After her marriage to Christian Lindner on Sylt, journalist Franca Lehfeldt continued to work as a political reporter. In an interview, she explains her transparency rules and insists that her job has nothing to do with her husband.
The journalist Franca Lehfeldt has defended her decision to continue working as a political reporter for the Welt television station after marrying Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner. “Anything else would be a professional ban for a woman,” said the 32-year-old of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. In 2022, that would seem “absurd”.
The prerequisite for being able to continue reporting on politics is compliance with clear rules. So she does not report on the FDP and the Federal Ministry of Finance, said Lehfeldt. She also relies on transparency, which all too often does not exist in the cooperation between politicians and journalists. “In contrast to other constellations, everyone knows about my relationship with Christian,” she said.
The debates about her role do not annoy Lehfeldt. A relationship with a prominent person also puts you in the public eye – that was clear to her when they met. Lehfeldt has been working as the chief reporter for politics at the Welt television channel since this year; she previously held the same position for RTL and ntv.
“When Christian and I got together, he wasn’t federal minister, and I was still working at RTL, covered the Corona policy intensively and, like today at Welt, was responsible for the CDU and CSU. There was little professional overlap. Of course he was, I’ll call it: a controversial opposition politician. But it was easier to circumnavigate the FDP,” she continued.
When asked whether she also got confidential government information through her husband or vice versa, he through her, Lehfeldt said: “We have super full calendars, we really don’t see each other often. We don’t always feel like going into detail about work in the evening talk. We are a couple, just like any other.” She added, “Do you think I’ll sit there all day and adore him and wait for him to tell me something?”
Her recent move to the Welt television station shortly after her marriage to Lindner has nothing to do with her good relationship with the Vice Chancellor. “Please what? I have a bachelor’s and master’s degree. I cleaned hotel rooms during my studies. I graduated from the RTL journalism school. I have to laugh when you want to explain my career to my husband,” she told the newspaper. Lindner and Lehfeldt got married on Sylt in July – among the guests were Chancellor Olaf Scholz and CDU leader Friedrich Merz.
