Triell on ARD and ZDF: speaking time was apparently wrongly measured until the end

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Already pointed out problems with the time measurement during the triell on ARD and ZDF: Annalena Baerbock

Photo: Eibner Pressefoto / Lakomski / picture alliance / Eibner-Pressefoto

On Sunday evening, Armin Laschet (CDU / CSU), Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Olaf Scholz (SPD) met for the second of three major TV disputes shortly before the general election. Speaking time was measured to ensure equal opportunities. After about half of the triell, Baerbock was a little ahead of her opponents with her time account, according to the times shown. At the same time, in the middle of the ongoing conversation, the Green politician drew the moderation team's attention to the fact that Scholz's clock was still running, although he was no longer speaking. Moderator Maybrit Illner said at the time that they obviously had a technical problem and would clarify that.

In fact, it was probably not a problem that was quickly fixed by the broadcaster, as the moderators announced a short time later.

Instead, the error ran through the entire program.

A review of the media magazine “Übermedien” shows how significantly the speaking time measured has shifted in favor of the SPD candidate for chancellor.

According to this, Baerbock had a total of almost four minutes less speaking time than Scholz (25:30 minutes) with 21:37 minutes and almost three minutes less than Laschet (24:14).

The speaking times displayed by the broadcaster represented a greater balance - with a two-minute advantage for Laschet (26:25) over Scholz (24:39) and Baerbock (24:25).

When asked, ARD said that the moderators had already pointed out during the broadcast that there was a problem with the timekeeping. “There was a software bug behind it. The timekeeping was then also carried out by hand, "the broadcasters told SPIEGEL in a statement - and now also corrected the times that were originally displayed:" In the end, Olaf Scholz had a speaking time of 24:51, Armin Laschet 24:13 Minutes, so only 38 seconds apart. Frau Baerbock, on the other hand, had about 3 minutes less speaking. "

In the statement made by the ARD and ZDF editorial staff responsible for the Triell, the moderators had “based on the times available to them at the end of the live broadcast, saying that Armin Laschet's speech was about two minutes longer than that of the other participants .

Overall, the participants would be ›relatively close to each other‹. «

Since the moderators had also pointed out that this time difference could no longer be compensated for by the end of the broadcast, the editorial team believed that "transparency had been created", "that the goal of equal proportions of speeches could not be fully achieved in the scheduled broadcasting time."

Further content-related inquiries to the broadcasters about the process remained unanswered.

sak