Shortly after noon it was clear that this election would be what nobody expected: exciting. Neither the very differently boring presentations of the two candidates in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz, nor the fact that the chairman of the TV Council, Marlehn Thieme, had other items on the agenda such as “Social cohesion and diversity in the ZDF offers” worked through without being impressed. Outside the barges were sailing down the Rhine, one could have the impression that the choice of a successor to Thomas Bellut, who was retiring in March, was happening on the side.
In the first ballot, neither Tina Hassel, the head of the ARD capital studio, nor Norbert Himmler, program director of ZDF, received the necessary 36 of the 60 votes on the television council. She got 24 votes, he got 34, with two abstentions. That too: not surprising. The ZDF experienced Himmler was the favorite, Hassel suddenly entered the race in June as a candidate for the so-called red circle of friendsthat few chances were calculated.
Three quarters of an hour later the quiet long river was over, after the second ballot, Hassel and Himmler only had four votes left, somehow everything now seemed possible, everything open, everything unpredictable. That one of the two candidates would get a three-fifths majority that day is unthinkable.
There have already been elections on ZDF that ended in such a constellation with directors who had not yet stood for election on the morning of the same day. Bellut’s predecessor Markus Schächter came into office. On the concrete slab in front of the hall during the break between meetings: perplexity.
And then Hassel says: “I will finish the race at this point.”
Tina Hassel made this choice, so much one can say, when she went to the microphone shortly before 1 p.m., seemed as relaxed as she had not during the whole morning, and at the moment of greatest strength declared her withdrawal. “I will finish the race at this point,” she said. She and Himmler wanted the same thing: a strong public service broadcaster. “A choice with real alternatives is the crown of democracy. In this respect, I am riding with my head held high here from the court”.
She thanked all supporters, congratulated Himmler and rode away, so to speak. In the third ballot, Himmler received an overwhelming 57 of the 60 votes, a single throwing of hearts, and was again the consensus candidate he was before Hassel’s appearance. Himmler started with “a lot of tailwind”, said TV council chief Thieme at the subsequent press conference. Himmler said he was happy. In a situation like that, you can’t just say how good my career and my desires have not been shot to pieces.
When he presented himself and his plans for ZDF to the committee in the morning – in alphabetical order second and after Tina Hassel – he was self-confident, relatively free in his lecture, rather brief than verbose. He wanted a ZDF for everyone, to promote cohesion in society and to have even more conversation with viewers. The station should be more courageous, rely on innovation, and implement diversity among the workforce in all areas. For the management he strives for parity if possible. He also wanted to be the first point of contact for creative people in Germany, as program director Himmler was in his own area. One could stand against the seemingly overpowering streaming services, he explained and concluded again and again with the sentence: “You can measure me against this in 2025.” For a short while he stood behind the desk with his hand in his pocket, exactly the casual demeanor known from his predecessor Bellut.
Of course, Himmler can hardly distinguish himself from the broadcaster as it is today, he has been with the company for too long as a hierarchy and also talks like that, even when he has a lot to do with the crazy creative industry as program director. Therefore, the moment was remarkable when he showed a trace of pathos. “I identify with ZDF, I am passionate about this house and its mission,” said Himmler. And he will “defend the station if necessary”. That leaves room for speculation as to what was meant – the new enemies of public service broadcasting? Or the old political proportional representation when filling positions? In any case, it looked impressive.
Decided the choice with her withdrawal: Tina Hassel speaking at the television council meeting.
(Photo: Ralph Orlowski / dpa)
Hassel chose a more emotional approach right from the start, speaking in her short presentation in ZDF-Orange about “what I intend to do with ZDF”, about attention rockets that ignite public broadcasters and about the “space for us” that the ZDF has to offer from the “loneliness epidemic” of the present. Her offers to the conservatives were clearly noticeable when she promoted a modern concept of home and even called in the former BR director Ulrich Wilhelm and his design for a European digital platform. Perhaps she had had to explain this too often to many people in the last few days, at least she began to mumble very easily towards the end of her terrifyingly calm lecture.
The nice thing about the election in Mainz was that you could see the so-called circles of friends in person, who have recently placed great emphasis on being non-partisan in the ZDF television council. The black man, led by former Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, CDU, gathered behind a barrier tape on the terrace in front of the hall during the break after the first ballot. The red, headed by Verdi boss Frank Werneke, conferred in the meeting room. This is remarkable because otherwise everyone on that day pretended that this camp formation did not exist in the powerful supervisory body. And as if it were beyond the possibilities that Hassel’s withdrawal could have been linked to concessions from the black to the red circle of friends. With her presentation she should at least have recommended herself for other offices to be filled in the public-law cosmos in the near future.
In the past few weeks, there has also been repeated speculation as to whether the price for allowing the red circle of friends to let Himmler pass in the end could be political influence on the next year’s successor to ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey. The station’s board of directors has to approve the changes, but the director has to propose them, and after this election day it is an adventurous idea that Himmler could help Hassel to the post of editor-in-chief without looking like someone who owes his office to a political deal. After the election, he himself rejected the fact that there could now be expectations from the political side. He was counting on “expectations from the entire television council,” he said, but neither he nor Tina Hassel would have considered themselves candidates for a circle of friends if he understood them correctly. “So the question will not arise for me now”. It sounded like he was putting the slogan behind it: “You can measure me by this in 2025.”