Overview
- Excerpts from a large internal crisis meeting were secretly recorded and published by the portal Nius, escalating internal tensions at ZDF.
- Hundreds of employees condemned the anonymous leaker on the intranet, with a post by personnel council member Hubert Krech receiving nearly 600 likes in a reported record.
- The meeting followed a February 15 heute journal segment that showed unlabelled AI-generated material and unrelated archive footage about ICE operations, prompting an on-air apology.
- ZDF reassigned New York correspondent Nicola Albrecht from her role, and chief editor Bettina Schausten announced stricter review processes and AI training while admitting the scope was recognized too late.
- German law protects non-public speech from unauthorized recording, yet journalistic practice favors shielding sources, as former anchor Claus Kleber publicly defended Albrecht and called for support for reporters.