Maybrit Illner (née Klose; born 12 January 1965) is a German journalist and television presenter.

Education

Born in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, Illner went to school in the

Friedrichshain Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjacent to Mitte, Prenz ...

area of Berlin and studied journalism at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

from 1984 to 1988. She joined the

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed w ...

in 1986 and left it in 1991.

Career

After university, Illner worked as a television journalist at

Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programming ...

, East German state television, until it was dissolved in 1991. She joined German broadcaster

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 ...

and co-presented ''Morgenmagazin'', a weekday morning show from 1992. She became the head of the Morgenmagazin in 1998. From October 1999, Illner presented an evening talk show originally titled ''Berlin Mitte'' but changed in March 2007 to ''Maybrit Illner''. Besides, she moderated the TV election debates between

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 ...

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 ...

and his challengers

Edmund Stoiber Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the States of Germany, state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, Christian So ...

(

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

) and

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 ...

(

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

). In 2006, she interviewed

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. She also interviewed Merkel shortly before the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

. As successor to Steffen Seibert, Illner anchored ZDF's news show ''

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, ...

'' from September 2010 until December 2012, in rotation with

Claus Kleber Claus-Detlev Walter Kleber (born 2 September 1955 in Reutlingen) is a German journalist and former lawyer. He anchored ''heute-journal'', an evening news program on ZDF, one of Germany's two major public TV stations. He is also known for his ex ...

and

Marietta Slomka Marietta Slomka (born 20 April 1969 in Cologne) is a German journalist who has been the anchor of TV news show ''heute-journal'' since 2001. Early life and education The daughter of a teacher, Slomka studied international politics and economi ...

. Since 2013, Illner has been focusing on her own political talkshow ''Maybrit Illner''. Alongside

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 ...

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, she also moderated the only TV election debate between incumbent Merkel 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. Ahead of the 2017 elections, she moderated the debate between Merkel and

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018, and was a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. Previously he was President of the European Parliame ...

, this time with Kloeppel,

Sandra Maischberger Sandra Maischberger (born 25 August 1966) is a German journalist, talk show host, and author. Early life and education Born in Munich, Maischberger spent five years of her childhood in Frascati, near Rome, Italy, and also grew up in Garching, ...

and

Claus Strunz Claus Strunz (born 29 September 1966) is a German journalist and television host. Biography Strunz was born in Münchberg. After graduating from high school in Bayreuth, he worked as a trainee at the ''Nordbayerischer Kurier''. He then studie ...

. Alongside Oliver Köhr, she most recently moderated one of three TV election debates between the three candidates to succeed Merkel –

Annalena Baerbock Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock (; born 15 December 1980) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party serving as Germany's minister for foreign affairs since 2021. From 2018 to January 2022, Baerbock served as co-leader of Allia ...

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 3 ...

and

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 ...

– ahead of the

2021 elections Many elections occurred in 2021. The National Democratic Institute maintains calendar of elections around the world * 2021 United Nations Security Council election * 2021 national electoral calendar * 2021 local electoral calendar Africa * 2021 ...

. In March 2022, she conducted the first major televised interview with Scholz as newly elected Chancellor.

Personal life

Deutscher Fernsehpreis 2012 - Maybrit Illner - Rene Obermann

She was married to fellow television journalist Michael Illner (born 1962) from 1988 to 2007. She married

René Obermann René Obermann (born 5 March 1963) is a German businessman who currently serves as Co-Head of Warburg Pincus International LLC's European operations, and also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airbus SE since 16 April 2020. He was ...

, at that time CEO of

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

, on 14 August 2010 at Schloss Ulrichshusen. They live in Berlin and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. For the

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (german: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. With 4 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services within ...

(DRK), Illner has travelled to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in 2003 and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 2004. In 2018, she chaired the jury for the annual Ludwig-Börne-Preis, which awarded the prize to journalist

Souad Mekhennet Souad Mekhennet (born 1978 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German journalist and author who has written or worked for ''The New York Times'', ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', ''The Washington Post'', The Daily Beast and German television channel ZD ...

.Ludwig-Börne-Preis
Ludwig-Börne-Stiftung.

Awards

* 2000:

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 ...

for critical and independent television journalism * 2001: Hans-Klein-Media Award for their moderation of the ZDF talk show '' Berlin Mitte '' * 2002 and 2007:

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. ...

* 2003:

Bayerischer Fernsehpreis Bayerischer Fernsehpreis (the Bavarian TV award) is an award presented by the government of Bavaria, Germany since 1989. The prize symbol is the "Blue Panther", a figure from the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory. The prize money is €10,000 (Spe ...

* 2004: German Television Award for Best Information Programme * 2006: Hildegard von Bingen Prize for Journalism (according to the prize jury Illner understood transforming "the Anglo-Saxon form of information, Talk in a separate and unique media event") * 2009:

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 ...

in the category ''Best Information''

Publications

* ''Frauen an der Macht. 21 einflussreiche Frauen berichten aus der Wirklichkeit''. Hugendubel, Kreuzlingen, München 2005, . * ''Politiker-Deutsch/Deutsch-Politiker''. Langenscheidt, München, Berlin 2007, . * (with Ingke Brodersen) ''Ente auf Sendung. Von Medien und ihren Machern''. Deutsche Verlags Anstalt, München 2003, .

References

External links

*
ZDF: ''Maybrit Illner''Maybrit Illner Zeit interview''Talkshow-king Oskar Lafontaine''
by Lukas Hermsmeier on Cicero Online, 23. January 2009
''»Politics demands dedication«''
Interview by Christoph Amend,

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

, 5. July 2006 * *FemBio, http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/maybrit-illner/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Illner, Maybrit German women television presenters German television presenters German television talk show hosts German broadcast news analysts German television journalists 21st-century German journalists 1965 births Living people German women television journalists Leipzig University alumni ZDF people People from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 21st-century German women