Sunday, July 10, 2022

Public TV Investigation?

 Well....a number of German news groups are reporting on this, and I'll reference this mostly to RBB (Berlin's public TV network).

A number of criticisms have been made, so the head of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB, public TV for Berlin/Brandenburg).....Patricia Schlesinger....stood up and said an audit/review must be done on the allegations  (going against the network and her management).

The major suggestions?  There were some contracts awarded.....part of their plan for a new digital media building in the Berlin area (construction involved).  Then there's the suggestions that some dinner invitations were corrupt in nature.  Finally....there's a suggestion of a unethical relationship with Messe Berlin (the exhibition folks of the city).

Where this is going?  Probably a truth-commission taking a minimum of twelve months to figure out who did what....and why.

On the construction accusation?  Well....to be honest, if you dug into a hundred construction projects going on in Germany....ALL of them probably have an element or two of favoritism or corruption.  It may not be RBB or the director who screwed-up, but there's always some corruption factor going on.  

If it's discovered that the digital media building was awarded on a fraudulent contract?  It'll get messy and some prosecutor will get into the middle of this.

My humble view is that the truth commission will arrive by mid-summer 2023....to say some really stupid mistakes were made, but nothing of the legal type to involve a prosecutor or judge.  I'll also bet that some unethical problems are laid out, but none requiring termination of employees.  

To be humble about it....you could run 3,000 truth commissions a year around Germany, and be fairly shocked about the search for the 'truth' being a constant problem in society.  

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