Patricia Schlesinger | Patricia Schlesinger: The take-along mentality of a top earner

Photo: dpa/Bernd von Jutrczenka For many critics, your case is likely to be a prime example of coercion and nepotism at the management level of public broadcasting, but also of a deadweight mentality and waste of the "compulsory fee": Patricia Schlesinger, director of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), who was dismissed without notice in August 2022. Especially since the journalist and ex-ÖRR official clearly lacks any awareness of injustice.

The trial for infidelity against the 65-year-old began at the Berlin regional court on Tuesday. According to the indictment, she and other former RBB management members have to answer for numerous cases of breach of trust. They caused the broadcaster damage amounting to 1.7 million euros. Essentially, it is about a remuneration and allowance system allegedly established by the defendants, from which Schlesinger and other members of management benefited without any objectively justified reason. It was about lavish bonuses that they approved - in addition to the salary, which in Schlesinger's case was more than 25,000 euros per month. Nevertheless, according to the indictment, the lady also dined and traveled privately at the station's expense.

According to the indictment, around 933,500 euros in variable remuneration flowed to Schlesinger, the administrative director, the legal director and other members of the management between April 2019 and July 2022. At around 223,700 euros, Schlesinger received the largest sum for “achieved target agreements”. From the point of view of the Attorney General's Office, there was no objective reason for these special payments. The aim of Schlesinger and the former chairman of the RBB board of directors was to create an additional source of income through the introduction of variable remuneration, said senior public prosecutor Judith Kohlstedt-Mansouri when the indictment was read out. They would not have provided any additional services for this. They were also aware that by doing so they had “effectively overridden” the supervisory duties of the board of directors. And there were “no specific reasons” for the dinners with important people in her private apartment at the expense of the RBB, said Kohlstedt-Mansouri.

Schlesinger's defense attorney Oliver Sahan explained that his client's mission was to turn the RBB into a "serious capital broadcaster," to break up outdated structures and to advance digitalization. Paradoxically, she is now “publicly pilloried” because she has fulfilled these tasks. The reform served the interests of the RBB by setting concrete corporate goals and providing “incentives for greater efficiency”. In addition, the reform was openly communicated to the board of directors. And the private trip to London billed to RBB served as preparation for taking over the ARD chairmanship, said the lawyer. It was about an exchange of experiences with the BBC on “dealing with public criticism”.

Schlesinger was RBB director from July 2016 until her resignation in August 2022. She also held the ARD chairmanship for seven months in 2022. The RBB board of directors postponed the immediate termination. Investigations by the Attorney General's Office began immediately afterwards. According to the authority, the fact that the process could only begin now was due, among other things, to the enormous amount of documents and information that had to be evaluated. So far, 56 negotiation dates have been scheduled until June 29, 2027.

Parallel to the criminal case, there is a civil case in which Schlesinger and RBB are asserting claims against each other. The ex-director is demanding a so-called retirement benefit of 18,300 euros per month and achieved partial success in this regard in July 2025. The broadcaster accuses her of breach of duty and is demanding a total of around 1.8 million euros back from her.

Claus Kleber, long-time presenter of the ZDF “heute journals”, was one of several prominent journalists and ÖRR representatives who appeared at the start of the negotiations. He explained on the sidelines of the trial that they wanted to observe it as "friends and former colleagues." »This matter has become more public than it is criminal. There has been a call for a kind of shambles of the entire public broadcasting system,” complained Kleber.

Given this, how about reforming the compensation and retirement regulations for managers in general and, above all, paying the many precariously employed employees in the ÖRR better? After all, many ex-executives legally collect huge pensions - even if they have well-paid follow-up jobs.

This article cost you nothing. Us: research, production and technology. We saved on office rent as well as printing and distribution. And we gave up salary. Nevertheless, the calculation doesn't work without you. We need 300,000 euros by the end of the year. You pay what you can, in return we keep writing.

No paywall, no small print, just one goal: that nd stays.