Anne Will (born 18 March 1966) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

television journalist and host of the eponymous political talk show. She was

anchorwoman A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

of the daily ''

Tagesthemen ''Tagesthemen'' is one of Germany's main daily television news magazines, presented by journalists Caren Miosga and Ingo Zamperoni. Second only to the 20:00 '' Tagesschau'' ("Review of the Day") ''Tagesthemen'' ("Issues of the Day") is ARD's most ...

'' news broadcast on ARD from 14 April 2001 until 24 June 2007.

Early life and career

Will was born on 18 March 1966 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, the daughter of an architect. She grew up in

Hürth Hürth is a town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hürth shares borders with the city of Cologne and is about 6 km to the southwest of Cologne city centre, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Kott ...

and attended the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium high school. From 1985 she studied history, politics, and English in Cologne and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, with a scholarship of the

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as the ...

(FES). Whilst a student she had articles published in the ''Kölnische Rundschau'' and ''Berliner Volksblatt'' newspapers. In 1990 she graduated with a

Magister's degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from la, magister, "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the ...

from the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

Career in television

Will began her career in radio and television at Sender Freies Berlin (now part of

Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, based in Berlin and Potsdam. RBB ...

). At the end of 1992 she started presenting the talk show ''Mal ehrlich'' and the sports magazine ''Sportpalast''. She hosted the

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

show ''Parlazzo'' from 1996 to 1998. In November 1999 Will became the first woman to host the ''

Sportschau ''Sportschau'' is a German sports magazine on broadcaster ARD, produced by WDR in Cologne. The magazine started in 1961. In its Saturday' edition, the ''Sportschau'' shows a summary of the Bundesliga, whereas the Sunday edition reports on the la ...

'' sport show. During the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, she presented live sport shows from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for the ARD. From 14 April 2001 to 24 June 2007 she presented the late night news magazine ''Tagesthemen'' alternating with

Ulrich Wickert Ulrich Wickert (born 2 December 1942) is a German journalist. He is one of the best-known broadcasters in Germany. Early life Born in Tokyo, Japan, Wickert grew up in Heidelberg and Paris as a result of his father Erwin Wickert being employed ...

and, from September 2006, with his successor

Tom Buhrow Tom Buhrow (born 29 September 1958, in Troisdorf) is a German journalist who has been serving as intendant of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, WDR since 2013. Early life and education Buhrow studied history and political science in Bonn. Career Car ...

''Anne Will'', 2007–present

Will's political talk show ''

Anne Will Anne Will (born 18 March 1966) is a German television journalist and host of the eponymous political talk show. She was anchorwoman of the daily '' Tagesthemen'' news broadcast on ARD from 14 April 2001 until 24 June 2007. Early life and care ...

'' has run since 16 September 2007. It succeeded

Sabine Christiansen Sabine Christiansen (born 20 September 1957 in Preetz, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany) is a German journalist and television presenter. Career After finishing school in Preetz, Christiansen worked at Lufthansa from 1976 to 1982, then appr ...

's similar show when Christiansen retired. Will was succeeded at the ''Tagesthemen'' by

Caren Miosga Caren Miosga (born 11 April 1969 in Peine) is a German journalist and television presenter. Early life and education Caren Miosga grew up in Groß Ilsede, Lower Saxony, and attended the local grammar school. She studied history and Slavic stud ...

. Alongside

Maybrit Illner Maybrit Illner (née Klose; born 12 January 1965) is a German journalist and television presenter. Education Born in East Berlin, Illner went to school in the Friedrichshain area of Berlin and studied journalism at the University of Leipzig ...

Peter Kloeppel Peter Gert Johannes Kloeppel (born 14 October 1958) is a German journalist and former chief editor of RTL Television. He is chief anchor of RTL's flagship daily television news program ''RTL aktuell''. Early life and education Kloeppel was bo ...

and

Stefan Raab Stefan Konrad Raab (born 20 October 1966) is a German television producer, businessman, musician, and former entertainer and television host. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night comedy talk show ''TV total'' and has also created a numbe ...

, Will also moderated the only TV election debate between incumbent

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

and her competitor

Peer Steinbrück Peer Steinbrück (born 10 January 1947) is a German politician who was the Chancellor-candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the 2013 federal election. Steinbrück served as the eighth Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia f ...

ahead of the 2013 elections, which was aired live on four of Germany's most-watched television channels during prime-time. She also interviewed Merkel in September 2009 (shortly before the 2009 election), in October 2015, in February 2016, November 2016 and in June 2018 (following the 44th G7 summit). She hosted Merkel’s successor

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born ) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor of German ...

for the first time in March 2022. Among the international dignitaries who have appeared on the show were the foreign ministers of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Sebastian Kurz Sebastian Kurz (; born 27 August 1986) is a former Austrian politician who twice served as chancellor of Austria, initially from December 2017 to May 2019 and then a second time from January 2020 to October 2021. Kurz was born and raised in ...

(2016) and

Jean Asselborn Jean Asselborn (; born 27 April 1949) is a Luxembourgish politician who has served in the government of Luxembourg as Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2004. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2004 to 2013, under Prime Minister Jean- ...

(2014, 2015 and 2018). In 2010, Will interviewed former

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ...

for daily newspaper ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

''.

Other activities

An active contributor to the

Kindernothilfe Kindernothilfe (KNH) is a charity organization and was founded in 1959 by a group of Christians in Duisburg, Germany, in order to help needy children in India. Over time, it has become one of the largest Christian organizations in Europe for ch ...

and

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

charities, Will is also involved in projects aiming to eliminate landmines. On 2 July 2005, she hosted the German stage event of the

Live8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005 ...

in front of the Siegessäule in Berlin. She also serves as ''Ambassador for the Room of Names'' of the

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (german: Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas), also known as the Holocaust Memorial (German: ''Holocaust-Mahnmal''), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by arc ...

in Berlin.

Personal life

Will lives in Berlin. From 2016 until 2019 she was married to

Miriam Meckel Miriam Meckel (born 18 July 1967) is a German journalist and professor for Corporate Communication, editor and publisher of the German magazine ''Wirtschaftswoche'' and Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the Unive ...

, then editor-in-chief of the major German magazine ''

WirtschaftsWoche ''Wirtschaftswoche'' is a German weekly business news magazine published in Germany. “Wirtschaft” means economy (including business) and “Woche” is week. History and profile For many years, ''Wirtschaftswoche'' was published weekly on ...

'' and professor of communications and media at the Swiss

University of St. Gallen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

.Will is member of

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

.Katholisch.de: Ich überlege mir jeden Tag aus der Kirche auszutreten
5 November 2022

Awards (selection)

* 2002:

Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show is usually held in early February in Hamburg, but has also taken place in Berlin in the past. The gold-plate ...

* 2006: German Television Award * 2007:

Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award The Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award is a German award for excellence in journalism. It was first awarded in 1995. The award is named for the German journalist Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Hanns Joachim "Hajo" Friedrichs (15 March 1927 – 28 March 1 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Will, Anne 1966 births Living people German sports journalists German television talk show hosts German television reporters and correspondents German broadcast news analysts LGBT journalists from Germany LGBT broadcasters from Germany German women television presenters German television presenters German women television journalists 21st-century German journalists Television people from Cologne ARD (broadcaster) people Westdeutscher Rundfunk people Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg people 21st-century German women 21st-century LGBT people German Roman Catholics