The Structure: Who Controls the Controller? # The broadcasting council is supposed to represent the public. That is the theory. The reality looks different.
On March 13, 2026, Norbert Himmler was re-elected as ZDF director by the Television Council. No opposing candidate. 48 out of 53 votes. Calling it North Korean would be an exaggeration — but democratic it is not.
When Elementary School Knowledge Becomes a Challenge # You would think that newsrooms funded with over 8.6 billion euros annually would at least know what European flags look like. You would think wrong.
Two Weeks, Two Broadcasters, Two Scandals — German Public Broadcasting in Free Fall # The dust had barely settled on the ZDF debacle — an AI-generated fake video in the flagship news programme “heute journal”, complete with a whistleblower hunt — when the ARD followed suit. Not with a technical error, but with a misrepresentation recycled for 15 years.
In the first part of this series, we showed what happened: an employee exposes internal misconduct, and instead of addressing the fake scandal, ZDF hunts down the messenger. Works council member Hubert Krech collected 600 likes with a tirade in which he labeled journalism as treason and called critical media war enemies.
Germany’s public broadcaster demands whistleblower protection – as long as it doesn’t affect their own network
There are moments when institutions expose themselves so thoroughly that all you can do as an observer is sit back in disbelief. Germany’s ZDF just delivered one such moment – a double one, at that.
Introduction # The death of Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, has sparked a flurry of media coverage and public debate. As with any high-profile figure, the representation of Kirk in the media has been scrutinized, with some questioning the accuracy and ethics of certain reports. This blog post aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the media’s portrayal of Charlie Kirk, focusing on potential inaccuracies, ethical considerations, and the broader context of his public persona.
In an era where emotions can be easily manipulated, public broadcasters like ZDF have a special responsibility to deliver well-founded and balanced information. Yet often it seems as if these stations rely more on sensationalism and fear-mongering rather than empirical data and scientific facts.
