RBB reports on "golden handshake" for former RBB editor-in-chief

The news of exorbitant salaries in the executive floor of the crisis-ridden ARD broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) does not stop. According to research by rbb and NDR, the former editor-in-chief Christoph Singelnstein has a well-endowed consultancy contract for the broadcaster in addition to his statutory pension and the annual pension of over 100,000 euros. In its own contribution, rbb describes this regulation as a “golden handshake”.

As can be seen from a confidential document, RBB and Singelnstein had concluded a consulting contract that guaranteed him remuneration “roughly the amount of his last salary as editor-in-chief”. That would be "around 15,000 euros per month". The contract, which is to run until 2023, was initiated by the director Patricia Schlesinger, who has since been dismissed, and the then head of the human resources department.

Singelnstein was released early in April 2021 without giving a reason. According to the research, the consulting contract, which should run until the end of his original contract end in March 2023, secures him a monthly fee as an "author/other activity" of around 6300 euros. Together with pension (according to RBB approx. 8,700 euros per month) he would come up with a similar amount as before as editor-in-chief.

According to the report, the RBB referred to the "expertise of Mr. Singelnstein", which is still needed for the further development of the Electronic Media School, as well as for the representation of the rbb on the board of trustees of the "Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH" and the "advice in media-political questions for the directorship” as well as the engagement in Brandenburg. When asked, Singelnstein himself referred to non-disclosure clauses in his contracts.

Such deals would be anything but usual in the other ARD institutions. Accordingly, neither Radio Bremen nor Saarländische Rundfunk, SWR or HR had concluded comparable contracts. The Bayerischer Rundfunk explained that former executives would only be used “very occasionally” and above all “for the completion of ongoing projects”. There are currently two examples of this.

The NDR had announced that retired employees would only continue to work on a fee basis “in exceptional cases”. In these cases, the fee-based staff should receive a maximum of 50 percent of the usual remuneration for freelancers in the NDR. At WDR there is currently a contract with a "retired employee for consulting services in the IT sector", which expires at the end of the year.

At the center of the RBB scandal are the director Patricia Schlesinger, who was fired without notice, and the resigned chief controller Wolf-Dieter Wolf. Since the end of June, allegations of nepotism and cronyism have been reported in the media, both of which have rejected the allegations. The Berlin Attorney General is investigating.

The directors around Schlesinger, some of whom are still active today, also came under criticism at the top of the public broadcaster. Pension regulations for executives were also part of the criticism in the RBB crisis. This means that they would also be entitled to money if they no longer work for the station but are not yet of retirement age.