Claus Kleber

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Claus Kleber
Kleber at the Deutscher Filmpreis in May 2019
Born
Claus-Detlev Walter Kleber

(1955-09-02) 2 September 1955 (age 68)
Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
NationalityGerman
Occupation(s)Journalist, news presenter
Years active1986–2021, 2022–present
EmployerZDF
Notable creditheute-journal (2003–2021)
Spouse
Renate Kleber
​
(after 1982)​
Children2
AwardsSee Awards

Claus-Detlev Walter Kleber[1] (born 2 September 1955 in Reutlingen) is a German journalist and former lawyer. He anchored heute-journal, an evening news program on ZDF, one of Germany's two major public TV stations. He is also known for his expertise in United States politics and German-American relations, as evidenced by his 2005 bestseller Amerikas Kreuzzüge ("America's Crusades").

Early life[edit]

Claus Kleber was born in Reutlingen, Germany.[2] He attended the Otto Hahn Gymnasium in Bergisch Gladbach, completing his Abitur in 1974. During his schooling, Kleber freelanced as a local reporter for the newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. From 1974, he studied law at the University of Tübingen, spending two semesters abroad in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1978 and 1979. In the autumn of 1980, Kleber passed his first Staatsexamen in law: this was followed by further training in Stuttgart. In 1983 he completed his second Staatsexamen, followed by extended dissertation research stays in New York City and Washington, D.C., for which he was awarded scholarships from Studienstiftung and DAAD. After this, he worked as a lawyer for a law firm in Stuttgart, specializing in commercial law and competition law. In 1986, he completed his PhD in law under Thomas Oppermann at the University of Tübingen.

Career[edit]

Radio and television[edit]

Claus Kleber in July 2008, attending Barack Obama's speech at the Victory Column in Berlin

Kleber financed his 14 semesters of studying law as a free-lancing radio reporter and anchor for SWF (a public service station). After completing his PhD, Kleber became a journalist and worked during the 1980s as a Washington correspondent for Deutschlandfunk (DLF), a German public broadcaster. In the spring of 1989, Kleber returned to Germany as Chief Editor of RIAS, a major broadcaster in Berlin under the control of the United States Information Agency.

From 1990 he worked for 12 years as Senior Correspondent and Bureau Chief for ARD, one of the two nationwide German public television networks.[3] There he got interviews with all US Presidents in that period.[4] Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. In June 2002, Kleber moved as ARD Bureau Chief to London.[5]

A few months into the new job, he received an offer to become managing editor and principal anchor of heute journal, the 30 minute late evening news show of ZDF, the other public television channel beside the ARD.[6] one of Germany's leading television news programs. In 2014, he interviewed US President Barack Obama.[7] In June 2021, he announced that he would leave ZDF at the end of the year.[8]

Documentaries[edit]

Kleber is also a documentary filmmaker. With his long-standing professional partner, Angela Andersen, he has created documentary films, including India – Unstoppable (2006) for the DVD-market.[9]

They later also made Documentaries for broadcasting, such as The Bomb (2009), about nuclear threats in the 21st century,[10] Machtfaktor Erde (2011) on climate change. HUNGER! and DURST! (thirst) is a 2-part documentary (2014) showcased globally the challenge and efforts to feed a 10 billion –humanity by 2050.[11]

2019, their 90min report on the situation of Human Rights (Unantastar / Inviolable) won Silver New York Film Festival 2017 and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Monaco Film Festival.[12]

2021, ZDF aired "We have the better story" Kleber's 40-minute conversation with US president Barack Obama about his achievements and shortcomings.[13]

Books[edit]

Kleber's book Amerikas Kreuzzüge ("America's crusades") won the 2005 Corine Literature Prize for best non-fiction work.[14] Shortly before the 2008 presidential election, Kleber published an updated edition with his views on the candidates. In 2012 Kleber published Spielball Erde about global strategic consequences of Climate Change.

