Intense Dispute Over Contribution Count on ORF.at: ORF Rejects Allegations

The daily newspaper counted 522 instead of the allowed 350 reports. The ORF "strongly rejects" the alleged violation of the law in a statement and counted 320 text reports itself during the said period.

ORF sees all requirements fully implemented

"The ORF has fully implemented all the requirements of the new law. Compared to 2023, the text offering was massively reduced in 2024, both in the number of reports and in the average length of the texts," the ORF stated on Friday.

The "OÖ Nachrichten" see it differently. "Even with a conservative count in favor of the ORF, there are still 522 instead of the allowed 350 reports. The text length also seems to be arbitrarily extended," the newspaper states. Links were not counted, nor were updates to a report.

ORF counts 320 text reports

In contrast, the ORF counted 320 reports during the said week, which is well below the legally prescribed maximum number, the public service media house stated. In fact, in 2024, the number of text contributions averaged below 320 per week, which is also documented in the ORF annual report published at the end of March.

"The ORF invites the 'OÖN' to submit their concerns for review by the responsible media authority (Note: KommAustria)," the ORF addressed the daily newspaper via a statement.

A spokesperson for Media Minister Andreas Babler (SPÖ) also referred to KommAustria. Before commenting on the allegations, the independent authority should look into the matter. Currently, it is a case of one statement against another, it was said in response to an APA inquiry. For KommAustria to take action, a complaint or a factual report is required.

In the government program, ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS have in any case planned a "further clarification of §4e ORF law in terms of newspaper similarity and overview reporting," which could once again affect ORF.at.

Egger: "ORF Must Follow the Rules"

"The ORF must also follow the rules," responded ÖVP media spokesperson Kurt Egger in a statement, suggesting that the ORF is "systematically" undermining other media with this approach. A "clear foul in terms of fair competition," Egger stated. NEOS media spokesperson Henrike Brandstötter identified a "clear violation of the law" in an interview with the "OÖ Nachrichten." The "blue page" is well-made but poses a problem because it fuels the free mentality in media consumption.

ORF Law Amendment Brought Tightening

The debate about ORF.at is not new. For years, publishers have criticized that the country's most widely accessed news site is too similar to a newspaper and that its free accessibility hinders the development of paywalls or digital subscriptions. In 2023, an ORF law amendment was passed by ÖVP and the Greens, which limited the total number of text contributions on the homepage and overview page to 350 per calendar week. At the same time, audio and video contributions must make up 70 percent. The overview reporting must not be in-depth and must not be comparable in presentation or design to the online offerings of daily or weekly newspapers.

Gerald Grünberger, managing director of the Association of Austrian Newspapers (VÖZ), identified a "sham package" after the amendment came into force, as the law allows a mix of overview reporting and other online assignments of the ORF on the "blue page," thus enabling more than 350 text reports per week. The ORF argues that pure headlines, which when clicked lead directly to a subpage of the ORF online presence like science.ORF.at or topos.ORF.at, are not counted. These subpages have no maximum limit for text reports. However, the nine federal state subpages like wien.ORF.at do: 80 reports per federal state and week.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.