42 - Who checks the quality at ORF?

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With its binding components, ORF quality assurance is one of the most comprehensive quality assurance systems for public service media in Europe. It consists of eight elements. For example, "quality profiles" jointly formulated by the editorial offices and the Public Value Competence Center define the qualitative requirements. Following the internal editorial coordination of the "quality profiles", the audience is involved with the help of a social science institute commissioned by ORF Media Research: Every year, several hundred people in Austria give program managers their assessment of the quality expectations of the editorial offices in telephone interviews.

The opinion of the audience is also explored in direct dialog in so-called "audience discussions", which take place three times a year on various program pillars (information, culture, entertainment and sport), and satisfaction is surveyed in a representative survey. The opinions of experts are also incorporated into the quality assurance process. The "Expert:innengespräch", 2023 on the topic of "Sport", is a round table discussion that enables intellectual exchange between science, further expertise and editorial staff.

In annual research projects - quantitative on behalf of the Audience Council, qualitative as part of the "Public Value Study" - researchers also discuss a wide range of topics relating to the future of public service media. The "Program Structure Analysis" of ORF media research counts every second of television and measures the distribution of words and music in radio programs as part of a "sample week". In addition to radio and television seconds, a sample month of ORF Teletext and the number of stories on ORF.at are also recorded. These figures are included in the annual report, which must be submitted annually to the regulatory authority and, via the Federal Chancellor, to the National Council and the Federal Council in accordance with §7 of the ORF Act. ORF also documents figures such as these alongside data on published topics and relevant programs in the "Public Value Report" - which, in addition to figures, also publishes explicit quality expectations of ORF employees. Extensive information on the quality assurance system can be accessed via zukunft.ORF.at. There you will also find the verdict on the quality assurance system prepared by the independent expert Ingrid Deltenre, a former Swiss media manager. The resolutions of the ORF supervisory bodies on the quality assurance system are also published. The system, which is prescribed by law and approved in detail by the ORF Board of Trustees, is supplemented by so-called "quality checks", in which editorial teams process feedback from experts on approaches to action, by the "PUBLIC VALUE TEXTE" series of publications, which publishes the views of international academics on public service quality, and by the ORF DialogForum, which is streamed live as a public panel discussion on media quality on zukunft.ORF.at and broadcast on ORF III.

Finally, the quality assurance system is informally supplemented by another important "vote": the approval rating of people living in Austria, which is collected via TV and radio ratings, among other things.

The fact that over 90% of people use at least one ORF content in a week is an indication of who ultimately checks and evaluates the quality of ORF: The whole country.

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