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Oliver Köhr and Maybrit Illner bem Triell: One weighs down, the other contradicts the weighed down.
Photo: ARD / ZDF
"If I may say that in fairness: Mr. Scholz's clock is still running." That a candidate for the Chancellery points out to the moderator of an election talk that the political opponent is being treated unfairly, like Annalena Baerbock with regard to the Olaf Scholz's speaking time at Triell on ARD and ZDF is rare. But the mistake Baerbock complained about the time recording was symptomatic of the mistake of the moderation on Sunday evening as a whole.
And the reaction to it was also symptomatic: ARD man Oliver Köhr replied: “Yes, it has to be switched off at the moment.
But we make sure that everything is correct. ”Then energetically arranging notes at the high desk, as if this alone made the time recording correct.
ZDF woman Maybrit Illner added: »We actually have a problem.
That will not do."
Was there no agreement?
One weighs down, the other contradicts the weighing down - that sums up the hiccups of the election program with Baerbock, Scholz and Armin Laschet, which was jointly scheduled and broadcast by ARD and ZDF. There were moments when the moderator and moderator left the three to their own devices, and then there were moments when they cut each other off on the questions themselves. You didn't have the feeling that Köhr and Illner had agreed beforehand. Sometimes it seemed as if they were playing a match among themselves rather than paying attention to the rules of the game when their guests were playing.
But while the star talker Illner was doing the rounds like a somewhat clumsy edition of her ZDF programs and was also able to admit mistakes in front of the camera, the less camera-experienced Köhr - who had been ARD editor-in-chief and coordinator for politics, business and society for four months - worked. often stubborn and opinionated.
Several times he got stuck on a specific topic, but missed opportunities for follow-up.
Contrition at the ARD
At ARD, they are not happy with the way the triall went.
Especially since after the also suboptimal triumph at the private competitor RTL two weeks ago they wanted to emphasize the superiority of the public broadcasters.
But if you ask around at the ARD management level, you will mainly encounter contrition. Also because the network of broadcasters already suspected when planning the Triell that Köhr and Illner would probably not be a dream team. The staffing was also a result of the complicated procedure between the broadcasters, in which gender parity played just as much a role as station proportionality and hierarchical levels. A long process.
The ZDF had already presented in the spring and named Maybrit Illner as the representative for what is probably the most important of all election programs.
Because of the desired gender parity, there should probably not be a second woman on the moderation side.
For example, Tina Hassel, the head of the ARD capital studio, who had already proven how committed campaigners can be lured out of the reserve, left the company.
Hassel will now lead the final round of the top candidates on September 23 with ZDF colleague Theo Koll.
The hierarchy logic takes effect
At ARD, however, they did not want to oppose Maybrit Illner at Triell with an alpha-male talker from their own network, as in previous rounds they had found that between the big talkers, as it is called in the broadcaster jargon, »jealousy reflexes« can occur through which the interviewers block each other. That is why Köhr was ultimately chosen, who already knew when he took up the post of editor-in-chief in May of this year that the Triell moderation was also priced in. Amazing how little he had apparently coordinated with his ZDF colleague in the last quarter of the year.
It may also have been problematic when setting up the moderation staff that the hierarchy logic immediately takes effect in the ARD with such prestigious political set-ups: Jobs of this kind can only be filled from the top editorial management level in this house, which is burdened by many iron rules. It would have been easy to imagine that a smooth follow-up like the »Tagesthemen« moderator Ingo Zamperoni could have been the male moderation counterpart in the public election arena. But the path from the »Tagesthemen« moderator to the Triell matador is not foreseen in the bureaucracy. Or at least very long and very arduous.
It's different with private competition.
For Pinar Atalay, it was only a small leap from the back-up shift on the »Tagesthemen« to the moderator of the first election triad at her new employer RTL.
There was a lot of hooking up there, but in between Atalay managed to unleash a few surprising things that were missed by Köhr and Illner, who were too keen on their own points.
If ARD and ZDF want to survive in the future against the competition from RTL and ProSieben, who have now repositioned themselves journalistically and politically, the principle must apply: dare less hierarchy.