heute-journal (roughly Today's Journal) is a German television news program broadcast on ZDF.
History The programme premiered on 2 January 1978 as a late weekday evening 20 minute program. Originally, it was broadcast at 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 10 p.m. on Fridays. It has been broadcast at 9:45 p.m. since 1 January 1984.It is common for German television programs to be scheduled at 15 and 45 minutes after the hour. See the ZDF schedule. In 1991, the running time of the programme was extended to 30 minutes. 15-minute editions were added on Saturdays (in 1992) and Sundays (in 2000). The running time of the programme is sometimes extended to one hour, to cover special events or particularly important stories. During football matches, a short edition of heute-journal is generally broadcast during the half-time break, eliminating the second news summary, stock market report and the final report (usually related to science or culture).
The programme usually starts at 9:45pm and runs for 27 minutes, followed by a 3-minute weather forecast. On Fridays it starts at 10:00pm, after the Friday crime drama; on Saturdays it is usually broadcast from 10:45pm.
Concept In contrast to Heute, its early evening counterpart, heute-journal provides in-depth coverage of the news, usually with detailed background information and interviews with politicians, business leaders, experts, and other key people. There is also a daily report from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and a weather forecast. Wolf von Lojewski, a former presenter and managing editor of the programme, once said that while heute will report that a particular politician has resigned, heute-journal will also provide detailed analysis on the reasons for the resignation.
Each edition of heute-journal has two presenters: the main presenter, who introduces most reports and conducts interviews, and the co-presenter, who is part of the editorial team and presents news summaries during the programme. The presenters generally alternate weekly.
The programme is comparable to Tagesthemen broadcast on Das Erste. The programmes' audience is sometimes higher than that of heute.
Opening sequence Initially, the program programme's opening sequence showed the anchors, with a clock overlay and a ticker with headlines of the day. The ticker sound effect was Morse code for "heute".
The programme moved to a new, virtual studio in 2009, and a new opening sequence was added at the same time. The camera panned towards the anchors while the day's headlines, along with the time, were seen in the background; there was no real title sequence.
As of 19 February 2011, a darker background is used than for other heute news programmes. Instead of a 2D world map in the background, five globes are shown. At the start of the sequence, the clock and headlines appear in the foreground, followed by a title sequence, and finally either a zoom to the presenters or a cut to footage of the main story.
As of 25 June 2007, the program is broadcast in 16:9. It is available as a video or audio podcast.
Presenters Current presenters Presenter Start date RoleMarietta Slomka 29 January 2001 Main presenterChristian Sievers 15 January 2013 Main presenter (Relief presenter before 2022)Anne Gellinek 18 August 2022 Relief presenterDunja Hayali 20 February 2023 Relief presenter
Former presenters Presenter YearsKlaus Bresser 1978–1983Dieter Kronzucker 1978–1980; 1986–1988Karlheinz Rudolph 1978–1983Jochen Schweizer 1978–1982Gustav Trampe 1978–1979Ingeborg Wurster 1979–1984Ruprecht Eser 1985–1992Sigmund Gottlieb 1988–1991Alexander Niemetz 1991–2000Wolf von Lojewski 1992–2003Eberhard Piltz 1993–1997Helmut Reitze 1997–2002Klaus-Peter Siegloch 2003–2007Claus Kleber 2003–2021Steffen Seibert 2007–2010Maybrit Illner 2010–2012Bettina Schausten 2020–2022
Co-presenters Since 30 June 1986, there has been a co-presenter, or an "editor in the studio", who presents a news summary during the programme. Co-presenter Start date CommentsGundula Gause 8 February 1993 usually with Anne Gellinek or Dunja HayaliHeinz Wolf 11 January 1999 usually with Marietta SlomkaHanna Zimmermann 10 January 2022 usually with Christian Sievers
Former co-presenters Co-presenter Year started Year leftNina Ruge 1989 1994Bernhard Nellessen 1992 1994Anja Charlet 1995 2001Alexander Stock 1995 1997Michaela Kolster 2000 2000Caroline Hamann 2001 2002Barbara Hahlweg 2003 2007Carsten Rüger 2015 2015
Controversies In February 2026, heute-journal controversially broadcast artificial intelligence-generated videos of ICE deportations in the United States without specifying the videos' origin. ZDF later removed the segment and stated that the images should have been labeled as AI-generated.
References
External links (in German)