Criticism of public law
While the Wagner group advanced on Moscow, Bibi and Tina watched a monkey on ZDF
While the Wagner mercenaries advanced towards Moscow, ZDF showed its viewers how Bibi and Tina dealt with a monkey at Falkenstein Castle. ARD also showed children’s films.
© Kiddinx / ZDF
The world looked to Russia and the mutiny of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Saturday. At first, little was known on public television from ARD and ZDF.
These are events of dramatic proportions: a world power begins to falter – and the rest is watching spellbound. For ARD and ZDF, however, no reason to interrupt the program. At some point, Ulrich Deppendorf burst his collar: “I don’t understand it anymore. Not even ZDF,” wrote the long-time editor-in-chief of ARD-Aktuell on twitter.
This is what happened on January 6, 2021. Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to prevent confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory. If the insurgents had gotten away with it, it might have been the end of American democracy. But neither ARD nor ZDF felt compelled to change the program that evening. Instead of world history, the public broadcasters showed a feature film and a crime thriller.
ARD and ZDF: Hardly any information about the situation in Russia
The same picture emerges this weekend in relation to what is happening in Russia: While it became apparent late on Friday evening that the mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was turning against President Putin and was heading for Moscow with his troops, the ARD viewers were and ZDF not informed about the events outside of the news broadcasts.
When the country was already in the middle of a civil war on Saturday morning and international broadcasters such as the BBC and CNN had been showing the situation for hours, the public broadcasters were showing their audience children’s programs. The first started at 5:30 a.m. with “Lena’s Ranch”, followed by formats such as “Die Pfefferkörner” and “Panda, Gorilla & Co”, interrupted by a five-minute “Tagesschau” at 9:50 a.m. In the meantime, there was “Bibi Blocksberg”, “Bibi und Tina” on ZDF, and crime thrillers ran a little later.
That’s what the broadcasters say
The broadcaster only reacted in the afternoon and inserted a “ZDF special: power struggle in Russia” at 2:10 p.m. and 5:50 p.m. A “Heute Journal Spezial” was planned for 8:15 p.m., and the “Heute Journal” was extended at 10:45 p.m., as ZDF announced on request.
The ARD pointed out that the viewers were regularly informed in the “Tagesschau” editions and via text overlays in current programs and with a “Tagesschau extra” from 3:27 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. In addition, there was a report in the evening in a “focus” and in an extended edition of the “daily topics”. In addition, the regular “Tagesschau” editions provided extensive information about the situation.
There is a reason for the reluctance: “In our reporting, we have taken particular care to limit ourselves to secured and confirmed information at all times,” it said at the request of the star. The news situation was still very opaque, especially in the morning and mid-morning hours.
criticism on Twitter
On social media such as Twitter, displeasure spread that the fee-financed broadcasters did not see themselves in a position to provide comprehensive information about the civil war in Russia. “Can it be true that #ARD and #ZDF are sleeping through this moment?”, asked the “Zeit” journalist Gero von Randow dumbfounded. Others criticized the fact that the two institutions had to be taken over by the coronation of King Charles III at great expense. had reported – but were not present at the unfolding events in Russia.
While the Phoenix channel, which belongs to the public broadcaster family, jumped into the breach during the storming of the Capitol and kept the viewers up to date, on Saturday morning there were only nature documentaries to be seen here. As important as the melting glaciers of Greenland are, special programs on the situation in Russia would certainly have better satisfied the viewers’ need for information that day.
Interested fee payers were left with what the then chief moderator of the “Heute Journal”, Claus Kleber, tweeted on the evening of January 6, 2021: “Switch on CNN. Immediately.”
Editor’s note: We have added statements from ARD and ZDF to the text.