''heute'' (; German for ''today'') is a television news program on the German channel

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

. The main program is broadcast at 19:00, and includes news, with an emphasis on political news from Germany, Europe and the world, plus 'mixed' news from cultural life or entertainment, and the sports news with an extra presenter. The weather forecast comes up about 19:22 after a break with commercials. For many years, the opening sequence of each broadcast featured an analogue clock, a signature element of the program. On July 19, 2021; the opening sequence switched to a digital clock along with updated graphics and music, along with a new anchor desk and set. The newscast ''heute'' of ZDF and the 20:00- ''Tagesschau'' of

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...

are the main broadcasts of German public TV starting the evening programme.

Advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

can not be shown on

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

in Germany after 8:00 pm.

History

The first ''heute'' broadcast took place on 1 April 1963, the day ZDF itself started broadcasting. ''heute'' was originally broadcast from 19:30 to 20:00 CET; on 1 February 1965, the show was split into two parts - ''heute'' (19:30 to 19:45 CET) and ''themen des tages'' (themes/headlines of the day) (19:45 to 20:00 CET). From 1 January 1969 the ''themen des tages'' was dropped so the evening programs could start earlier. In 1971,

Wibke Bruhns Wibke Gertrud Bruhns (born Klamroth; 8 September 1938 – 20 June 2019) was a German journalist and author. In 1971, she was the first woman to present the news on German public television. She was a journalist for several television stations, an ...

was the first female presenter. In 1973, its airtime was moved to 19:00, where it remains today. In April 1999 "heute in Europa" (today in Europe) was released and only Europe News a shown. In the year 2000 a new News Show with the name "heute - in Deutschland" (today - in Germany) came up. It shows news only from Germany. It is always 14:00 on ZDF, after the Mittagsmagzin. Since 2014, the main presenters of the 7pm broadcast have been

Petra Gerster Petra Gerster [] (born 25 January 1955) is a German journalist and news presenter. Early life and education Starting in 1973, Gerster studied German studies, Slavic studies, and literature with a grant of the German Academic Scholarship Founda ...

and

Christian Sievers Christian Sievers (born 1969 in Offenbach am Main) is a German journalist and news presenter. Career After graduating secondary school with his '' Abitur'' in 1989, Sievers studied law in Berlin and Freiburg. During his studies, he also worked a ...

, who alternate weekly; Barbara Hahlweg acts as a stand-in if neither Gerster or Sievers are available.

Present-day

The main program usually has a length of 20 minutes (including a weather forecast). It is also broadcast on

3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfie ...

. Around 21:45 CET, a longer, more in-depth show called ''

heute-journal ''heute-journal'' (roughly ''Today's Journal'') is a television news magazine broadcast on ZDF, a national German television network. History The programme premiered on 2 January 1978 as a late weekday evening 20 minute program. Originally, it ...

'' is broadcast, which is similar to ''

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 ...

'' airing on

alongside the ''

Tagesschau (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 ...

''.

Identity

Since 1973, the program's title music was preceded by the letters h-e-u-t-e in

morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

(···· · ··- - ·). In 1998, this was integrated with the title music, and the dots and dashes are no longer distinguishable. On 17 July 2009, a new

virtual studio On-set virtual production (OSVP) or also known as virtual production or virtual studio is a technology for television and film production in which LED panels are used as a backdrop for a set, on which video or computer generated imagery can be di ...

debuted, featuring redesigned graphics and the integration of the title sequence to the studio in most editions. From 19 July 2021, the virtual studio got redesigned and at the start of the 7pm broadcast, it shows Germany, Europe, and the world before announcing the title and its presenters.

Presenters

7pm edition Sports news

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control ZDF original programming German television news shows 1963 German television series debuts 1960s German television series 1970s German television series 1980s German television series 1990s German television series 2000s German television series 2010s German television series German-language television shows German news websites