For decades he was the face of the ARD-„Tagesschau“ and presented in recent years the Late news “RTL Direkt”: Jan Hofer will stop working as a newsman in the summer. The 70-year-old said in an interview with the German Press Agency: “Now the time has come when I want to see my son grow up. He is only eight and he would really like to play football with his dad more often.”
At the end of 2020, the TV journalist presented the ARD “Tagesschau” on Das Erste for the last time after decades. After that, many thought that he would retire, but they were wrong. In recent years, Hofer has been the Face of the late evening news “RTL Direkt”. Hofer told the dpa: “I never intended to retire completely. There were various offers, the most interesting by far came from RTL.”
Individual projects planned with RTL
When asked if this would be the final end of his working life, Hofer said: “I will certainly not disappear from the media. RTL has assured me that I am seen as an RTL face and that I am obviously accepted as such by the viewers. We will now continue with individual projectsthat give me more freedom – and of course I will still be present on social media.”
RTL announced that Hofer would be leaving “RTL Direkt” at the end of August after around three years. From then on, Anchorwoman Pinar Atalay the sole main presenter of the successful RTL news program. RTL manager (Chief Content Officer) Inga Leschek said: “Even if Jan Hofer withdraws from regular news presenting, it will definitely not be a farewell to RTL. We are already in talks for a future project.”