'European Values' on Full Display: Karl Pachner, editor-in-chief of Austrian State Broadcaster ORF 'wishes' the Hungarian PM a Heart Attack on Facebook

Needless to say, the remarks reeks of the more disgusting elements of Austria's past, is replete with inaccuracies and inanities, as well as showcases the low-life qualities of legacy media

Now this happened a couple of days ago, and, needless to say, the posting in question has since been deleted. Fortunately, at least one media outlet posted a low-res screenshot:

Mr Orban should soon resign…a heart attack would be a fair deal, given his corpulence and proclivity to cause a fuss [Erregungspotential]! Putin, Erdogan, and Orban—if they would simply vanish, Europe would be happier and more peaceful, as well as a blessing for the entire world. It is beyond belief that the self-identifying Magyar supreme catholic [der magyarische Oberkatholik] shills for this Russian-imperialistic crook [Figur, here with that implicit meaning in German], even though the Rooskies (twice) invaded Hungary. [line break added]

This means merely that Orban is Europe’s ‘fifth column’…he wants to blackmail us because of the corruption proceedings against him and his cronies [Spezis] and the condemnation for the destruction of press freedom and the rule of law. If it was up to me, Hungary would no longer be in the EU. What a mistake to permit [EU] accession to this ungrateful country with its hare-brained and nationalistic population! Without EU handouts, Hungary would fare like Moldova or Bulgaria. I expect of principled agreement by countries whose budget we co-finance, and not just a beggar’s sense of entitlement [Handaufhalten].

Strong stuff, eh? Let’s unpack this, but in two steps: first, I’ll briefly show you what state and media personalities had to say about this, and, secondly, I shall briefly comment on the contents of this word salad.

EDIT: before we move on, here’s who Karl Pachner is (souce: here): born in 1961, he graduated from Gymnasium in 1980. He also holds a M.A. in Communication Science (sic), which he obtained in 2006. In-between, he worked as a socialist party hack and in various media before joining the Austrian Press Agency in 1995. 1999 he joined Austrian state broadcaster ORF (then under the directorship of one Alexander Wrabetz, a SP appointee) where, after the turn of the millennium he became the point man of the newly-established online content division, which he leads (led) since 2007. Pachner is also a lecturer of media and communication studies at the Alpen-Adria University in Carinthia, Austria. Despite—because?—of the long quarter-century of being a student, he is, above all, a party hack and ignoramus.

Austro-Covidistan Media Throws a Tantrum

Predictably—a word that’s becoming increasingly hard to use these days—all the well-meaning people (who, quite likely, would characterise themselves as morally superior) pushed back against the person who wrote this piece of crap, Karl Pachner.

Now, we should anyone care about Mr. Pachner? Apart from: no-one, he’s unfortunately the editor-in-chief (some media reports call him ‘manager’) of the Austrian state broadcaster ORF’s online content, orf.at, since 2007.

Did I say ‘is’? Well, he apparently took a leave of absence in the immediate aftermath of his posting, as reported by the Kleine Zeitung, which also shows a perhaps quite illustrative image of this genius, as well as a form of social media distancing, I suppose (my emphasis):

[ORF] General Director Roland Weißmann has given Pachner ‘the strongest and last warning’, according to a statement on Friday [3 June] afternoon. Pachner has been suspended at his own request until further notice. Weißmann regrets the incident and the company once again expressly distances itself from the ‘private posting’.

It has been noted that the posting was a private expression of opinion by an employee on his personal Facebook page, which of course has no connection with the editorial reporting of the independent editors of the ORF who are not subject to directives.

Funny, eh? Imagine, say, if the managing director of Russia Today—German would dare to do the same? What do you think would or should happen?

I suppose, judging by ORF’s own ‘standards’ (ahem), ‘private postings’ have no bearing on the company, right?

Sidenote: I mention this because in September 2021, the German Medienaufsicht, the country’s FCC equivalent, has banned RT from broadcasting in Germany because of allegations of ‘too close relationships’ with the (in this case Russian) state, which came on the heels of Commerzbank, one of Germany’s largest banking institutions—with approx. 15% of its shares held by the German government—discontinued its banking services to RT. By the way, Eviltube had also banned RT German’s channel, and leading German magazines. What I find particularly galling is that the censoring of media content came about due to allegations of ‘too close relations’ to the state, as summarised by publicly owned = German state broadcaster ARD (see here), which is bad, if the Russians do it, but o.k.-ish, if Western countries do it, apparently.

Back to the story of Mr. Pachner’s posting.

