Sexism allegations against Denis Scheck: ARD defends literary show

Previously, two negative book reviews by literary critic Denis Scheck, who has hosted the show for over 20 years, sparked a debate about sexism. In the episode broadcast on March 29th, the 61-year-old doesn’t give a damn about the newly published works by authors Sophie Passmann and Ildikó von Kürthy.

Passmann’s book, for example, describes Scheck with the words: “Water level reports from the shallows of a cloudy consciousness.” In the book by bestselling author von Kürthy, the well-known television critic sees above all “news from the chatter zone of a ladies’ room at a wedding.”

Passmann commented on Instagram about the criticism of her book on the show and accused Scheck of sexism. “This slur bothered me a lot because it was very nasty, but above all very sexist.” The 32-year-old went on to say that Scheck generally treats books by women “that deal with female life issues” with arrogance and condescension.

Von Kürthy sees contempt for women

The best-selling author Elke Heidenreich also questions Scheck’s discussion style in a recent article for “Zeit” and also criticizes the ARD: “Nasty things read from the teleprompter at midnight have no effect at all. For better or for worse, the fact that ARD has been financing something like this for years is as pointless as it is styleless. Cultural mission looks different.”

A few days earlier, the author Ildikó von Kürthy had already spoken out, also in an article for “Zeit”, and responded directly to the criticism of her book. “Many of my readers have advised me to ignore this malicious criticism. But, honestly? I’ve done that long enough. And now I’m finally old enough to no longer accept such disrespect, such contempt for reading and writing women without comment,” wrote the 58-year-old.

The discussions briefly presented by Scheck are part of the “Top Ten” section. This is an integral part of the show. In just a few minutes, Scheck discusses the ten best-selling books on the Spiegel bestseller list. These short discussions are also published as text in the Tagesspiegel. When he makes a negative judgment about a book, he throws it down a roller slide that leads to a trash can. This also applies to the two books by the authors Passmann and Kürthy.

ARD and Scheck react to criticism

When asked by the dpa, the 61-year-old said that for 23 years he has been trying to discuss the bestseller lists “in a very small space to provide a pointed and comprehensible assessment of very different texts.” Scheck’s reviews, according to the literary critic, are “for the works, not their authors or readers. In the list for the March broadcast, I praised four books by women, some of them enthusiastically, and reviewed three negatively.”

The ARD further announced that the gender of the authors did not play a role in the literary assessment. “Looking back, the editorial team realizes that the moderator praised more authors than criticized the list of books covered. ARD stands for equal rights and a diverse representation of perspectives in the program.”