2023: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes

The release of a video in May 2019 caused a scandal and led to new elections in Austria. The video, which was secretly filmed in Ibiza (Spain), showed two politicians from the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) planning a corrupt deal. In 2021, it became known that security consultant Julian Hessenthaler had organised the recording and entrapped the politicians.

Podcasts are less a news medium than they are a space for in-depth discussions. They also offer the opportunity to reflect on news coverage, its conditions and consequences.

In this podcast episode, Hessenthaler and journalist Michael Nikbakhsh speak candidly about the events surrounding the “Ibiza video”. Nikbakhsh uses the format to address his own involvement in the unmasking of Hessenthaler. In doing so, he reveals how journalistic work can influence events. Rather than analysing critically, this episode simply gives space to the perspective of a single person. 

More on the “Ibiza affair” at hdgoe.at/ibiza-affair-en

“Four Years of the Ibiza Scandal”, episode from “Die Dunkelkammer – Der Investigativ-Podcast by Michael Nikbakhsh”, 1:55 min., 17.5.2023, Die Dunkelkammer - Der Investigativ-Podcast

“So let‘s get down to it. Who is Julian Hessenthaler and what has he done?” 

“Yes, who is Julian Hessenthaler? I used to work in security consultancy, ended up running a company in Munich and, as you know, produced and recorded the Ibiza video. I was there myself and built the story around it, found the supposed oligarch’s niece. After some confusion, I then took charge of releasing it, via SZ and Spiegel, and was then also publicly associated with it and got a lot of the repercussions, as they say. I think that‘s a good summary of who I am and what I’ve done.” 

“I feel that I have to start with an apology. I looked it up, and on 22 May 2019, immediately after the video was released, I actually contributed to your identity becoming known, even though I didn‘t disclose it in profil at the time. I wrote a story: ‘This is the Man who Crucified Heinz-Christian Strache’, with a photo from the file, pixelated but still there. So I was one of the people investigating this matter, of course, but we’ll talk about that later. But if I had known how much it would complicate your life, I would probably have thought twice about it at the time. 

“To be honest, I realised right from the start that I would be exposed. The whole thing was clear from the moment Ibiza started being planned, the meeting in Ibiza, the villa rental, that I had made with my real credit card, I realised that my identity would be exposed. I expected it, I also predicted it to the SZ. I said it would take a week or so in my experience? I actually expected things to turn out differently.”