The embarrassing ARD production of the big "We"

There are big collectivism weeks in the ARD. Since Sunday, the station community, which is currently being shaken by nepotism and corruption, has been looking for "cohesion in society" in a theme week. According to ARD, our society is “something like the largest family in Germany”. And in a family you stick together. That's what the theme week "We Wanted" is all about.

The head of the family, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was able to be won for the opening. He welcomes Tina Hassel, head of the ARD capital studio, to Bellevue Palace for an interview. Sitting on a pedestal and looking very serious, Papa Steinmeier warms up his somewhat faded idea of ​​compulsory service. He thinks it's important "to do something for others for once in your life".

Hassel, who could be called "Aunt Tina" in the big family called society, prompts the grey-haired President: His heart's desire is to bridge the gaps in society. And the Federal President smiles mildly.

If you wanted to learn something about cohesion, you could have gone to see people who are drifting out of this society. Or you could have interviewed people who were being overwhelmed by the brutality of German bureaucracy in a citizens' registration office. And yes, one could have talked about the opacity of the ARD hierarchies or the system of instant pensions and massage seats, which is actually supposed to produce journalism that questions the powerful.

Instead, ARD is invited to Bellevue Palace. So Hassel asks Steinmeier about the “we”, whereby “ask” is a friendly exaggeration: Hassel supplies Steinmeier with the keywords that he gratefully uses to hang his phrase garlands on the lock: build bridges, listen, practice cohesion and so on . They are warm words that will not heat an apartment this winter.

The two chat happily about Steinmeier's last public talks and the very down-to-earth journey there in the regional express. It's also about a small town somewhere in the Palatinate Forest, where some people have organized themselves into citizens' initiatives, are arguing about the construction of a solar system or where, as Tina Hassel puts it, "the big we is crumbling into many small wes". The great we. The little we. Empty phrases that are enough for ten Evangelical Church Days.

As a spectator, one wonders. Why doesn't Hassel ask the Federal President anything about his Russia policy as Foreign Minister at the time? After nine months of war, is it time for fluffy questions? And what kind of family is it that sweeps everything obvious under the heavy rug?

At some point, the two then talk about the declining trust in democracy. One could try "round tables", suggests Hassel Steinmeier. But you could also try a little self-criticism. Because not only the institution of the Federal President has lost its reputation in recent months. Public broadcasting too.

But why should one also talk about personal mistakes, the "I"? That would be uncomfortable, just as a pluralistic democracy has to be. That's why you're looking for "we".