Judith Rakers is quitting as a spokeswoman for the “Tagesschau” after 19 years. The 48-year-old is leaving at the end of January at her own request because she wants to concentrate more on her entrepreneurial activities, the public broadcaster Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) announced in Hamburg on Tuesday. Rakers has been involved in gardening and growing vegetables for years. She can be seen on the “Tagesschau” for the last time on January 31st.
According to the information, there will initially be no successor. The 8 p.m. main edition, which is watched by millions of viewers every day, will continue to be presented by Jens Riewa, Susanne Daubner, Julia-Niharika Sen, Thorsten Schröder and Constantin Schreiber.
Rakers was quoted in the NDR announcement as saying: “After 19 successful and exciting years at the “Tagesschau”, I have decided with a heavy heart to leave. It is time to focus my life on other projects “To further expand my entrepreneurial activities and tackle new things for which there was previously too little time apart from the news shift.”
In 2005 she appeared in front of the camera for the first time as a spokeswoman for the “Tagesschau” – in the main edition at 8 p.m. for the first time in March 2008. She doesn’t turn her back on television completely. She continues to moderate the talk show “3nach9” (Radio Bremen/NDR), and she continues to present episodes of the ARD travel magazine “Wunderschön”.
Anyone who follows Rakers on Instagram knows that she has been passionate about gardening for years. The 48-year-old posted a photo of herself with a box of vegetables on Tuesday and explained her departure from the “Tagesschau”. She has always worked as a freelancer there and has therefore built up other bases. In addition to other TV engagements, she started writing books about vegetable growing, nature and gardening – “my great passion,” wrote Rakers.
The Paderborn native announced her first children’s book. She is also working on a board game. At the same time, she is thinking about new television formats – “but I’m now giving up the daily shift work at ‘Tagesschau’.”
The first editor-in-chief of ARD-aktuell, Marcus Bornheim, was quoted in the NDR announcement: “Judith Rakers’ departure from the ‘Tagesschau’ is a great loss. She is not only popular with our viewers, the entire team also appreciates her as a person and colleague.” The “Tagesschau” and its sister show “Tagesthemen” are produced in Hamburg on the NDR premises. The ARD joint institution ARD-aktuell is responsible.
The “Tagesschau” at 8 p.m. is the most successful main news program on German television. Last year, an average of 9.459 million tuned in daily on the first, third and affiliated channels.
This is why the additions and departures of the “Tagesschau” speakers often affect the German public. After around 36 years behind the desk, Jan Hofer read out the “Tagesschau” news from Germany and the world for the last time in December 2020. He became a presenter on “RTL Direkt”. Linda Zervakis also said goodbye to the “Tagesschau” audience in April 2021 and started at ProSieben. There was also a much-noticed transfer on “Tagesthemen”: Pinar Atalay moved from ARD to RTL as a news presenter in 2021.
Source: NDR
Note: This text has been updated.
