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In early May 2006, the German daily newspaper Bild published an intimate photograph showing the Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and his wife Fiona Swarovski-Grasser on their private terrace on Capri. The photograph was partly distorted. Mrs Swarovski-Grasser is a member of the Swarovski family, which owns the jewellery company of the same name. The picture carried the headline "Crystal heiress seeks Finance Minister’s crown jewels” and the accompanying article was highly suggestive. The Finance Minister and his wife complained that their privacy had been breached. The Landesgericht...

In 2004, the Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Office), after giving due notice, withdrew from Österreichische Rundfunk (ORF) the rights to use four broadcasting frequencies in the Linz region, which were used by the LINZ 2 - Freinberg transmitter. This decision was taken on the grounds that the transmission capacities concerned were not technically necessary for the provision of a broadcasting service, since the Linz region was already adequately covered by the LINZ 1 - Lichtenberg transmitter. The minimum technical requirements for a satisfactory service, as defined in a recommendation...

It was reported by Walter Egon Glöckel in the Vienna-based online magazine muenchnernotizen.info that the DIZ Dokumentations- und Informationszentrum München (Munich Documentation and Information Centre) was selling to the media pictures recreating scenes from the Auschwitz concentration camp without pointing out that the images were not genuine. The magazine also criticised the DIZ for selling photos of concentration camps, describing it as “an irresponsible profiteer” which made money out of both “genuine and fake photographs of the Holocaust” out of “greed for profit”. The DIZ applied for an...

The Federal Communications Commission (BKS) established in May 2003 that ORF had on several occasions during the television programme “Starmania” violated the ORF law on advertising limitations (see IRIS 2003-7: 6). With regard to the appeal of ORF against this decision, the Administrative Court ruled as follows: 1. The BKS had established that ORF had repeatedly shown crisp packages, mineral water bottles, a one metre high tube as well as plasma television screens, which all clearly bore a brand name. It considered that this constituted a violation of the ban on product placement in that such...

The Austrian Parliament has adopted amendments to the law entitling holders of non-national private TV broadcasting licences to use certain analogue transmission capacities of Österreichische Rundfunk (ORF) at certain times. This right was granted to private broadcasters in order to support private television and thus to promote diversity of opinion and media in Austria. The provision covers frequencies mentioned in the Privatfernsehgesetz (Private Television Act), which give ORF double coverage in certain areas. In a change to the previous legal situation, the regulatory body will no longer be...