Steffen Rüdiger Seibert (born 7 June 1960 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

) is a German journalist who served as head of the German Federal Government's Press and Information Office and as the German government's spokesperson from 2010 to 2021. During his tenure, Seibert was officially ranked as a Secretary of State. From late 2016 Seibert was a member of the German government's cabinet committee on

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

at which ministers discuss organizational and structural issues related to the United Kingdom's departure from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Previously Seibert worked for the German television station

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 ...

as a journalist and presenter of the popular ''

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 ...

'' (until 2010).

Biography

Seibert was born in

in 1960, and went to school at the Tellkampfschule in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. He then studied history in Hamburg and at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. Seibert is married (his wife is an artist), and has a daughter and two sons. They lived in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

before moving to

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 ...

's Dahlem district in 2011.

Television journalist at ZDF

Seibert worked for ZDF from 1989 to 2010. In addition to his roles at ZDF, he co-hosted the

Bavarian TV Awards 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 (Spec ...

in 2005 (alongside

Nina Ruge Nina Ruge (born 24 August 1956 in Munich) is a German journalist, TV presenter and author. Early life and education Ruge is the daughter of an engineering professor and visited the Ina-Seidel-Schule in Braunschweig. Her sister Annette is an ...

) and in 2009 (alongside Markus Kavka). He also moderated the event series ''Nobelpreisträger in Mönchengladbach'' with guests F. W. de Klerk (2004),

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

(2007) and the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

(2008).

Recognition

* 2001 –

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 ...

(for Special Show ''9/11'') * 2005 –

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. ...

(shared with

Johannes B. Kerner Johannes Baptist Kerner (born 9 December 1964) is a German television host, journalist, and former sportscaster. Early life Born in Bonn, Kerner was raised in Hersel, Bornheim, in a Catholic household. He attended boarding school at Aloisiu ...

for a show for the disaster victims of the tsunami in the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

) * 2013 –

Order of the Star of Italy The Order of the Star of Italy ( it, Ordine della Stella d'Italia ) is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 2011. The order was reformed from the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity by the 11th President of Italy, Giorgio Napoli ...

Other activities

* UNICEF National Committee of Germany, Member * "Club for early born babies" (Bundesverband "Das frühgeborene Kind"), Chairman (until 2008) * International Journalists' Programmes, Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Program, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Städel Museum The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 ...

, Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees

. * Kinderhospiz

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

, Official Partner Before taking on his current position, Seibert was an ambassador of

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 ...

in Germany. In this capacity, he visited some of the organization's projects in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

in 2003.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seibert, Steffen German Roman Catholics German male journalists German television journalists German broadcast news analysts 1960 births Living people Spokespersons ZDF people