“Good journalism is more important than ever these days”

Anja Reschke (51) is an investigative journalist, TV presenter, and the face of Panorama, one of the most successful current affairs shows on German television. For the past two years, she has also had her own show on the TV channel Das Erste. In our interview, the LMU alumnus discusses her student days in Munich, the price of speaking out, and what skills young journalists need. She also gives her opinion on the German media landscape and where it is heading.

You were a political science major at LMU in the 1990s, minoring in history and social psychology. What do you recall from your student days?

Anja Reschke: As I’m from Munich and didn’t have to conquer a new city, it wasn’t that much of an adjustment. Instead of going to school, I went to university. There was no great fanfare or fussing over new students. There was no freshers week, no extra welcoming ceremony, nobody took us by the hand. There was the course catalog and you had to stand in line for hours to register for courses. Then you went to your lectures and that was that.

Otherwise, life went on in the cafés and bars of Schellingstrasse or Türkenstrasse or in the English Garden. I can’t remember pulling all-nighters before exams. We had to knuckle down for term papers, intermediate exams, and then the Magister thesis. I have the impression that universities do a lot more to foster a sense of community nowadays. But that bachelor’s and master’s courses also demand a lot of students.

You finished your studies at age 26. Young people today often have several years of job experience behind them at this age. Do they lack time to try things out and find themselves?

We presumably had more time for passionate debates. At the same time, I worked almost continuously during my studies. From 2002, I worked as a freelance reporter for Antenne Bayern, mostly during the early-morning shift from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. After that, I looked after my university work. In my generation, the competition for jobs was much tougher than today. On the other hand, I get the impression that today’s generation of students is much more politically and socially engaged than we were. In the fight for the climate, for example, or against the rightward shift in society. We were more focused on ourselves.

After completing your politics degree, you did an internship at NDR. Today, editorial departments are looking for data analysts, prompt engineers, and machine learning specialists. Did you feel your studies prepared you well for working life?

Those are tools. First and foremost, good journalism needs people who can understand, contextualize, and critically evaluate situations. When I started my course in political science, I didn’t know what I wanted to become – no doubt to the chagrin of my parents. But I must say that I still benefit from my studies to this day. It gave me a foundational understanding of all the questions we’re dealing with today. What is the role of a state? What constitutes a body politic? What is good government? That’s what political theory was about. Which external political forces have an influence? What different economic, social, and strategic interests do states have? How do they interact with each other? That was international politics.

Currently we see these issues playing out every day. My studies at LMU shaped my understanding of democracy and systems of government. I’m glad I didn’t just receive a narrowly focused education, but also learned to question things. You can always add on important professional skills like data journalism later.

You’ve been presenting the TV show Panorama since 2001 – when you were just 28 years old. How did the job come about?

By chance. Every now and again, life brings us to a crossroads. I didn’t plan it. The position was vacant, I gave it a whirl, and I got the job. At the beginning of my internship, I didn’t even know whether critical, investigative journalism was my thing. But I noticed that I’m not satisfied with superficial answers. I love reading up on topics, shining a light on various perspectives, drilling down.

Only then can I condense everything again, concentrate on one aspect. And I realized that I get a lot of satisfaction from giving people a voice, pointing out injustices or inaccuracies. So I’d like to say the following to young people: Don’t fret too much about your career. Naturally, you need a bit of good luck. But people do best in a field that interests them and makes them happy.

You’re a mother of two. How did you manage the childcare despite your high workload?

In our society, unfortunately, people still often take it for granted that it’s the mother who looks after the children. In my partnership, it was clear from the outset that both of us were equally responsible for raising children – I’d recommend the same to all other women and men. We were fortunate that my husband was a sports journalist and often worked at weekends – when I was free.

We were also helped by the childcare structures in Hamburg, which were much better than in Munich. To this day, Bavaria doesn’t exactly lead the way in daycare centers. Political decisions have effects on social development.

On the evening news in 2015, you called on people to make a stand in an item discussing the stirring up of hatred against refugees. The clip went viral and racked up four million views in just 24 hours – and not only from positively disposed users. What did you learn from this experience?

There was a lot of pent-up emotion back then and I was suddenly in the eye of the storm. Ten years ago, shitstorms and public outpourings of support were the province of just a few people. Nowadays, people know what awaits them in each specific social network and can generally deal with it all better. As a rule of thumb, I can say: Some shitstorms are nothing but storms in a teacup. Haters are simply louder and often have troll armies behind them. We shouldn’t cede public forums to trolls.

You presented the media review Zapp on television for 17 years. Artificial intelligence, fake news, non-transparent algorithms in social media: Are you worried about our media landscape?

Yes. The internet is driven by clicks and emotion. Algorithms determine what comes to our attention. In view of this, I do in fact have some praise for good old linear television. In a world in which the achievements of the Enlightenment and the foundations of democracy are beginning to crumble, I’m glad that we ourselves can determine what we broadcast.

In 2023, you got your own show Reschke Fernsehen on the TV channel Das Erste. Its ratings are strong, including among the younger demographic. How are you getting young people to switch from TikTok to television?

They mostly watch our content on the channel’s media center or on YouTube. Catering to several target groups is a challenge. How many social media memes can I include in the program without confusing older viewers? Who is our sidekick – a young influencer who means nothing to your average TV viewer, or an actor you only know if you watch crime shows on traditional TV? We’re always trying to pull off a balancing act. I’ve discovered, however, that what counts most of all is whether the topic is compelling. There’s not that much difference between young and old in this regard. A good story is a good story – it depends on whether it’s well researched and how you tell it.

Would you advise young people to become a journalist nowadays?

Everyone now has the ability to broadcast their views to many other people. But I think people do notice when there’s substance or research behind these opinions and when it’s just bloviating. As media creators, we don’t reach all 83 million people in the country, but we do reach quite a large number of them. I’m convinced that young people don’t just consume froth on social media – our youth reportage format STRG F proves this.

There is a demand out there for serious information, for contextualization. As such, there’ll always be a place for good journalism. The revelations by the magazine Correctiv about so-called “remigration” prompted millions of people to take to the streets in early 2024. I can’t remember the last time a story had such an impact.

Your father was a professor of economics at Munich University of Applied Sciences. You were on the University Council of Europa-Universität Flensburg. With your experience, have you ever considered taking on a teaching role in your old home?

I love Hamburg, but I miss Bavaria and its mountains every day. So I can certainly envisage coming back one day. Why not as a lecturer? Especially as I really like working with young people. I’m interested in what they think. A few years ago, I gave three lectures in Vienna as part of the Theodor Herzl Lectureship in the Poetics of Journalism. That was a hugely enjoyable experience.