Ruth Hieronymi: A farewell to the WDR pioneer and pioneer

Cologne- The long-time WDR round-funcate chair Ruth Hieronymi died in Bonn at the age of 77. The WDR announced this sad news on Saturday. Hieronymi has headed the supervisory body since 2009 to 2016 and initiated significant changes in the structure and transparency of the broadcasting rate.

Before her time at the WDR, Hieronymi worked as a CDU member of the state parliament from 1985 to 1999, where she also held the position of vice-parliamentary group leader. Then she moved to the European Parliament and was allowed to participate over a whole decade. She brought her political career to various sovereign roles that she fulfilled with commitment and conviction.

WDR director Katrin Vernau expressed an appreciation about Hieronymi's achievements: "As the chair of the WDR round, she strengthened the role of the committee and made its work more transparent". Under their leadership, the meetings of the round funcate became public, which led to a stronger integration of citizens in committee work.

The WDR-Rundfunkrats chairman Rolf Zurbrüggen praised Hieronymi's commitment to public service broadcasting. "With her we lose a passionate and tireless fighter," he said, which reflects the high respect that she enjoyed within the broadcasting system.

In her term, the choice of Tom Buhrow also fell into the director, and it was significantly involved in extensive program reforms, including the amendment of the WDR law, which was of great importance for the future of the station. Ruth Hieronymi's legacy will continue to influence the structure and range of tasks of the WDR and will be missing by many in the media landscape.