Heinz Christian Strache, Austria’s vice chancellor and chief of the far right freedom party of the country, apologised online and now is paying damages for accusing without proves, the public broadcaster ORF of lying.
Last month, the Austrian deputy posted a picture of ORF’s Armin Wolf, star anchor man on Facebook. The inscription below the picture was clear: “There is a place where lies become news. The place is ORF”
The vice chancellor also accused ORF of constantly lying on social medias and to be a satire in the media field.
After these false accusations, Wolf took a libel action against the deputy before a criminal court. Amin Wolf declared that “My aim was not to drag a politician before the courts but to make clear that there are limits to criticism of the work done by journalists and the media, namely the point at which it becomes personally defamatory”
Heinz Christian Strache was forced to apologize to the journalist and to ORF. He declared on a Facebook post that “This assertion was incorrect and I apologize to Armin Wolf and the employees of ORF for this unfounded statement”. Strache paid 10 000 € in damages to the journalist and recognized his fault.
The vice chancellor committed to not defame a public media without proves anymore.
Déborah Miller
For further information:
EuroNews website. http://www.euronews.com/2018/03/14/austrian-far-right-leader-apologises-for-fake-news-accusation-fined-10-000
US News website. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-03-13/austrian-far-right-chief-tv-anchor-settle-lawsuit-over-fake-news-jibe
SZ website. https://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/wo-fake-news-nachrichten-werden-3897751.html
