Let’s do a quick calculation with the list of moderators of the “Tagesthemen”. The show has been around since 1978 and the list is a small who’s who of German television history. Hanns Joachim Friedrichs, Sabine Christiansen, Ulrich Wickert – all ages ago. But this Thursday an era will come to an end. Caren Miosga, 54, is actually the one who stood in front of the blue wall the longest.
She was in office for 16 years, 2 months and 19 days, longer than Angela Merkel – and the comparison is apt, because over the years television viewers had become at least as used to Miosga as they were to the Chancellor.
So now it’s over. Caren Miosga moderated the “Tagesthemen” for the last time. Even before the broadcast, when she was briefly switched to at the end of the political magazine “Panorama”, Miosga said that the whole thing felt “uneasy”. She then masters the moderation confidently as always. It’s about Ukraine, the Kosovo conflict, the alleged attack on AfD politician Tino Chrupalla, business as usual. Miosga’s feeling of uneasiness must have slowly increased when stock exchange presenter Markus Gürne from Frankfurt spoke to her personally and said that he would miss her very much. At the end, their chief spokesman Jens Riewa presents a Snoopy, who should also be able to dance, Ingo Zamperoni gives an improvised laudatory speech, in the ARD studio in Hamburg-Lokstedt the whole team comes into the picture and applauds, and weather presenter Claudia Kleinert asks for her farewell words is anyone even interested in the weather now?
When Miosga started on the “Tagesthemen” in 2007, the interested public speculated primarily about the independent life of her eyebrows, because playing with the eyebrow was a specialty of her predecessor Anne Will. Miosga then did not continue this tradition, nor did she maintain a typical closing sentence, as this seems to be an unwritten commandment for male “Tagesthemen” presenters.
Other scenes remain in the memory. In 2014, for example, Miosga was not behind the table, but on the table. Was a tribute to the late Hollywood actor Robin Williams. Many people know the final scene from the film Dead Poets Society, in which the students pay respects to their teacher, played by Williams, climb onto their desks and shout “Oh Captain, my Captain!” call. Miosga says: “That was a serious gesture, as we television people also do well to change our perspective sometimes.”
The head of the Munich Security Conference stubbornly called her “Mrs. Slomka.”
At the end of Miosga’s last broadcast, the editors have once again compiled a compilation of the most memorable broadcasts. When Miosga hosted from Kiev when she hosted Ernie and Bert in the studio. But it was also unforgettable when Wolfgang Ischinger, the former head of the Munich Security Conference, repeatedly called Miosga “Mrs. Slomka” because he thought he was in an interview with the ZDF “Heute-Journal”.
Miosga will now do something she did 16 years ago. She inherits Anne Will. From next year onwards she will take over their talk slot on Sunday evenings. It is unlikely that Ernie and Bert will come to visit or have an opportunity to climb onto the table. But Miosga will come up with something else.