years as Chair of the Broadcasting Council, I would like to make a contribution and make my position available,” says von Kirchbach. With the dismissal of Schlesinger as director, the committee cleared the way for new structures and people in the ARD broadcaster. “For everything that comes now, I see new people in charge, so I’m resigning.”
Wedding on the executive floor
At the same time, von Kirchbach emphasizes that the ongoing debate about the RBB and the public service system should not be about people, for them the matter is in the foreground. “This includes the self-critical examination of our work in the Broadcasting Council in the past. It is important to me that I started this discussion.” On the other hand, she is not willing to have her professional integrity as a pastor and pastor called into question, this is happening publicly and is unacceptable to her.
Friederike von Kirchbach was a pastor in the parish of St. Thomas in Berlin-Kreuzberg until 2021. The “Berliner Zeitung” reported on Friday that von Kirchbach, as a pastor, had married two women from the RBB executive floor: recently in the wake of the upheavals in the station Sylvie Deléglise – previously head of department and head of human resources – and the legal director Susann Lange appointed acting administrative director. The couple is now said to be separated. The choice of the pastor for the wedding was motivated solely by “private reasons”, the newspaper Deléglise quotes, and there is no other personal contact with von Kirchbach.
Kirchbach has headed the Broadcasting Council since 2013 and has been a member since 2007. The deputy chairman of the Broadcasting Council, Dieter Pienkny, will take over the official business on an interim basis for the time being.
The Broadcasting Council is one of the control bodies in the public broadcaster, it keeps an eye on the program work. The committee also elects the director. On Monday, the members of the Broadcasting Council recalled Schlesinger. The Board of Directors, as the second control body, is now dealing with the specific termination of the contract.