Linda Zervakis: Interview with the Tagesschau spokeswoman

Barbara: Linda, our topic today: Fake. And in this context, of course, many of you ask yourself …

Linda: My bosom is real.

Oh … okay. But that's not what I meant. But: You are an extremely funny person – and sit every evening …

… and in the morning. And not infrequently all night.

Yes / Yes. So there you are in this news studio.

And then I do what matters right now.

When you're on the news with the news, lively Linda doesn't seem to be there anymore. You don't move a face, you are dead straight and super serious.

I learned that on the radio and then put it on television. Messaging is a craft that can be learned, and that includes the demeanor and seriousness with which one should approach the matter.

What is the most important thing to consider in this craft?

The emphasis. Or rather: the non-emphasis. The uniformity with which one reads the reports, thus depriving them of any emotional tip – at least on my side. Such a message can still trigger something for the audience.

And that's what I mean: We are all emotional beings, including you, and also in those 15 minutes in which you can be seen in the "Tagesschau".

Sometimes it's not that easy either. What has been going on in the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos for years leaves me anything but cold. How we simply leave people to their own devices down there, far from our field of vision. And not only the refugees, but also the islanders, who have not been able to make a living from tourism for a long time. I could cry then. I've been more emotional in general since I had children. I cry at "Alf"! Or when I read children's books …

I always cry when someone receives a gold medal for athletic performance. But has that ever happened to you on the news? That tears came to you

No, luckily not yet. When something gets too close to me, I distract myself. If I went into it, I would be lost – and that has no place in the show. The audience has a right to neutrality and authenticity.

I praise show business. By definition, nothing has to be real.

Moment. Show is still an honest craft.

Okay that's right. I actually do my job with the conscientiousness of a good dental assistant, then go backstage and take off my smock. And then I quickly post something on Instagram and get pissed off for it.

Which is a relatively new phenomenon. Where is that supposed to lead?

Unlike three years ago, I believe anything is possible today.

How do you mean?

I think it is possible that you could be catapulted completely out of your life because of a sentence on social media. Whether it is a rash remark or a thought that is perhaps too concise. More and more is being deliberately misunderstood more and more often. Sometimes it seems to me that here and there common sense no longer exists as a general guideline.

Good point. At least sometimes it feels like it has been replaced by other norms. What you have to be or know today …

… have an attitude towards everything that you push like a spearhead in front of you …

… watch all new Netflix series …

… read English books only in the original, because everything else would be fake …

… always be informed. In all honesty: I'm happy when I get my everyday life in order, it's hard enough and sometimes boring. But at the end of the day it is exactly what classifies my life and gives it its meaning. In other words, this is real. And real would do some people pretty good for a change.

That sounds a bit like a plea for a retreat into private life.

But I don't mean that at all. I think it's very important to think outside the box to understand what's going on in the world. But sometimes it's really good not to watch the news. I am concerned with the balance between my world and the one outside.

You just said: Echt would do some good for a change. Whom do you mean?

Most of them on Instagram. At the beginning you upload normal photos of yourself and you think: Why do the others look so different? And at some point almost everyone discovers the filter function …

I did this once. And then I thought: That looks great.

And you've always been doing it ever since.

On the contrary. It was clear to me: I have to leave it. That would be the beginning of the end, I could never go back. But what pisses me off even more: If you are a healthy, fit young woman …

… what we both are …

… exactly, if you then upload an unedited photo and then there are comments like: Ey, brave, that you dare! I get really aggressive there. And I ask myself: from which direction is the enemy coming? Who looks like these filtered Insta chicks out there?

That's exactly what I mean: I don't know anyone. And while we're on the topic of filters: We are now so far advanced that every crooked joke of yours is raised to a state crisis.

And at that point it becomes difficult for almost all those who, I call it: make verbal conversation. I make a lot of jokes about myself, I also like to be a little brisk when I talk to guests, I knock out sentences, sometimes not good ones. It's all very spontaneous. If I thought it over and purged it beforehand, it would no longer be entertainment and neither would me. And clearly you make yourself vulnerable when you attack – I emphasize: with the most cheerful and peaceful intent.

Is that why you hold back more in public these days?

I do, yes.

Somehow a shame.

