Strache pays price for again baiting ORF and presenter Armin Wolf, accusing them of "lying".
ADVERTISEMENTMore often than not it is the politician who sues the newspaper, not the other way around, but that is exactly what Austria's state broadcaster, ORF, is doing to the Vice-Chancellor, the far-right FPÖ's Heinz-Christian Strache.
Strache is a longtime critic of the ORF, accusing it of leftwing bias, and he wants to scrap the licence fee that funds it. Now he has accused star presenter Armin Wolf of "lying", and both he and the broadcaster have told Strache they will see him in court.
Austrian law obliged Strache to publish a preliminary court ruling this weekend on the same media, Facebook, where he made the lying allegation. The social media giant may also face legal action for not taking down the original offending post quickly enough.
FPÖ politicians often contest reporting by ORF. the latest example being on the smoking ban. Strache said that he wants to apologize and that he did not mean to offend Armin Wolf.
The far-right is the junior coalition partner in the Sebastian Kurz-led government.