While this vile vitriol resulted in a public slap-on-the-wrist for Mr. Pachner—as reported widely across media, e.g., here over at Der Standard or there at Wochenstimme—it was, again, only the Freedom Party (FPÖ) whose politicians managed to produce a strongly-worded condemnation, written by FPÖ Media Spokesman Christian Hafenecker:

As a highly-paid ORF manager, Mr Pachner must know what he is allowed to say or write and what not. It does not make things any better that his posting was ‘only’ his personal opinion and that no conclusions may be inferred about ORF’s reporting. With such an attitude, Pachner is out of place as an ORF manager. Resignation is the only possible consequence after this scandal.

Do we need to mention the disgusting whataboutism engaged in by both state and non-state legacy on media here? I find it hard not to agree with Mr. Hafenecker’s statement on this matter, in particular since he also mentions one crucial detail omitted from all the legacy media reports cited above: this wasn’t the first time Mr. Pachner (allegedly) engaged in verbal abuse (my emphases):

Furthermore, this was not the first time that Karl Pachner had attracted negative attention. [Hafenecker]…referenced an email correspondence between the ORF manager and a viewer, which shows Pachner calling an online media outlet founded about two years ago a ‘flea-infested rag’ [Sack voller Flöhe] and the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition [2017-19] a ‘blue takeover’ [blaue Machtübrenahme, as the Freedom Party’s colour is blue]. The email correspondence also reveals that the complaints committee of the ORF Viewer’s Council [Publikumsrat] had admonished Mr Pachner ‘about his lack of sensitivity of language us in professional writing’. [line break added]

Hafenecker: ‘An ORF manager who is admonished by his own for his communication to ORF customers and apparently does not want to learn anything from them has no business in a managing director’s post. ORF Director-General Roland Weißmann should draw the consequences and fire Pachner. An employee like Pachner harms the entire media company ORF.

The FPÖ produced the above-related statement on 2 June, and in all fairness, we shall mention how ORF itself reported on the matter on 3 June:

The Hungarian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Tamas Menczer, has described the posting, which has since been deleted, as ‘a slap in the face for the whole country’. After all, ‘the Hungarian people elected the prime minister’, the politician from the ruling FIDESZ party said yesterday on Facebook.

‘If someone wishes for the death of another person, you can’t settle it with: “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.” What happened is shocking and unacceptable. Anyone who wishes the death to another person is unacceptable. It makes the situation even more difficult when an influential journalist, the director of the Austrian public broadcaster, wishes for the death of an elected top politician, the Hungarian prime minister’, the politician, himself a former journalist, put it. Pachner, however, is not a journalist, but the managing director of the ORF subsidiary responsible, among other things, for the sites ORF.at and sport.ORF.at (editor’s note). The Hungarian politician had also demanded corresponding actions from the Austrian side.

The ORF felt compelled to issue another statement on 2 June:

‘Once again, ORF expressly distances itself from this private posting, which has since been deleted and for which Karl Pachner has apologised’, reads the statement issued by ORF’s corporate communications department yesterday afternoon [2 June]. ‘The ORF states that the posting was a private expression of opinion by an employee on his personal Facebook page, which of course has no connection with the editorial reporting of the independent editors of the ORF, who are not subject to directives.’

As to the Hungarian government’s reactions, well, Austria’s ambassador was reprimanded last Thursday or Friday (media reports aren’t clear about the date: according to ORF, this happened on 2 June, the Wochenstimme writes ‘Friday morning’, i.e., 3 June).

As per Wochenstimme, we also learn that Mr. Pachner apologised (sort of) for his posting, which is yet another issue curiously—notoriously—absent from all other media reports I’v surveyed here (my emphasis):

Pachner himself apologised on Thursday [2 June] for his ‘thoughtless and postentially misleading wording’, which he ‘extraordinarily regrets’:

‘Of course, I do not “wish” for Orban’s death, as was read out of my sarcastic text today by some Facebook users. In fact, I do not wish for anyone’s death, which is why I am so touched by what is currently happening in Ukraine and which has led me to use an emotional, regrettable, and ill-considered formulation’, the ORF Online editor-in-chief stressed.

The take-away here is—Mr. Pachner never apologised, and even if the above-related wording might be interpreted as an apology, he still managed to engage in vile anti-Russian agit-prop at the same time.

Unpacking Mr. Pachner’s Unacceptable Absurdities

I shall also briefly comment on some of the crap by Mr. Pachner, and I shall do so for two reasons: on the one hand, I think context is necessary as Mr. Pachner (ab-) uses certain information most non-Austrians aren’t familiar with while, on the other hand, it’s just my habit of correcting people who state stupid things. Here goes:

Putin, Erdogan, and Orban—if they would simply vanish, Europe would be happier and more peaceful, as well as a blessing for the entire world

That’s an interesting notion: leaving aside Mr. Orbán, I thought that Mr. Pachner and his ilk never considered Russia (Putin) or Turkey (Erdogan) as ‘parts of’ Europe anyways: how, pray tell, would their leaving an area they don’t belong to render ‘Europe…happier and more peaceful’?

