Editorial heads of the news teams ORF.at, social media, TV news/video/verification and radio news/current teletext appointed
Vienna (OTS) – Other important personnel decisions at editorial director level in ORF Information:
ORF General Director Roland Weißmann has appointed (in alphabetical order) Irina Oberguggenberger as editorial director for social media, Julia Ortner as editorial director for ORF.at, Matthias Schmelzer as editorial director for radio news/current teletext and Helene Voglreiter as editorial director for TV news/video/verification. They will take up their position on April 1, 2024.
The management of the “News Team Social Media” is responsible for the information offerings on social media platforms, in particular the ZIB channels on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
The “Newsteam ORF.at” is responsible for the current online information offerings in text, images, video and audio on news.ORF.at, the multimedia further development of the “blue page” and the networking in the multimedia newsroom.
The “News Team Radio News / Current Teletext” is responsible for the hourly news on the ORF regional radio stations, on Ö1, the German-language news on FM4 and the around-the-clock news offer on the current Teletext.
The “Newsteam TV News/Video/Verification” area of responsibility includes short news from the ZIB, the development of video formats and the establishment of a verification unit in the multimedia newsroom.
ORF General Director Roland Weißmann: “The four editorial managers are absolute top professionals in their respective fields. With their new impulses and highly committed teams, they will further perfect news production in the ORF’s new, multimedia newsroom. The beneficiary of this further development is the audience, who can use guaranteed independent and objective reporting to form their own opinions every day in the around 130 ORF news offerings on TV, radio and online.”
Gerald Heidegger commissioned with special multimedia formats
In addition, the ORF general director commissioned ORF Topos boss Gerald Heidegger to design special multimedia formats and online-only formats. This includes, among other things, the creation and implementation of special digital formats in cooperation with ORF News, ORF Sport, the state studios and ORF III, in particular the creation of special pages on the National Council election and the 2024 Summer Olympics. Gerald Heidegger will also be responsible for the conceptualization and Coordination of online-only formats for breaking news and from the area of state studios, especially around the broadcast of events.
Bios of the editorial managers
Irina Oberguggenberger has been a journalist at ORF in Vienna since 2012. After graduating from the “ORF Academy”, she worked for several years as an editor for “Zeit im Bild” and various special domestic political programs. She later moved to channel management at ORF 1, where she managed and was responsible for various TV productions. Since March 2022, the experienced and innovative journalist has been part of the “Young Audience” project, which prepares and accompanies the digital change at ORF. Here she was most recently responsible for the areas of content strategy, digital format development and platform expertise, among other things.
Julia Ortner has been an editor at the ORF domestic policy magazine “Report” since August 2020. The multi-award-winning journalist – including: Dr. Karl Renner Journalism Prize 2012, nomination for the Kurier-ROMY Industry Awards 2022 or Journalists’ Integration Prize 2023 – is chairwoman of the Initiative for Quality in Journalism. Over the course of her journalistic career, she was editor of ZIB 2 and several newspapers, department head and deputy on several occasions. Editor-in-chief of NEWS magazine. She completed the part-time master’s degree in digitalization, politics and communication at the FH Campus Vienna.
Matthias Schmelzer has been working in multimedia in various positions for more than 30 years. From 1992 he worked as a reporter, editor and presenter in the current service in the ORF regional studio in Burgenland, from 1997 as an editor and news presenter for the ORF radios (Ö1, Ö3, Chronicle department), before working as an ORF correspondent from 2001 to 2003 moved to Brussels. From 2004 to 2006 Schmelzer was a reporter and editor in the “ZIB Domestic/EU” department; in 2007 he headed the ORF office in Brussels on an interim basis. From 2007 he became the producer of “ZIB 2” and from 2010 its planner. From 2020 to the beginning of 2024 he led the political discussion formats on ORF.
Helene Voglreiter started her ORF career in 2010 in the Salzburg regional studio. From 2012 to 2020 she worked in various positions for “Zeit im Bild” – including as an editor at home and abroad, as a program planner, head of service and format developer for TV and online. At the beginning of the Corona crisis in 2020, the experienced full-blooded journalist was, among other things, co-developer, planner and CvD of the children’s news offering. She teaches media skills in schools and explains disinformation. Since November 2020 she has directed numerous ORF special programs and is CvD of “Zeit im Bild”.