hr director reveals the sum. He sees better control mechanisms than rbb
The director of Hessischer Rundfunk (hr), Florian Hager, receives a significantly lower salary than his predecessor. Hager announced this in an interview by his own broadcaster, which was published on Tuesday on the hr platform hessenschau.de. The reason for the conversation was the scandal at the Berlin-Brandenburg broadcaster (rbb).
Hager said he would get a salary of 255,000 euros – 50,000 euros less than his predecessor Manfred Krupp. There would be no other bonuses. That was “a lot of money, I’m fully aware of that,” said Hager, who replaced Krupp in office in March. According to the broadcaster, Krupp received 305,000 euros per year. Hager explained that his lower salary was the result of contract negotiations with the board of directors. The resigned rbb director Patricia Schlesinger is said to have had her salary increased by 16 percent to 303,000 euros.
Schlesinger was dismissed from rbb after allegations of nepotism and excessive payments. She had also resigned from her post as ARD chairman. The head of the rbb board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf, had also resigned. The public prosecutor’s office in Berlin is investigating whether Schlesinger and Wolf have embezzled money.
According to information from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the rbb broadcasting council wants to elect an interim director on Wednesday. This person should remain in office for a maximum of one year.
Hessischer Rundfunk wants to make sure that the internal controls work well. Take the scandal at rbb “as an opportunity to check again very carefully whether the entire order and control bodies are really working well,” announced director Hager in the interview with his own broadcaster. He was convinced that the mechanisms in his house were so good that “serious misconduct” as with rbb could not happen. But if you bring enough criminal energy with you, you can corrupt any system.
Differences to rbb
In the interview, Hager emphasized the differences to the structures of rbb. “I can’t do anything myself without going through the board of directors,” explained Hager. “I can’t commission things directly internally either, bypassing directorates.” Rather, the four-eyes principle also applies to him as artistic director. “There is always a counterpart who checks that.” The board of directors examines the finances of Hessischer Rundfunk. The former Hessian Minister for Social Affairs, Armin Clauss, has chaired the committee since 2015.
In the interview, Hager also spoke about his company car, a BMW 745e. He took over the leasing contract for it from his predecessor Krupp. But he is not happy with that. He would like a smaller car. But the procurement of his new company car, a fully electric 5 Series BMW iX, is still a long time coming.
