▷ Peter Frey: “We have to break clichés” / The ZDF editor-in-chief wants more …

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Frankfurt am Main (ots)

Too few East Germans in the editorial offices – ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey himself made this diagnosis in 2019. For several months now, he has been building in his own house. In an interview with medium magazin (4/2020) he explains the change of perspective and thinks that there is an urgent need for action for the industry: “The finding that there are too few media in East Germany that attract nationwide attention still applies. As long as the big newspapers come from Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne / Bonn, Hamburg and Berlin, the voices you hear from Leipzig, Dresden or other places in the east are missing, “says Frey.

“The public is still shaped and structured by West German. It is difficult to bring East German experiences and points of view to West German attention.” However: “I don’t believe in quotations”. His goal for the broadcaster is to fill positions in a more diverse way. “We will be working on new appointments from 2021.” In the past six months, Frey began to distribute at least decision-making positions differently: For the first time, three state studio directors are now occupied by East Germans – Melanie Haack in Thuringia, Cornelia Schiemenz in Saxony and Andreas Weise in Saxony-Anhalt.

With a view to the debate about the “summer interviews” with AfD politicians Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz in MDR and RBB and the question of the extent to which the discussion reflects different perspectives in East and West German editorial offices, Frey says: You plug in as a broadcaster a dilemma “. On the one hand you are dealing with a democratically elected party, on the other hand there are program regulations. “The principles of ZDF include criteria such as: ‘Understanding our society’ and ‘Promote social cohesion in the federal and state levels’. In our understanding, this excludes certain politicians.” He therefore understands “when editorial offices carefully examine who they invite and who not”. Basically he “prefers to find curious West Germans who deal with East Germany and curious East Germans who look out into the world and to West Germany”.

The complete interview with ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey by Anne Haeming appears in “medium magazin”, issue 04/2020. The magazine can be printed out or purchased individually as an ePaper or subscribed to https://shop.oberauer.com/medien/medium-magazin/364/medium-magazin-2020-04.

Other topics in this issue include: Hidden stars behind the editorial scenes 2020, debate about one-sided media reports, Axel Hacke on column writing, Volker Stollorz on more insight into scientific topics, topic instead of appointment journalism, the change from the Fuldaer Zeitung to a daily magazine, Julia Neumann about her work as a freelance correspondent in Lebanon and editorial impositions, dirty PR tricks, HR program director Gabriele Holzner about her preferences plus a 16-page workshop “digital self-defense” Preview: mediummagazin.de

Press contact:

Annette Milz, editor-in-chief mediummagazin,
[email protected]

Original content from: Medienfachverlag Oberauer GmbH, transmitted by news aktuell

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