Hans Werner Kilz

Hans Werner Kilz, 2019

Hans Werner Kilz (born November 3, 1943 in Worms ) is a German journalist . He is the former editor-in-chief of Spiegel and the Süddeutsche Zeitung .

Life

Born in 1943 in Worms am Rhein, Kilz attended the local elementary school and then the local grammar school, which he graduated from high school in 1963.

From 1964 to 1967 he received his journalistic training in Düsseldorf and at the Institute for Journalism in Mainz . In 1968 in Mainz he became the political editor of the Allgemeine Zeitung . In 1970 he switched to Spiegel and became the domestic editor of the editorial offices, first in Mainz, then in Frankfurt am Main . In 1981 he was promoted to deputy head of department at Spiegel and moved to the main editorial office in Hamburg . After five more years he finally became head of the Germany department at Spiegel, which he remained until 1989. During his time in Hamburg he wrote two books, one of which dealt with the Flick party donation affair and the other with the debt issue.

From October to December 1989 Kilz was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge , Massachusetts . He then became editor-in-chief of Spiegel until Stefan Aust took over from him on December 16, 1994. From 1995 to 1996 he spent a year as a fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in Cambridge.

In February 1996 he became editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). He tried to open up new markets for the SZ: in 1999 a Berlin page appeared for the first time, and in 2002 a regional section for North Rhine-Westphalia . But both projects failed: in 2002 the Berlin local editorial office was dissolved, in 2003 the NRW regional section was discontinued and the editors were dismissed. Kilz retired at the end of 2010. On this occasion, the Swiss online portal "Medienspiegel" published an internal letter from the newspaper's editorial committee in which it commented on Kilz's management style; The letter named "intimidation, humiliation and personally derogatory criticism". He was succeeded by Kurt Kister , who had previously been deputy editor-in-chief.

In 2011, Hans Werner Kilz was appointed to the supervisory board of the M. DuMont Schauberg media group . Kilz has been working as an author for the weekly newspaper Die Zeit since 2011 ; he also advises her investigative department.

From January 2019 on, Kilz will be the moderator of the Sunday regulars' table on BR TV and will succeed Helmut Markwort , who had to hand over the program in March 2018 due to his candidacy for the Bavarian state parliament.

Kilz is married and has three children.

Awards

He received the International Journalism Prize, Klagenfurt and has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (2005). On December 21, 2010 Kilz was honored by Medium Magazin with the "Lifetime Achievement" award for his many years of service as editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. On January 18, 2011, Hans Werner Kilz was awarded the Carl Zuckmayer Medal .