With just a dozen major outlets, the media market is small and very concentrated. The oldest daily newspaper, the Wiener Zeitung, closed its doors in 2023, which will undoubtedly further weaken an already restricted pluralism. The tabloids have the largest readership and, therefore, receive the lion’s share of state funding. There is an almost complete lack of support for emerging media, especially in the digital sphere. 

Some politicians are suspected of having used public funds to buy favourable coverage in the tabloid media, while others have tried to intervene by directly going to editorial offices, such as former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Journalists are sometimes the targets of attacks by multiple political parties. The most fierce attacks come from the powerful far-right party FPÖ, which wishes to reproduce Orban’s authoritarian model of media regulation. The Constitutional Court has recognized flaws in the independence of ÖRF’s regulatory bodies, which have yet to be fixed.

Although various bills are being discussed, Austria is the last EU member state without a freedom of information law. Journalists are, moreover, concerned about the attempt by certain political parties to restrict their access to judicial information. Journalists covering demonstrations are sometimes arbitrarily sanctioned, while others are targeted by SLAPP procedures.

Quality media are in financial difficulty as they have lost their advertising contracts to online tech giants. Although independent funding for public broadcasting is secured through a mandatory household levy, significant savings had to be made because of political pressure. This funding is now being radically jeopardized by the rise of the FPÖ, which wants the ÖRF to be funded from the federal budget in order to reduce its size and steer it politically closer to the government.

A section of the population is increasingly skeptical of journalists and the media, even rejecting them outright. This attitude has been strongly pushed by the far-right FPÖ, which tries to delegitimize journalists by constantly accusing the media of “lying.” In addition, the conservative ÖVP party targets certain journalists and outlets with the accusation that they are activists. 

Reporters' coverage of protests is facing significant obstruction by police, who use frequent identity checks to harass them and threaten legal action. Women journalists regularly face psychological risks. Newsrooms often receive threatening letters and messages without adequate police response.