ORF

ORF is listed as Center on Crosswire: as a public-service broadcaster its mandate is broad, balanced coverage rather than a party-political editorial line. In Austria, Der Standard is listed as Left-leaning, while Kronen Zeitung and Die Presse are listed as Right-leaning — so you can open ORF beside a title of a different orientation and compare the same day's front pages directly.

Read ORF beside another title from Austria and the differences show up fastest in what leads the page. Public-service broadcasters usually carry a wider spread of civic, regional and cultural stories than commercial rivals, and lead less often on conflict or celebrity — so the gap between ORF's front page and a commercially funded one is often less about opinion than about what each considers newsworthy in the first place. Because ORF is listed near the centre, it works best as the fixed point in a comparison — put a left- and a right-leaning title from Austria either side of it and the direction each one pulls becomes measurable rather than impressionistic.

This is an approximate orientation, not a definitive judgement — and not a rating of quality or accuracy. Read how Crosswire classifies editorial leanings, including the sources behind each label. Directory last reviewed 2026-08-31. Think this label is wrong? Suggest a correction.

ORF is one of 6 outlets tracked in Austria and the only public broadcaster tracked there. By outlets tracked, Austria ranks 14th of the 45 countries on Crosswire's Europe hub, which lists 264 outlets in all.

Across Europe, Crosswire tracks 27 of the 59 public broadcasters in the directory. The nearest counterparts to ORF outside Austria, starting with Western Europe, are SRF (Switzerland), RTL Today (Luxembourg), BBC News (United Kingdom) and RTÉ News (Ireland). Opening one of them beside ORF is the quickest way to see what is a house style and what is a national one.