Austria's State Media Firm Spent €2.24m on Video Work, Broke Tender Rules

Austria's state-owned Wiener Zeitung media company spent €2.24 million on outsourced video production in 2023 and 2024 and failed to follow procurement rules for an external service contract between March and June 2024, according to a Court of Audit report published on November 6, 2026.

The audit examined the company's transformation after the print edition of the Wiener Zeitung ended in July 2023. Its €2.24 million figure represents two years of outsourced video work, not a finding that the entire sum was unlawful spending, stolen funds or a financial loss. The procurement-rule criticism concerns a specified period of contracting.

The auditors found that the state-owned company had designed its new online product around social media without the necessary internal video-production expertise. It repeatedly contracted the same outside provider and became dependent on that contractor. The report said management recognised this dependence shortly after the October 2023 launch but was slow to develop internal capabilities.

State ownership and editorial safeguards

The Court of Audit also warned that the legal framework did not contain specific organisational safeguards for the media company's independence beyond a required editorial statute. Because the chief executive was subject to instructions from the state owner, auditors identified a risk of direct government influence, including over the newsroom's composition. That is a structural risk assessment, **not** a finding that a named official had actually ordered editorial coverage to change.

The auditors said the company lacked a clear ownership strategy and recommended examining a merger with its subsidiary, whose overlapping activities added administrative costs without a clear benefit. They also raised concerns about a parent-subsidiary services agreement submitted late for supervisory approval and about whether commercial content work could be supported indirectly by public contributions.

Separately, the group spent about €820,000 on social-media advertising from mid-2023 to mid-2025, of which roughly €720,000, or 87%, went to foreign companies or platforms. These were reported advertising expenses, not a finding of improper diversion.

The auditors also described payroll errors requiring approximately €280,000 in external remediation work and about €1.10 million in back payments at the time of the review. They criticised bonuses granted for targets that had not been achieved. Back payments to staff should not be characterised as money stolen.

Response and next steps

The company's new management acknowledged the shortcomings and said it had already implemented 20 of the 29 recommendations addressed to Wiener Zeitung. Chief executive Simon Kravagna, appointed in August 2026, said the audited years involved different leadership and supervisory arrangements. The claimed 20 completed measures are a company-reported implementation figure, not independent verification that every correction has been completed.

Independent Austrian newspaper Der Standard also reported the €2.24 million outsourcing and the audit's criticism of procurement compliance, while noting the management response. The media ministry said it would consider the recommendation on the company's role in a wider media-funding reform.

The next accountability test is whether the ministry strengthens legal guarantees of editorial independence and whether auditors verify the remaining corrective actions, including procurement oversight and payroll controls. Any further story should distinguish announced reforms from independently documented implementation.