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ORF quality assurance system



ORF introduced the quality assurance system (§ 4aORF Act) in order to assure the compliance of the public service core mandate (§ 4ORF Act). The system takes independency, personal responsibility of all program producing employees, and the freedom of journalistic work into consideration. Furthermore, the system defines criteria and methods for those quality aspects.



Due to the recommendation of the appraiser Prof. Dr. Günter Struve, the ORF foundation-council approved on 3rd March 2011 the quality assurance system for the following year, in accordance with §4a Abs 2 ORF Act.


On 10th May 2011 the ORF audience-council took a positive note of the quality assurance system. In this meeting the audience-council came to the conclusion to demand from the managing department the following:" As a part of the quality assurance system the public should be consulted in regards to their satisfaction about ORF's objectivity in terms of program categories, variety and profiles. Furthermore, the outcomes must be part of the evaluation process of the ORF overall quality profile." In accordance to § 21 Abs 1 Z 6a ORF Act, the ORF foundation-council approved the audience-council demands on 12th May 2011.

Quality assurance system (2011)


On 15th November 2012 the foundation council came during the plenary meeting to the conclusion that former ZDF intendant Markus Schächter will act as independent appraiser of the overall ORF quality assurance system performance between 2012 and 2016, conformable to § 4a Abs ORF Act.


On 12th June 2013 the audience- council gave the following recommendation: "In the context of the quality assurance system the management of the company has to consult the public regarding their program satisfaction."


At the plenary meeting on 6th November 2013 the ORF audience-council made the following recommendation: "Based on the findings of the previous quality assurance system, the director general has to report once a year to the audience council, what sanctions will be done in order to serve the public interest."


On 20th November 2014 the ORF foundation-council concluded to approve the consolidated issue of the quality assurance system which has been amended conformable to §21 Abs 1 Z 6a ORF Act.



Quality assurance system (2014)


At the plenary meeting on 11th November 2015, the ORF audience-council decided on a new recommendation regarding diversity monitoring: variety of issues and topics is a crucial quality characteristic of the public service broadcaster. Considering the multimedia ORF newsroom the audience-council suggests to fix a quantitative and qualitative content-analytical monitoring; in order to secure topic diversity of the ORF programs. Additionally, once a year the findings have to be presented to the quality commission.
At its plenary session on Thursday, on 15th September 2022, the ORF foundation-council decided, at the request of the General Management, to approve the [add: amended] Quality Assurance System [...] pursuant to § 21 (1) 6a ORF-G in the consolidated version: 

Quality assurance system as of 15.09.2022


The ORF foundation-council also passed the following resolutions in its plenary session on September 15, 2022 (unanimously):  The appointment of the managing director named in the report [Schöber] was approved in accordance with § 21 Abs. 2 no. 18 in conjunction with para. 3 ORF Act . The granting of procuration to [Nöbauer] pursuant to § 21 Abs 2 no 16 ORF Act was also approved. The adaptations to the tariff structures contained in the written report of the General Director, pursuant to § 21 (1) item 7 ORF-G, were approved. 

The below documents are exclusively available in German.


Quality assurance 2011
Public Value Report 2011
Public Value Annual Research 2011
The program-structure-analysis is available in the Annual Report.
ORF Audience Council Research 2011

Quality Assurance System 2011
Sampling 2011
Quality profile evaluation 2011


Quality assurance 2012
Public Value Report 2012
Public Value Annual Research 2012
The program-structure-analysis is availble in the Annual Report.
ORF Audience Council Research 2012
Quality Assurance System 2012

Sampling 2012
Quality profile evaluation 2012


Quality assurance 2013
Public Value Report 2013
Public Value Annual Research 2013
The program-structure-analysis is availble in the Annual Report.
ORF Audience Council Research 2013 (Part 1 / Part 2)
Quality Assurance System 2013

Sampling 2013Quality profile evaluation 2013



Quality assurance 2014
Public Value Report 2014 (Part 1 / Part 2)
Public Value Annual Research 2014
The program-structure-analysis is availble in the Annual Report.

ORF Audience Council Research 2014

Quality Assurance System 2014

Sampling 2014

Quality profile evaluation 2014



Quality assurance 2015

Public Value Report 2015 (Part 1/ Part 2)

Public Value Annual Research 2015

The program-structure-analysis is available in the Annual Report.

ORF Audience Council Research 2015

Quality Assurance System 2015
Sampling 2015
Quality profile evaluation 2015

Quality assurance 2016
Public Value Report 2016
Public Value Annual Research 2016
The program-structure-analysis is available in the Annual Report.
ORF Audience Council Research 2016
Quality Assurance system 2016
Sampling 2016
Quality profile evaluation 2016


Quality assurance 2017

Public Value Report 2017 (Booklet/Report)
Public Value Annual Research 2017
The program-structure-analysis is available in the Annual Report 2017.
ORF Audience Council Research 2017
Quality Assurance System 2017
Sampling 2017
Quality Profile Evaluation 2017

Quality assurance 2018
Public Value Bericht 2018 (Band I; Band II)
Jahresbericht 2018
Qualitätsprofil 2018
Gutachten zum Qualitätssicherungssystem 2018
ORF-"Overall-Befragung 2018"
ORF-Publikumsratsstudie 2018
Public Value Jahresstudie 2018/2019

Quality assurance 2019
Public Value Bericht 2019 (SO GEHT Information / Kultur / Österreich / Europa / Bildung)
Qualitätsprofil 2019
Gutachten zum Qualitätssicherungssystem 2019
ORF-"Overall-Befragung 2019"
ORF-Publikumsratsstudie 2019

Quality assurance 2020
Public Value Report 2020 (Transform)
Public Value Annual Research 2020
ORF Audience Council Research 2020
Quality Assurance System 2020
ORF Overall Survey 2020
Quality Profile Evaluation 2020


Quality assurance 2021

Public Value Report 2021/22 ( Mehrwert)

Quality Profile Evaluation 2021
Quality assurance 2021
ORF Overall Survey 2021
ORF Audience Council Research 2021
Public Value Report 2021/22 part 1
Public Value Report 2021/22 part 2
Public Value Report 2021/22 part 3
Public Value Annual Research 2021
Public Value Annual Report 2021 - "Value and Trust"