Public broadcasters are sending around 50 employees to the Queen’s funeral
Security guard collapses on Queen’s coffin
The Queen’s coffin was laid out in Westminster Hall. The mourners form long queues. A stress test for the security guards, who have to stand motionless for hours. It got to be too much for one of them.
NDR and ZDF send employees to London to report on the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Both broadcasters will work in parallel, not alternately. Both broadcasters are keeping a low profile about the costs of personnel expenses.
AOn Monday, Queen Elizabeth II will be buried in a state ceremony in London. It is an event of gigantic proportions. According to media reports, around 2,000 guests, including Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, are expected. The public broadcaster will send around 50 employees from Germany to London for the funeral.
“In addition to the team from the ZDF studio in the British capital, around eight to ten moderators, reporters and experts are deployed at various locations,” said ZDF at the request of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (“NOZ”). In addition, there would be another 20 to 30 employees from production and technology as well as cameramen and local staff, said a spokesman for the broadcaster: “Long transmission distances such as the transmission of the funeral ceremonies for the Queen require a corresponding deployment of personnel.”
Unlike other royal occasions, ARD and ZDF do not accompany the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II individually, but in parallel. CDU leader Friedrich Merz recently criticized ARD and ZDF for their large personnel costs at the CDU party conference. Public broadcasting has been criticized for years because of the double structures between ARD and ZDF.
The NDR, which takes over the reporting for the ARD, strengthens the 19-strong team of the ARD studio in London by ten more people: “These ten people are – estimated – during the ten-day mourning phase for the Queen on site,” said a spokeswoman for the NDR at the request of “NOZ” and emphasized that the personnel costs for the extensive reporting are comparatively low. While the NDR produces the special programs in Hamburg and switches to the live positions in London, the ZDF produces its programs directly on site.
The NDR did not want to give any information about the costs for the personnel expenses in the context of the funeral ceremonies. ZDF also keeps a low profile in this regard.