Harassment allegations

ZDF presenter must vacate his management post

According to ZDF, there were complaints about misconduct towards female colleagues.

(Bild: AFP/JOHN MACDOUGALL)

German television viewers in particular are familiar with Matthias Fornoff as the presenter of ZDF's "Politbarometer". Now, however, he has stumbled across allegations of harassment - and has been forced to resign from his position at the station due to "complaints of misconduct".

As of Saturday, the 60-year-old will no longer be head of the main editorial department for politics and current affairs, as announced by the Second German Television (ZDF) in Mainz.

The broadcaster had actually planned to change the head of the editorial team anyway: ZDF journalist Shakuntala Banerjee should have taken over the post on November 1, it was first announced in April, but now a former deputy director is temporarily taking over the position. Fornoff had already headed the editorial team since summer 2014.

Presenter gets "new task"
 ZDF is tight-lipped about the reasons for the unexpected shake-up: "In future, he will take on a new task in the ZDF editorial team, without management responsibility," it said of Fornoff.

The decision was preceded by "complaints about misconduct towards female colleagues. ZDF has investigated these and always places high demands on its managers." 

Will Fornoff remain active in front of the camera?
The presenter admitted mistakes in the talks and accepted ZDF's decision. Matthias Fornoff is known to a wider television audience as the presenter of the ZDF "Politbarometer", which presents survey results from the Wahlen research group. It was not clear from the broadcaster's announcement whether he will be allowed to continue presenting the show or whether he will lose it.