“I shouldn’t say anything more”: ORF defends itself against having censored Benjamin Raich on the topic of climate protests

One day after the giant ski slalom in Sölden was canceled due to wind, there was great irritation about an ORF scene.

What happened? ORF presenter Rainer Pariasek and former ski star Benjamin Raich spoke about the climate protests of the “Last Generation”, which had tried to block the access road to the start of the Ski World Cup.

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“It would be nice if skiing was to blame for climate change. But I believe it’s exactly the other way around. We’re the ones who suffer more. Of course, we also have to stand up and do our part,” said the Olympic champion.

The Pitztaler tried to put the ski races on glaciers in perspective: “The opponents are now using the stage and shooting very sharply. But you should see the relationship. We ski on about ten glaciers in Austria, but we have 500 or more, a very big one Number. Glaciers are retreating everywhere…”

Raich suddenly stopped because something was being said to him through the earplug. “Stop,” said Raich, visibly irritated, live on air. “They said stop, I shouldn’t say anything more,” said the 45-year-old, who believed the heckler was due to a technical malfunction.

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A little later, Pariasek apologized on air: “We have to apologize, someone was over-motivated and a little nervous.” Raich added to his statement: “It’s simply important to me that people see that there are four, five, six hundred glaciers in Austria and we ski on ten of them. We only play a small role.”

On Monday, ORF responded to the censorship allegations with the following statement:

“Due to an internal communication problem regarding the live connections between the finish and start area, Benni Raich’s remarks were interrupted and resumed shortly afterwards. The fact that there is of course no ‘muzzle’ on the discussion about climate change and skiing is shown by the fact that that Benni Raich commented live on this topic in detail at the beginning of the live broadcast at 9:25 a.m..”