It is beyond belief that the self-identifying Magyar supreme catholic shills for this Russian-imperialistic crook, even though the Rooskies (twice) invaded Hungary.

This part is even more hilariously stupid, as it puts Mr. Pachner’s ignorance and historical illiteracy on full display. Leaving aside the anti-Hungarian sentiments, this sentence refers to two absurdities: on the one hand, Orbán is referred to as a Catholic, which, historically, was always the creed of choice of the pro-Habsburg (Vienna) elites, as opposed to esp. Calvinism. The reason is pretty straightforward: the pre-modern period didn’t know ‘modern’ ideological considerations, hence the only viable way of expressing political dissent was to proclaim oneself to adhere to a difference creed than the ruler (think of this in analogy to, say, the English Reformation or Civil War, which also pitted against each other Catholicism vs. what later came to be known as Anglicanism as well as the latter vs. Puritanism, respectively: yes, personal ambition and faith played a role, but the main ‘trigger’ was politics’).

Sidenote: for those who look for summer reading materials on this matter, you’re herewith related to Gezá Pálffy’s synthesis Hungary Between Two Empires, 1526-1711 (Bloomington: IUP, 2021), and Georg Michels’ detailed case study of the intersections of confessional strife and geopolitics, entitled The Habsburg Empire under Siege: Ottoman Expansion and Hungarian Revolt in the Age of Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü, 1661-76 (Toronto: McGill, 2021)

As to the second relative clause, well, what shall I say: Mr. Pachner conflates the 1849 intervention of Russian troops—at the explicit request of the Vienna government—that crushed the Hungarian Revolution, or War of Independence with the 1956 Soviet invasion. While, yes, both attacks featured, among other things, troops from ‘Russia’, the facts of neither instance allow for Pachner’s ‘interpretation’ (and I’m very charitable here). What actually happened in both the 1849 and 1956 invasions is—the Hungarians rose up to gain their independence, but they were brutally subdued by outside forces.

Now, I readily admit to not being a huge fan of Orbán’s policies, but the inversion of facts—Orbán, too, wishes for a sovereign and independent Hungary—is simply ‘too much’ to accept. If anything, the reason for Mr. Pachner’s posting (and all the EU jeering and vitriol he has to endure for doing so) is the same, but Mr. Pachner’s call for a renewal of Vienna’s interventionist policies—that, by the way, failed for about half a millennium if not more—are truly things only a historically illiterate and supremely ignorant person would make.

If it was up to me, Hungary would no longer be in the EU. What a mistake to permit [EU] accession to this ungrateful country with its hare-brained and nationalistic population! Without EU handouts, Hungary would fare like Moldova or Bulgaria. I expect of principled agreement by countries whose budget we co-finance, and not just a beggar’s sense of entitlement.

This is the last item I wish to comment on: thankfully, Mr. Pachner disgraced himself so far that he’s not going to be in charge of much, if anything, right now. Austrians—by which I mean the pro-government German-speaking elites—have a long and sordid history of abuse and disrespect for their ‘eastern’ neighbours.

Sidenote: I wrote ‘eastern’ in scare quotes, for this also includes the ‘West Slavic’ Czechs whose country lies to Austria’s north as well as a sizable chunk of the South Slavs whose territories are to the south of Vienna. Culturally, the Austro-German elites very much considered themselves morally, if not racially, superior, with 19th-century bourgeois culture (ahem) very much considering continued Habsburg domination of East-Central Europe justified by ‘virtue’ of these sentiments. Needless to say, these notions became quite obviously compensatory after Vienna lost against Piedmont-Sardinia in 1859 and Prussia in 1866, which led to the establishment of the modern Italian and German nation-states, respectively: all that was left to Austria-Hungary was its very own civilising mission in the south-east.

As such, Mr. Pachner’s statements are part and parcel of this long and extremely sordid tradition of ethno-cultural nationalism and outright racism against ‘the easterners’, which is something no-one decried. It’s another testament of the decay of education, tact, and, yes, honour that once characterised leading actors of the public sphere.

The last words today go to Bertolt Brecht, specifically his play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1941; Ministry of Truth item here), in which the German playwright satirises the rise of National Socialism:

The womb he crawled from is still going strong.

I wish we ever learned from history *sigh*