Anyone who follows the Twitter account of the ZDF television council – currently a little more than 2,000 people – should have been surprised during the night from Saturday to Sunday. At what was actually a sleeping time, he was noticed by strange tweets. Not only was a tweet with two clinking beer mugs retweeted, around half past one in the morning the account posted: “So one thing is clear: the #TV Council is as broad and colorful as our #society (well ok, at the moment it is mainly broad).”
Meanwhile, that was not the only and by no means the most disturbing tweet that was sent on Sunday night. On Saturday evening, pianist Igor Levit posted a picture showing a piano and a beer bottle on a chair, asking what he was working on. One of the answers written below came at 12:43 a.m. from the ZDF television council. “Looks a bit like anal intruding at work. Could also be Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto!?” read this tweet.
On Sunday afternoon, the ZDF television council apologized for the night-time activities on Twitter with another tweet, this time “On our own account”. However, no details were given as to how the statements came about. However, it was communicated on this account in a way “that in no way does justice to the tasks, the self-image and the customs of the committee,” said the television council at the short message service.
The statement goes on to say: “The chair has ensured that something like this will not happen again.” The ZDF television council has a total of 60 members, with Marlehn Thieme currently chairing it. The last sentence of the published statement could be understood as an ambiguous explanation for the incident. It reads: “Sober, factual communication is a prerequisite for the discourse that the TV Council always advocates.”