ZDF's decision to cancel the planned appearance of the musician Danger Dan in the satirical show "Die Anstalt" at short notice met with a controversial response from the station's television council. Television councilors who did not want to wait for the committee to meet and who had spoken out against the cancellation in an open letter repeated their criticism and accused director Norbert Himmler of “lack of courage”. However, the ranks of the Television Council countered them by saying that with such an action they were devaluing the committee's work. Himmler defended the cancellation.
At no time did the ZDF leadership agree to have a song performed in the program that could be understood as a call to violence, said Himmler. An appropriate classification of the song would have been impossible in the broadcast itself. “We have not restricted freedom of art or freedom of expression,” said Himmler, adding that ZDF has followed its own program guidelines “in the exercise of our programming freedom.”
The song “Keine Angst” by Danger Dan was planned for the 100th broadcast of the “Anstalt” in July, which dealt with political radicalization in Germany and the rise of the AfD (and the BSW). In a way, the song would have been the highlight of the show. It consists of a long call to resist, join Antifa, form your own groups and take action. “Fascists” should be identified, reported to neighbors or employers, produced flyers and posters, and given names and addresses.
At the end of "Don't be afraid" it says: "Don't be afraid, take it into your own hands / They look dangerous, but we'll take them long / Coordinate yourselves, start training / If you fight together, then it can work / Already on the first day, when you have the party / There is a possibility that there will be a crash at the door / So always plan for the confrontation / Have surprises when it comes / It's legal the gray area scraped again / I'll just leave him in the room now, the elephant / It's clear what needs to be done anyway, I won't say anything more about it / Kind regards to Lina, Gucci, Maja and Nanuk". The “kind regards” go to members of the so-called “Hammer Gang” – a left-wing extremist group whose members attacked alleged right-wing radicals and some of whom have now been sentenced to prison sentences of several years.
According to a report from epd medien from the meeting, the Verdi representative on the ZDF television council, Cornelia Berger, accused Himmler of having “caused lasting damage” with the cancellation. The song could have sparked a needed debate; the cancellation could have a “chilling effect on other editorial teams”. Himmler received support from Steffen Kampeter, the employers' representative on the television council. He accused the authors of the open letter of devaluing the supervisory board with their action.
Program complaints against the documentary “On the Pulse with Sarah Tacke – Citizens’ Benefit System: Life without Benefits?” According to epd, they were almost unanimously rejected. The program had been accused of stigmatizing those receiving public benefit. The television council saw no violation of ZDF's programming guidelines, but assessed the report as one-sided. In the future, greater attention should be paid to balance.
Financially, ZDF recorded a loss of 78.6 million euros for 2025. The total revenue was more than 2.6 billion euros, the broadcasting fee brought in 2.2 billion euros, and advertising and sponsorship brought in 165 million euros. Of the expenses, which also amounted to around 2.6 billion euros, the largest shares were attributable to program expenses at 1.39 billion euros and personnel costs at 480 million euros.
