At Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) there will be no more broadcasts with presenter Jörg Thadeusz before the federal election. The editor-in-chief of the public broadcaster RBB, David Biesinger, announced on Monday: “After the discussion about its publication in a party magazine for the Berlin parliamentary election today, Jörg Thadeusz suggested that we suspend his work until the election.” The Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR) also draws conclusions: Thadeusz pauses his moderation of the radio talk show on WDR 2 until the election. The reason: Thadeusz, who is one of the best-known presenters of the RBB, had a text for a magazine of the FDP regional association in Berlin (Opportunities – The magazine before the election) written. On September 26, Berliners will vote not only on the Bundestag, but also on the composition of the House of Representatives in the capital.
At the RBB, according to the rules of procedure, broadcasters are not allowed to appear on a radio program during an election campaign in the six weeks before the election date if they are actively involved in the election campaign. The WDR also made it clear that the moderator’s contribution to the party magazine contradicts the broadcaster’s rule that its own employees are not actively involved in the election campaign. In the WDR broadcasts up to the election, Thadeusz would also have spoken to politicians.
The RBB was supposed to moderate the RBB program “Thadeusz and the observers”
The media magazine Over media had announced two cases at the RBB days ago. With a moderator, who, according to the broadcaster, signed a specific call for a candidate for the office of governing mayor, the RBB agreed that she would not appear again until the election. With Thadeusz, the ARD-Anstalt actually saw a different case so far. It is true that he also exceeded the limits set in the RBB’s rules of procedure. It was then agreed with Thadeusz that he would not assume any obligations until the election – with one exception: he would have the show on September 21 Thadeusz and the watchers be allowed to moderate. There he should also comment on the article in the party magazine. The broadcaster also justified this with the fact that the format stood in a special way for controversy and diversity of opinion in the RBB. It would be considered wrong to “make an example” of this program in this context. Thadeusz was finally quoted in the RBB announcement on Monday as follows: “I have to admit that my publication is being interpreted as partisanship. I do not want my colleagues at RBB to be exposed to doubts about their journalistic integrity because of my mistake. ” There had already been a similar problem with Thadeusz during the 2017 election campaign.