The editorial staff

Team 2008

On 13th of March 2003, the ARD's flagship political magazine MONITOR celebrated its 500th broadcast. An institution and catchword for political controversy, MONITOR has been the top investigative magazine on German television for the past 38 years.

Throughout this time, MONITOR has deliberately eschewed trendy broadcasting, adhering instead to the traditional magazine format. Each item is presented by the programme's editor-in-chief. MONITOR's hallmark is reliability and credibility. The concept of fact-based and critical coverage, devoid of the trappings of journalistic sensationalism, is still proving highly popular among German TV viewers.

Holding the post from 1965 to 1981, Claus Hinrich Casdorff was MONITOR's first editor-in-chief. After almost 17 years, the magazine then experienced its first personnel change with the appointment of Gerd Ruge in October 1981, who occupied the post for two years. On 17th December 1983 Klaus Bednarz then became the head of ARD's flagship political magazine. With Bednarz at the helm, the programme remained at the cutting edge of critical investigative journalism in Germany for the next 18 years. In January 2002, Sonia Seymour Mikich then became the magazine's first female editor-in-chief. "We set out to fuel public debate and are deliberately awkward and provocative. We dish it out on all sides," is how she encapsulates MONITOR's editorial remit.

MONITOR made national headlines by breaking stories such as the "worms in fish scandal", the plutonium affair involving Germany's counter-espionage intelligence service, the Olympic bribery affair, the crash of the Tupolev military aircraft or the deployment of Napalm by the USA in the Iraqi war. Backed by an experienced team of investigative journalists, MONITOR exposes background facts many of the key players in politics and industry would rather remained buried. And it is successful: In 2003 MONITOR proved to be the most popular political magazine on German TV, with an average 3.66 million viewers tuning in to watch on Thursday evenings at prime time - a 13.2 percent share of the audience.