Search results : 305

The Kommunikationsbehörde Austria (Austrian Communications Authority - KommAustria) has a statutory duty to monitor the compliance with advertising regulations of all Austrian television and radio programmes. At monthly intervals, it has to assess the programmes of all broadcasting stations containing advertising. Up until now, the authority has met its obligation to publish the results “in an appropriate way” by publishing them on the website of the Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH (Broadcasting and Telecommunications Regulation Company - RTR). If KommAustria suspects a breach of the law,...

In its “connect it“ decision on 26 February 2007, the Austrian Federal Communications Board (BKS) dealt with a so-called sponsorship broadcast in which the products and services of sponsors were extensively presented and endorsed in two editorial reports. The issue concerned whether or not there was a breach of § 46 para. 2 Fig. 3 of the Private Television Act (corresponding to Art. 17 para. 1 lit c of the Television Without Frontiers Directive) under which sponsorship broadcasts may not suggest the purchase, hire or lease of the products or the engagement of the services of the principal or a...

In a judgment of 22 February 2007, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) considered the convictions of both a journalist and a publishing company as being violations of the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 10 of the Convention. The case concerned an article in the magazine Profil about a road accident in which the well-known Austrian skiing champion, Hermann Maier, injured his leg. The article, written by the journalist Rainer Nikowitz, suggested that one of Mr. Maier’s competitors, the Austrian skiing champion Stephan Eberharter, was pleased with the accident because...

The Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court - VfGH) recently brought a temporary conclusion to a series of legal disputes over the right to broadcast short reports on Bundesliga football matches during the seasons 2004/2005 to 2006/2007 (see IRIS 2005-1: 7 and IRIS 2006-3: 10). The Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Office - BKS ) granted a request from Österreichische Rundfunk (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation - ORF) that it be allowed to broadcast short reports, but described in detail what kind of incidents could, as a rule, be shown under the right to short reporting (see...

In a judgment of 7 December 2006, the European Court of Human Rights found that the Austrian authorities had acted in violation of the right to freedom of expression. The case concerned a reaction to a news item on the Austrian public television channel Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). In a news programme broadcast by ORF in 1999, a picture was shown of a person, Mr. S, who had been released on parole a few weeks earlier. Mr. S. was convicted to eight years imprisonment in 1995 because he had been found to be a leading member of a neo-Nazi organisation. At the request of Mr. S., the Austrian...