At first everything went very quickly, now it is going much slower. At the end of May, ZDF announced that Matthias Fornoff would have to vacate his post as political editor on June 1st and that he would be given a new role in the editorial department – without management responsibility. Now, at the end of July, there is still no clarity about the future role of the 60-year-old journalist. When asked, ZDF told Tagesspiegel: “That has not yet been decided.” What remains decided, but has not yet been decided: Fornoff will take on a new role in the ZDF editorial department, which will be headed by Bettina Schausten.
Harassment allegations
According to ZDF, Fornoff’s demotion was preceded by “complaints about misconduct towards colleagues”. The broadcaster had investigated these, always with the view to “always having high expectations of its managers”. Matthias Fornoff admitted mistakes and accepted the decision made by ZDF, it was said at the end of May. The journalist was said to have been surprised by the harassment allegations made by three long-standing ZDF employees.
The journalist, who presents forecasts and projections in the ZDF election broadcasts and has also represented talk show host Maybrit Illner, went on vacation immediately after the incident became known. The broadcaster’s current statement on the matter is: “Matthias Fornoff is currently taking vacation and working off overtime. He is not back in the office yet.”
A ZDF spokeswoman did not want to reveal anything about the date of his return or the question of his continued (non-)employment: “We will inform you at the appropriate time.”
ZDF has already arranged for a replacement at the head of the main editorial department for politics and current affairs. “Shakuntala Banerjee will take over as head of the main editorial department on November 1st of this year. Until then, deputy head Antje Pieper will head the main editorial department on an interim basis,” ZDF said.
At the Lerchenberg in Mainz, the ZDF staff are curious to see what task editor-in-chief Bettina Schausten will offer her long-time colleague – and whether Mathias Fornoff (annual salary around 190,000 euros) will accept this challenge.