Monday, December 6th, 2021
Speaker also goes with the Chancellor
Seibert says goodbye to the capital’s press
No more boyish smiles – government spokesman Seibert is vacating his post. When he last answered questions at the federal press conference, he praised the institution as “a good piece of democracy”. As a farewell, the hobby cook receives a meaningful gift.
He was the voice of the Chancellor: Government spokesman Steffen Seibert used his presumably last appearance at the federal press conference to promote the preservation of journalistic diversity and quality in Germany. Germany is fortunate to have a very rich journalistic landscape, he said. He would very much like this to be preserved. The former ZDF journalist has held the position since 2010. He created a superlative – which his boss will not be able to do: he became the longest-serving spokesman for a federal government. Angela Merkel, on the other hand, will miss Helmut Kohl’s long-term chancellor record by a few days.
The Journalistenverein Bundespressekonferenz (BPK) counted 1,165 visits from Seibert – eleven of them together with Merkel. The capital city journalists saw him as a confident and thoughtful spokesman who owed no answer.
Often it contained clear information and announcements, sometimes it was general and diplomatic, and sometimes it was worded in a meaningless way. The BPK chairman and ZDF journalist Mathis Feldhoff put it in a nutshell: “Your answers to our questions were not always really exhaustive. We were not always satisfied with your answers.” And: “Not all questions were always of deep journalistic importance.”
Federal press conference: “A good piece of democracy”
Feldhoff referred to the past year and a half of the corona pandemic. Even if at that time some questions sounded like conspiracy theorists’ catalog of topics: Seibert rarely lost patience. He, too, had his speaking slips, but the journalists never experienced a stubborn reading like that of others who regularly sat on the speaker’s bench at the federal press conference. Seibert showed as seldom emotional impulses as Merkel. Most likely he allowed himself a mischievous, almost boyish smile.
Internationally, the BPK is a unique institution, as the federal government sends its spokespersons three times a week to a press conference organized by the journalists. The government itself has no influence on their design. Everything can be asked there. Seibert praised this format as “a good piece of democracy”.
There is hardly anything like this in any other capital city. “And that’s why I don’t understand why so many members of the Federal Press Conference stay away from this format for such a long time.” Often there are more speakers than journalists in the hall. Seibert emphasized that he always loved coming here, even if it didn’t always look like that. “The trouble with me is that when I’m very focused, I also look very grim. That couldn’t be turned off for eleven years.”
Seibert’s future plans – uncertain
Before his job as a government spokesman, Seibert was already known to an audience of millions in Germany. For more than 20 years he worked as a journalist for the Second German Television. He became one of the most famous faces of the public broadcaster, especially with the news formats “heute” and “heute journal”. Again and again there was speculation about whether there could be a return to ZDF. When asked, the broadcaster can hear: “There are currently no plans on ZDF.”
Even if the 61-year-old leaves, his Twitter account will be retained. It is archived, “petrified” as it were, as Seibert put it. “My personal social media plans don’t yet exist.” Other journalists’ questions also remained unanswered: will he write a book? What does he even do after leaving?
But Seibert remained true to himself until the end: “Well, let’s stick with the fact that we report here on government policy.” As a parting present there was a knife sharpener. Because, according to Feldhoff, Seibert likes to cook. And to remind him “that we would have liked a few sleeker answers every now and then”. Seibert’s farewell words to the journalists: “Thank you, all the best. If we see you again, it would be nice. Otherwise: Farewell.”