Further information[edit]

Since 2015, Claus Kleber also works as an Honorary Professor at his alma mater, the University of Tübingen.[15] He is a member of Atlantik-Brücke, an invitation-only organisation promoting cultural, economic and military co-operation between Germany and the USA.[16]

Recognition[edit]

Kleber is the recipient of several awards, including the Media prize of the Johanna Quandt Foundation (1998) for excellence in economic reporting,[17] the RIAS Berlin committee TV prize (1997, 1999 and 2003), and the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (the German equivalent of the American Emmy) in 2005,[18] 2006 and 2013[19] (heute journal as best German news program). Claus Kleber and his ZDF partner anchor Marietta Slomka were awarded the prestigious Grimme Prize in 2009 for their merits on the evolution of television.[20] In 2010, he won the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award for Outstanding Journalism.[21] His work in documentaries on global challenges (with Angela Andersen) received the Deutscher Fernsehpreis for The Bomb in 2009[22] and the Bayerischer Fernsehpreis for HUNGER! DURST! in 2015.[23] In a 2018 survey conducted by Forsa Institute, he was voted Germany's most trusted news presenter.[24]

Awards[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Kleber, Claus (2008) [2005]. Amerikas Kreuzzüge. Wohin treibt die Weltmacht? (in German) (eight and updated ed.). München: C. Bertelsmann Verlag. ISBN 978-3-570-55001-4.
  • Kleber, Claus and Paskal, Cleo (2012). Spielball Erde. Machtkämpfe im Klimawandel. (in German) (original ed.). München: C. Bertelsmann Verlag. ISBN 978-3-570-10134-6.[25]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Atlantik Brücke/Deutsche Welle Media Conference". 4 December 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Claus Kleber". IMDb. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  3. ^ "DAAD – Claus Kleber". www.daad.de. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  4. ^ Interview: Claus Kleber and Condoleezza Rice
  5. ^ "Stabwechsel im ARD-Studio Washington: Claus Kleber und Bernd Schröder gehen, Tom Buhrow und Georg Schwarte kommen / WDR übernimmt Federführung". presseportal.de. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  6. ^ ""Soll das etwa eine Karriere sein?" – Medien – Tagesspiegel". www.tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Obama Confronts German NSA Skepticism in TV Interview But Doubts Remain". TechPresident. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Claus Kleber hört beim ZDF-heute-journal auf". Focus (in German). 16 June 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  9. ^ DVD details from amazon.de
  10. ^ "America, the Baleful". www.weeklystandard.com. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Claus Kleber als Elends-Reporter: "Bloß nicht barmherziger Ritter spielen"". Spiegel Online. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Inviolable – The Fight for Human Rights". FilmFreeway. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Interview with Barack Obama: "We have a better story"". www.zdf.de (in German). Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  14. ^ "CORINE 2005 | Preisträger". www.corine.de. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  15. ^ "Institut für Medienwissenschaft – Kleber, Claus, Prof. Dr". www.uni-tuebingen.de. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  16. ^ Marc Stegherr: Der neue Kalte Krieg der Medien: Die Medien Osteuropas und der neue Ost-West-Konflikt, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2018, p. 62.
  17. ^ "Johanna-Quandt-Stiftung". www.johanna-quandt-stiftung.de. Archived from the original on 15 August 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  18. ^ Borcholte, Andreas (17 October 2005). "Deutscher Fernsehpreis: Es geht doch!". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  19. ^ "Deutscher Fernsehpreis 2013: Alle Kategorien, alle Gewinner". Spiegel Online. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  20. ^ "Grimme-Preis | Besondere Ehrung". www.grimme-institut.de. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Claus Kleber erhält Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Preis". Welt Online. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  22. ^ "Preisträger 2009". www.deutscher-fernsehpreis.de. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  23. ^ "Wirtschaftsministerium Bayern" (PDF). Wirtschaftsministerium Bayern. Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft und Medien, Energie und Technologie. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  24. ^ Vertrauenswürdigster Nachrichtenmoderator ist Claus Kleber Der Tagesspiegel, 21 March 2018.
  25. ^ "Claus Kleber, Cleo Paskal: Spielball Erde. C. Bertelsmann Verlag". Verlagsgruppe Random House. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
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