Frank Plasberg moderated “Hart aber fair” on ARD for 22 years. The 65-year-old will soon be giving up and giving several interviews to say goodbye. In it he criticizes public broadcasting, young editors and says why he doesn’t want to go to “Let’s Dance” now.
ARD moderator Frank Plasberg questioned the themes of the public broadcasters shortly before he left “hart aber fair”. “Diversity is an important task and minorities of any kind have to take place. The question is whether you have to do it with overzealousness,” the 65-year-old told a podcast by “The Pioneer”. “Shouldn’t one also understand diversity to mean thinking of people who in the majority are becoming a minority, such as the perspective of the commuter flat rate with diesel in the country and not the premium for cargo bikes?” The journalist continues: “Sometimes we broadcast over people’s heads.”
Plasberg also said in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”: “I don’t understand how – instead of being curious – you try to strengthen your world view with suitable stories. I don’t understand where this damn feeling comes from, always on the right page to stand where you nod happily and say, yeah sir, we’re the good guys!”
He doesn’t talk about “wokeness and not about gender asterisks”. He is generally concerned with a strange, absolute self-confidence that he does not understand. “And I especially don’t understand it when it comes to young colleagues, because this generation is better educated and was brought up in a more dialectical manner than we are. This self-confidence is certainly more comfortable because it doesn’t get you into trouble in your own milieu.” But it is part of the craft to put yourself in other perspectives.
For a reform of public service broadcasting in Germany, Plasberg named Radio Bremen as a role model in “The Pioneer”. “Anyone who knows the lean structures at Radio Bremen, the director doesn’t even have a service bike, then you know where the right place for reform and a new start is,” said the long-time “hard but fair” moderator. “Learning from Bremen means learning to survive.”
Radio Bremen (RB) is one of the smallest stations within the ARD. Radio Bremen cannot finance itself completely from its own resources, i.e. from the broadcasting contributions to which the ARD broadcaster is entitled. As a so-called recipient institution – similar to the financial equalization of the federal states – the ARD broadcaster, like Saarländische Rundfunk (SR), therefore receives money from larger financially stronger ARD broadcasters.
Plasberg will moderate his talk show “Hart aber fair” for the last time next week. He bids farewell to the audience with the program entitled “Off to the desert – who’s looking forward to the World Cup in Qatar?” After that, “Hart aber fair” takes a break. In the coming weeks after the start of the football World Cup, either football or an old film will usually be found in the slot. From January 9, 2023, the former ntv presenter Louis Klamroth will then lead through the show.
The “Süddeutsche” said Plasberg, his “family and his fitness trainer” told him to go to “Let’s Dance”. “And I say, do you still have them all? I’m not going to jump over the next stick. I’m not doing that. I see it as my job to watch myself not being important anymore. Risk of falling included.”
