The ZDF is still rattled after the fallout from the KI‑image scandal in the “Heute‑Journal”. In the broadcaster’s intranet, several hundred staff members turned their backs on an anonymous colleague who apparently recorded an internal crisis meeting and circulated the footage.
Staff‑council member Hubert Krech took to the intranet to address the unknown employee. “You think you’re a hero because you ‘really showed the ZDF and the bosses something?’ Is that really what you did?” Krech wrote. Nearly 600 employees liked the post-a record for the ZDF intranet.
The recordings and notes from what the broadcasters call the OpenCR meeting have landed in the hands of various media outlets. The portal “Nius” published excerpts that include statements from ZDF chief editor Bettina Schausten and Washington correspondent Elmar Theveßen. “Der Spiegel” also apparently gained access to the intranet.
In his comment, Krech said: “At least you fed people with information who have one goal: to damage ARD and ZDF. At the same time you spat in the faces of thousands of colleagues-people who may have sat beside you for years or decades, worked, laughed, cried, vented frustrations, and celebrated together. You especially betrayed those in the OpenCR who reached out, revealing portals that are waging a war against us”.
He added: “I believe you are only a ‘useful idiot’ for those who want to destroy us. You are being used to harm us”.