“I know proles who behave better than you,” says Jörg Thadeusz about Alice Weidel

RBB journalist Jörg Thadeusz takes a critical look at public broadcasting. "We always have a social democratic feeling: The viewer is ultimately in need of care. We have to take care of them. We must not overwhelm them," he complained in Beatrice Achterberg's "NZZ Machtspiel" podcast.

“It’s terrible because it always means that you degrade your counterpart and, of course, elevate yourself in the process.” His approach is based on the interests, attitudes and skills that he perceives in his neighbors and his father-in-law.

Achterberg asked whether there were any formats that he had recently been annoyed about. “This happens all the time,” the journalist emphasized. “I avoid a lot of things because they annoy me so much.” Tendencies would already become clear in the presentation of NDR's cultural radio. "I find that disastrous. Terrible articles, terrible interviews and, above all, far too much of the same thing."

There is also an oversupply of talk shows and repetitions in the guest selection. “Please not Ralf Stegner again,” he pleaded, referring to the SPD foreign politician, whose “smug German cowardly opinion – this bedwetting thing” – he condemned.

When dealing with interviewed politicians, Thadeusz called for clearer boundaries. He wouldn't have accepted Alice Weidel's behavior in the ZDF summer interview. "I would send them away. I would say: They have to go to etiquette school now," said the moderator. "You're a wealthy, educated woman and you don't have to behave like that. I know rednecks who behave better than you. And shouting, lying - that's just not possible."

“I find many of these appearances by people from the AfD indecent,” emphasized Thadeusz. “At what point does the point begin where I say: I don’t have to be treated like that?” This also applies to the appearance of the left-wing chairman Luigi Pantisano in the Berlin round. "You would have to say: Mr. Pantisano, what does that look like? Do you want to go out for a moment, take your medication and then come back in and then behave - is that how we want to do it?"

"I think public broadcasting is a fabulous idea. And at the same time it shows such internally decadent, late Roman traits," he said. At the same time, he defended himself against the idea that money was wasted within the system. "I can't remember a time when we lived in luxury. I certainly wasn't around then," explained Thadeusz. Larger amounts of money flow primarily into the structure and administration. In addition, public broadcasting bears “enormous pension burdens”. Would the institutions be able to cope with five billion euros in fees every year? “I can’t keep an eye on it.”

As a “supporter of total freedom,” he advocates that Ben Berndt, for example, be able to implement his podcast. “For me from a professional point of view, this is pathetic,” he criticized. “The gain in knowledge is greater if I think about it beforehand and don't just let everyone's lies be served to me hot and cold.” The ARD, on the other hand, is the “gold standard”, the “Mercedes-Benz” of journalism. "Let them make podcasts and ramble - but not us. Not us. At FC Bayern there are no mistakes in the play. It's perfect. And that's the expectation of us. That has to be your expectation of us."