Why Pinar Atalay would have been the logical Kloeppel successor – Quotenmeter.de

When Peter Kloeppel and Ulrike von der Groeben announced in March that they would not renew their contract and thus stop presenting «RTL News» after 32 years, the question of who would succeed him inevitably arose. Who has the stature? of Anchorman who had the sovereignty to host a special broadcast at short notice during the attacks of September 11th, in which the first information only arrived gradually? Who has comparable authority, credibility, journalistic competence and physical and vocal presence that can hold a candle to him?

If you had asked me to whom these criteria most likely applied in the sender, I would have immediately, without hesitation, Pinar Atalay answered. Since 2021, the 46-year-old journalist has been leading the newly created late-night news journal “RTL Direkt” at RTL, after previously working in a similar role for the renowned “Tagesthemen” on German television for seven years. There, in the shadow of news greats such as Thomas Roth, Caren Miosga and Ingo Zamperoni, she was able to build such a good reputation that she was recommended for more. The Cologne-based private broadcaster obviously saw it the same way and hired her as an equal main presenter alongside Jan Hofer for the new news magazine, where she was to receive significantly more assignments.

For Atalay, it was a logical step on her career ladder. The decision by the “RTL News” editorial team to bring her on board for the flagship “RTL Aktuell” was also logical – on September 3, 2021, she celebrated her premiere on the news classic the evening before. At this point, I already had the feeling that Atalay was slowly but surely being built up as the most important journalistic person in the station after Peter Kloeppel in order to position her for his successor at a later date in the future. This impression was underlined by the fact that the journalist had already been selected in advance to contest the trial for the federal election as an interviewer together with Kloeppel, a kind of ennoblement for which she was also able to reap many laurels.

The replacement scenario outlined this year, after Peter Kloeppel announced his retirement, seemed logical and consistent – the person to whom RTL itself apparently attributes the greatest reputation alongside the long-standing anchor would be entrusted with the channel’s most widely read and therefore most important news program. And yet everything turned out – surprisingly in my view – completely differently. Instead of naming the established Atalay, who was already part of the team, as a strong successor, ntv news anchor Christopher Wittich and “Punkt 12” presenter Roberta Bieling were brought in from outside to form two teams.

At this point, a gap emerges that raises some questions. Without wanting to deny the competence and ability of the two, which they undoubtedly brought to their previous positions, it was Atalay who was considered the strongest in the RTL ranks to be put up for the trial – and not Bieling or Wittich. This leads to the conclusion that the strongest presenters will no longer lead the station’s strongest news format (in terms of ratings) (which was previously the case with Peter Kloeppel in terms of reputation). At the same time, this also means a weakening of “RTL Aktuell” in terms of external image.

Now one could counter this argument by saying that at other broadcasters such as ARD and ZDF the most journalistically profound and content-wise versed presenters do not necessarily present the news formats with the highest ratings. At ARD, for example, big names such as Ulrich Wickert, Tom Buhrow, Anne Will, Caren Miosga, Jessy Wellmer and Ingo Zamperoni do not present the most successful news program «Tagesschau», but rather the journalism spin-off «Tagesthemen» which is broadcast later in the evening and which requires greater journalistic input but also has lower ratings. The situation is similar at ZDF, where big names such as Marietta Slomka, Claus Kleber and Steffen Seibert do not want to broadcast in the early evening, but in the late prime time. They may present the news program with arguably the greatest reputation in Germany at the moment, but it gets about as many viewers as the main news program at 7 p.m.

A question of scale: RTL’s “Heute-Journal” is “RTL Aktuell”

However, these constellations can only be compared to a limited extent. After all, RTL does not have nearly as long a history of “Journal” in the late evening as the two public channels. Instead, the current situation is that in the program of the Deutz-based private broadcaster, the long-running “RTL Aktuell” is clearly of a larger caliber than its “Heute-Journal” counterpart “RTL Direkt” – both in terms of reach and the external impact, which was shaped for decades by the broadcaster’s most prominent newsman. In terms of size and internal pecking order, “RTL Aktuell” is also the Cologne-based “Heute Journal”. “RTL Direkt”, presented by Pinar Atalay, is clearly behind it and, despite some solid results, it is doubtful that this order will ever be reversed in the minds of viewers. This is also reflected in the Golden Camera award 2018, which was received by Peter Kloeppel with “RTL Aktuell” alongside “Tagesthemen” and “Heute-Journal”.

“RTL Aktuell” is firmly anchored in people’s minds as RTL’s most well-known and strongest news brand. In my opinion, this means that this brand should also be represented by the station’s strongest news personality: Pinar Atalaywho has been one of the country’s top news journalists for ten years. Her name is one of the names of Marietta Slomka, Caren Miosga, Peter Kloeppel, Ingo Zamperoni, Dunja Hayali and Christian Sievers and, in this logic, is almost inevitable. die Person who is moving up to lead RTL’s news department – and in terms of external representation, that is only possible at the top of “RTL Aktuell”. This can also be seen in the fact that new anchor Wittich is allowed to present the election broadcasts today.

Finally, it can be argued that Atalay would have to neglect her work as the sole main presenter of “RTL Direkt” in order to be the only presenter of the program, which would perhaps be more in line with her journalistic work. In this regard, there would be the opportunity for a moderated readjustment of “RTL Aktuell”, which could, among other things, provide for the program to be broadcast (at least partially) from Berlin, meaning that Atalay could present both programs on the respective days, alternating with substitute presenters. In addition, this location advantage in the political center (which the public broadcasters do not have) can be used to give the RTL news classic more depth through discussions with politicians and (short) interviews with other experts directly in the studio. In return, excess service, which could also be shown on “Punkt12”, could be eliminated. Or do the main news program really need reports on how you can tell when you get up in the morning whether it is going to be a good or bad day? Instead, it would be useful to have a long overdue regular climate column in which Atalay can speak to various actors and demonstrate her journalistic skills. If that means extending the show by five minutes, either at the front or back, why not?

Pinar Atalay, the third presenter of “Tagesthemen”, was lured to the station to get her into the front row. From the outside, however, it now looks as if she has once again moved on. If it was not her own decision to forego the “RTL Aktuell” successor (for example, for personal reasons or because she would rather focus on the late-night magazine), this should be respected. If this is not the case, then RTL is giving off a strange image in my opinion.