ÖRR: SWR director Kai Gniffke will become ARD chairman in 2023

cultural NOSE

SWR director Kai Gniffke will become ARD chairman in 2023

Stand: 14.09.2022 | Reading time: 2 minutes

Kai Gniffke, director of Südwestrundfunk (SWR), recorded in front of the SWR headquarters

Source: dpa/Bernd Weißbrod

You can listen to our WELT podcasts here

In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is required, since the providers of the embedded content as third-party providers require this consent [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (which can be revoked at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can withdraw your consent at any time via the switch and via privacy at the bottom of the page.

Personnel change at ARD: Kai Gniffke from Südwestrundfunk will take over the chairmanship of the broadcasting association from next year. The 61-year-old has to start the job earlier than originally planned.

Dhe newcomer comes from SWR: The director of Südwestrundfunk, Kai Gniffke, will take over the ARD chairmanship in 2023. The ARD directors and committee chairmen decided on Wednesday according to ARD information in Bremen.

After the resignation of the RBB director Patricia Schlesinger from the ARD chairmanship, who was fired without notice, Gniffke started a year earlier than planned.

The 61-year-old has a difficult task ahead of him. Gniffke takes over the ARD business in what is perhaps the most difficult time for public broadcasting. The Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) is in a deep crisis after the continuing scandals surrounding its former director Schlesinger, and there is also rumbling in the houses in Hamburg and Kiel at the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The pressure on the public service system is also growing for this reason.

More prestige – but also more work

The ARD chairmanship changes among the ARD stations from time to time. Large houses are predestined for this because they already offer a large infrastructure. But also smaller houses already had the ARD presidency. As a rule, an intendant stays in office for two years. Towards the end of the first year he will be confirmed for a second year.

The ARD chairmanship means a lot of extra work for an institution, but also prestige. The ARD chairman represents the community as the highest representative and spokesman for the directors. He enters into dialogue with politics and society. He also sets his own impulses for public broadcasting.

The Südwestrundfunk is the second largest broadcaster in the ARD comparison after Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and before Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). In 2021, the SWR received a good one billion euros in broadcast contributions. The transmission area extends over Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.