After the yellow hair scandal: New analysis guidelines within the RBB | EUROtoday

The Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) printed allegations towards the Green Party politician Stefan Gelbhaar on the flip of the yr 2024/2025, with none critical analysis. The alleged tipster Anne Okay. turned out to be non-existent. The RBB plunged right into a deep disaster and there have been resignations. Director Ulrike Demmer then introduced “new instructions for program responsibility” on this newspaper. Now this service instruction is there. It is 23 pages lengthy and is split into two components. The first half regulates the tasks of program accountability, the second half regulates the fabric take a look at standards and high quality standards. Created underneath the management of this system directorate and coordinated with the authorized division, suggestions from the editorial committee, employees council, compliance officer and auditing was integrated.

The directions had been really meant for 2025. However, it was not printed within the RBB guide till February 16, 2026. “It was important to the RBB that thoroughness comes before speed,” explains program director Robert Skuppin. In inner communication, the RBB has supplemented the service directions with an FAQ for editorial follow. According to the broadcaster, there’s additionally a guide for hiring new journalists. The directive defines program accountability as a “continuous chain of responsibility.” This chain contains all workers who fee, create and approve analysis and contributions. Program accountability applies to content material in audio, video, textual content or photos. The precept is established that each publication have to be subjected to editorial and, if mandatory, authorized approval upfront.

According to the RBB state treaty, the director bears total accountability. The program director, in flip, ensures that solely correctly accepted content material is printed; it additionally ensures that the mandatory human and organizational assets are made accessible. Among them, the “Contentbox” heads and predominant division heads in this system directorate have accountability for appointing editorial managers, defining their duties and monitoring packages. The direct accountability for acceptance lies with the editorial managers. They can delegate the approval to heads of responsibility (CvD) or different certified editors. A CvD often decides whether or not an extra authorized approval is required. If a publication has foreseeable authorized implications, it’s obligatory to contain the authorized division.

Special laws apply to analysis and publications with specific implications: an skilled CvD from the RBB investigative editorial crew, the authorized division and the editor-in-chief should even be concerned. In the occasion of a dispute between the editorial crew and the authorized division, the editor-in-chief decides on publication and, within the occasion of great dangers, consults this system director and the board of administrators at his personal discretion. The authorized division itself has the duty of offering recommendation and stating attainable authorized dangers; The resolution about publication is made by this system managers. Every acceptance that takes place have to be documented in an applicable method.

The program accountability directions present clear tips relating to the dealing with of sources. All related sources have to be personally recognized and their identification verified towards official paperwork. This was lacking within the Gelbhaar case; the editors had the supposed tipster “Anne K.” by no means met in individual. This was revealed within the “Short report on the investigation results in the Gelbhaar case” by the commissioned firm Deloitte in May 2025.

The dealing with of affidavits is now additionally regulated intimately. In the Gelbhaar case, in line with the Deloitte report, the RBB journalists concerned “had no experience in the field of investigative journalism; they had never worked with the instrument of affidavits before.” The new directions prescribe coaching for all journalists who settle for stories and coaching on suspicious reporting for all journalists within the RBB. This is what the Deloitte report advisable. Its additional suggestions had been additionally carried out within the new program accountability directions. However, there aren’t any plans to publish the doc. “It describes the internal processes of our editorial teams, which we consider to be worthy of protection and therefore do not explain publicly in detail,” says Skuppin.

As an observer, you get the impression that no matter ought to have been customary has now been written down. In July 2025, the RBB agreed to financial compensation for Gelbhaar; the quantity remained secret and the settlement was reached out of courtroom. “The RBB showed itself to be insightful and dealt with the conflict very sensibly and in a structured manner in our negotiations,” stated Gelbhaar. The RBB should keep away from one other “Yellowhair case” as a lot as attainable. It would in all probability be the top of the broadcasting firm for Berlin and Brandenburg.