History
Tagesschau (literally "Day's Show", or loosely "Review of the Day"; a play on the term Wochenschau, the weekly newsreel formerly shown in cinemas) is both the oldest and the most watched news program on German television. The first edition was transmitted on NWDR (Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk) on 26 December 1952. Initially broadcast three times a week, the programme expanded in 1956 to air Monday to Saturday, with Sunday editions beginning in 1961. The nightly 8pm edition of Tagesschau is watched by up to 10 million viewers, equivalent to a 33% audience reach. Currently, the bulletin is produced by NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) in Hamburg.
The main 15-minute bulletin is broadcast at 20:00 CET each evening with shorter bulletins broadcast throughout the day. The end of the 20:00 bulletin, at 20:15, marks the beginning of prime time on German television. An attempt by commercial station Sat.1 in the late 1990s to begin their prime time schedule at 20:00 was so unsuccessful that it was discontinued after only a few weeks.
In 1978, the late edition of Tagesschau was replaced by Tagesthemen (Subjects of the Day or "Themes of the Day"), a half-hour programme featuring more in-depth reports, analysis and commentary. The programme continues to air at 22:15 each evening. A late-night magazine-style programme, Nachtmagazin (Night Magazine), airs at around 00:30. A weekly review programme entitled Wochenspiegel (Mirror of the Week) is produced by the Tagesschau production team and airs on Sundays around lunch time.
The program's trademark continues to be the eight o'clock chime followed by a recorded announcement, usually spoken by the chief newsreader Jan Hofer, "Hier ist das Erste Deutsche Fernsehen mit der Tagesschau" ("This is German Channel One with the Tagesschau"). The Tagesschau theme music has remained the same since 1956, although the arrangement has been modernized several times, most recently in 2000.
Today, the 20:00 bulletin remains the only flagship news programme on German television where newsreaders read stories directly from a hard copy of the script. Teleprompters are used for all other bulletins.
Tagesschau aired its 20,000th broadcast on 31 December 2010.
Read more about this topic: Tagesschau (Germany)
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