After almost 22 years, 750 episodes and over 2,000 guests, it’s over: Frank Plasberg (65) is on Monday (November 14) at 9 p.m. for the last time as the moderator of “hard but fair” in front of the camera. The topic of his farewell program in the first is: “Off to the desert – who is looking forward to the World Cup in Qatar?”
Guests are Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (52), former national soccer player Thomas Hitzlsperger (40), ex-Bundesliga player Tuğba Tekkal (37), Steffen Simon (57), media director of the German Football Association (DFB), and sports official Willi Lemke (76). Together they discuss the question of whether a World Cup “in a country without a football tradition that disregards human rights” is a “total sell-out of football”. Or whether “in the end the great passion for the game” wins.
“Everyone will have to provide information until the question is really answered”. One of the standards set by Frank Plasberg. Or to put it in Tom Buhrow’s (64) words: “Tough on the matter, always fair in dealing with his guests.” The fact that Frank Plasberg is leaving “hard but fair” is a heavy loss for the ARD chairman: “For ‘hard but fair’ an era is coming to an end,” he is quoted as saying in a press release. Plasberg “decisively shaped” the format. In addition, “hard but fair” introduced “much of what is a matter of course for the talk show today”. These include individual interviews or feature films.
In 2003, Frank Plasberg received the German Television Award in the “Best Information” category for his journalistic work. The Adolf Grimme Prize and the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Prize followed in 2005, and in 2006 he was named “Journalist of the Year”. In 2008 he was also awarded a Bambi in the “Moderation” category.
The last “hard but fair” show with Frank Plasberg will be on Monday, November 14 at 9 p.m. on ARD. From January 2023, the Hamburg journalist Louis Klamroth (32) will take over Plasberg’s post. Klamroth previously moderated the talk show “Klamroths Konter” on the n-tv channel and was awarded the German Television Prize (Förderpreis) in 2018. In 2021 he was also in front of the camera for the “ProSieben Bundestag election show”.