I agree, but the system is reaching its limits. Because the number of faux pas that you can step into has increased enormously in recent years. Everyone now lives in their own world.

Couldn't it be that everyone has always lived in their own world? The only difference to before is that there is now social media and you can make this world visible to everyone.

Yes, that's right. Everyone has a voice today. Which is good on the one hand, but also means that anyone can spread anything, including conspiracy theories. In the past, people would have mumbled from their balcony at best. Today they can be found on the net and then meet for the large anti-corona measures demonstration in Berlin. And these people then take what you read in the "Tagesschau" for fake news.

And I am totally indignant. I do not understand this thought. Why should we make up fake news?

Because you are, I am only quoting, "state-controlled".

Seriously: what's the shit? What exactly should be the incentive of the public service media not to take the citizens of this state seriously and to tell them lies? That makes me at a loss.

I think that has a lot to do with people's self-image.

How do you mean?

Well, anyone who questions the mainstream in times of crisis like this thinks they are particularly mature and have a creative, independent mind.

And with the Internet he has a megaphone in hand with which he can get confirmation from the outside world. It also seems to me as if Corona has accelerated this trend enormously. Not at all good when people sit at home for six months and have nothing to do.

Well, you made good use of the time. You wrote a bestseller and produced a great podcast with "Gute Deutsche".

At least I had a lot of fun with it.

In it you talked to celebrities who have a – bad word – a migration background.

I agree. But different from how the topic is treated on the news. Immigration not as a threat, but as an asset. Because that is it in most cases.

You were the first "Tagesschau" spokeswoman, again: migration background. A model immigrant child.

I can't do much with these labels.

Why?

On the one hand, because I don't find it interesting where someone comes from. But: is he a good guy? Is he or she joking? Is it fun to talk to him or her?

And on the other?

I can't afford to speak for others whose parents are not from Germany. I never had many of the problems they had to deal with. I have not been discriminated against because of my origins or my appearance. I was always just Linda, and sometimes someone would stumble across the Zervakis behind it. But then it was clear: It sounds Greek, and that is sun, sea and souvlaki, everyone raves about it.

You never felt strange, did you?

No. I was different in a different way. We never had money, we could never travel big, we children always had to work in our parents' kiosk, especially after my father died so early. That's why the lives of my friends were often alien to me, but not this country.

How was it for your parents when they got here?

Completely different. The feeling was already in the word: guest workers. They shouldn't feel at home here, but work for a year or maybe two and then go home again. They were housed in a barracks, no trace of German courses or integration measures.

Do you know how your parents found it?

You shared this idea. Wanted to earn money here in order to build a living at home in Greece. But then life got in the way: the first child, the realization that the family down there can be supported much better from Germany … And then they stayed without any integration taking place. That's why they always felt strange. And for that reason we were very strict with us children.

Yikes How come?

My mother always said: We are the Xeni. We are the strangers, we are only guests. You have the chance of a great school education and a good life here, but that is only possible if you behave – otherwise the trouble is inevitable. Our parents taught us to adapt. That was the key to our integration. And pretty clever of them, to be honest. It's also a question of respect. Know who you are dealing with. How are the rules. Greeks, for example, don't like naked people on their beaches.

And in Italy you put a scarf over your bare shoulders when you enter a church.

So. And when I come to your house, I don't say: Thank you for the invitation, but what kind of ugly wallpapers are those.

You see, Linda: this is how we both save the world. We respect other people's lives instead of criticizing them.

And praise our wallpapers.

LINDA ZERVAKIS Until her mother retired, Linda helped in her kiosk in Hamburg-Harburg. In addition, she graduated from high school, worked as a copywriter, went to the radio and in 2013 became a "Tagesschau" spokeswoman. She shares her clever and funny thoughts on the podcast "Good Germans" and in their bestsellers "Queen of the Colorful Bag" and "Etsikietsi – In search of my roots" (both Rowohlt). She is 45, married, has two children and enjoys cycling.

STEPHAN BARTELS In 2011 I sat as a talk guest with Barbara on the "NDR Talk Show". Nowhere has he ever felt stranger.

The interview and the pictures were taken in the Museum of Illusions in Hamburg.

BARBARA 51/2020