2023-09-28 08:47:36
After SORA’s “SPÖ strategy paper” was unintentionally made public, the opinion research institute is continuing its efforts to limit the damage: Günther Ogris is resigning from management with immediate effect, SORA announced on Thursday. Christoph Hofinger will now manage the institute independently and “reorganize it according to strict transparency standards”.
With his withdrawal he was drawing “the consequence of a mistake that I very much regret,” said Ogris. “The decision to withdraw from SORA management with immediate effect following 27 years represents a deep personal and professional turning point.” He will continue to be available to the institute with his expertise as a methods expert in another capacity.
The paper written by Ogris for a proposed consultation with the SPÖ was made public on Tuesday evening because he had unintentionally sent it to an incorrect email distribution list. The document with strategic hypotheses for the coming election year includes, among other things, a shadow cabinet for party leader Andreas Babler and suggests how the competing parties might be made to look bad. The ORF then ended its electoral collaboration with SORA. Particularly during elections, credibility and objectivity in ORF reporting are “of essential importance,” the ORF argued, and “any appearance of one-sidedness should be prevented.”
Ogris withdrew from the election analysis team on Wednesday, and on Thursday he took another step by withdrawing from management. “As an institute, SORA has always placed scientific transparency and traceability at the forefront and will now also live up to this requirement organizationally,” said the institute’s release. In the coming weeks, Hofinger and his team will set up a new corporate structure “that will ensure a strict and transparent separation of the core competence of scientific social research for the public from other activities.” Ogris paid Hofinger “the greatest respect for his decision.” “Just as we have repeatedly succeeded in being a role model and inspiring in social and political research, people rightly expect the same from us in terms of transparency and credibility. We want and will live up to this expectation,” Hofinger also assured .
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