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ORF journalists favor Lisa Totzauer for Director General role
🇦🇹 Austria /Culture & Society

ORF journalists favor Lisa Totzauer for Director General role

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • ORF journalists voted Lisa Totzauer as their preferred candidate for ORF Director General, with 51% of the vote.
  • Clemens Pig and Markus Breitenecker followed Totzauer in the internal journalist poll.
  • The journalist vote is not binding; the final decision rests with the 35-member ORF Foundation Board, which will vote on June 13, 2026.

In an internal poll among ORF journalists, TV magazine chief Lisa Totzauer emerged as the favored candidate to become the next Director General of the Austrian public broadcaster. Totzauer secured 51.3% of the approximately 600 votes cast by journalists, positioning her ahead of other contenders.

Following Totzauer in the journalist poll were APA CEO Clemens Pig, who received 18.0% of the vote, and former ProSiebenSat.1Puls4 CEO Markus Breitenecker, with 13.0%. Other candidates, including former HBO executive Johannes Larcher, did not reach the top three positions.

However, the outcome of this journalist vote is largely symbolic. The decisive vote will be cast by the 35 members of the ORF Foundation Board on June 13, 2026. Nine candidates, including Totzauer, Pig, Breitenecker, and Larcher, are vying for the position and have secured nominations for a hearing before the board.

mood picture

— Dieter BornemannDieter Bornemann, chairman of the editorial board, described the journalist vote as a 'mood picture'.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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