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The resignation of Roland Weißmann, the former director-general of Austria’s public service broadcaster (Österreichischen Rundfunks - ORF), has developed into a noteworthy media law case concerning the boundaries between privacy and investigative journalism. Weißmann resigned as director-general of the ORF on 8 March 2026 after an employee raised allegations of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment. Weißmann denied the allegations. A subsequent investigation by the ORF’s Compliance Office and external compliance experts concluded in April that the conduct...

On 27 March 2025, the National Council (Nationalrat) adopted, with the votes of the ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS parliamentary parties, an amendment to the ORF Act (ORF-Gesetz), which was subsequently approved by the Federal Council (Bundesrat) on 10 April 2025. The legislative amendment entered into force on 1 April 2025. The legislative amendment was adopted in response to a 2023 ruling by the Austrian Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof), which found certain provisions concerning the composition of the ORF Foundation Council (Stiftungsrat) and the Audience Council (Publikumsrat)...

On 29 September 2024, the national parliamentary election in Austria will shape the course of the implementation of a ruling by the Constitutional Court (the VfGH), which declared certain provisions governing Austria's public service media (PSM) organisation, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), unconstitutional. The ruling issued on 5 October 2023 pursuant to Article 140 of the Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG), following a public oral hearing and a request for judicial review, will take effect on 31 March 2025, with the previous provisions not being reinstated. The legislature...

On 12 June 2024, the National Council of Austria adopted a federal law amending the Data Protection Act. The new rules, which entered into force on 1 July 2024, aim to reorganise and differentiate the so-called media privilege in data protection. The revision became necessary following a decision by the Constitutional Court (VfGH), which ruled that a previous ruling – the blanket exemption for the media on the basis of Article 85 of the GDPR – was unconstitutional. According to the VfGH, data processing for journalistic purposes should not be exempted from the provisions of...

On 12 February 2024, Austrian legislators took the last remaining step to remove a historic and blatant obstacle to freedom of information. From September 2025, Austria will have a constitutionally guaranteed right to information for citizens vis-à-vis the state, together with the necessary rules for its enforcement. Both the National Council and the Federal Council of the Austrian Parliament gave the green light for a corresponding amendment to the Constitution and an accompanying Freedom of Information Act with the required two-thirds majority. The new legal regime is to end the decades-long...