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Reto Brennwald (57) is currently experiencing something that has already happened to him.
When Reto Brennwald took the stage in front of the Corona protesters in Zurich-West on a Saturday in mid-September, he briefly adjusted the microphone, gave an oral test – “Ice, two, ice, two” – like someone who is used to it. It is unclear how many of the protesters below are aware that this man did nothing but speak into a microphone in his life; Brennwald has only moderated one niche show for ten years. But you still know how to deal with a large audience. To be safe, it is presented. “I’m in the SRF,” says Brennwald, pausing, the crowd is still calm, then adds, “gsi.” People cheer.
Reto Brennwald was one of the most famous journalists in Switzerland. As the host of the television programs “Rundschau” and “Arena”, he dueled with the main businessmen and politicians of the country. Millions of viewers saw a tough interviewer, investigative reporter, and “arena” coach who never gave up.
Brennwald is now making a documentary about people who were not heard during the pandemic. He gives a speech at a demonstration of crown skeptics. And he’s a guest on an SRF show on the topic of Corona, on the side of the skeptics. To his left is a doctor who has called the mask an instrument of power. On the right is an ETH professor who recently made headlines because he protested with a tambourine at Sechseläutenplatz.
Why is Brennwald doing this?
You have to know two things about Reto Brennwald: he is not an academic; he just does it. And he loves the camera.
Brennwald grew up in Winterthur, in other words ‘Brrränwald’, because of the dialect and because their language also seems to emphasize the r. He comes from a working-class family, the father was an employee of a locomotive factory. Brennwald remembers that his parents weren’t very concerned about him. Brennwald did what he thought was right: he went to college, studied German, and dropped out because he got a chance on Roger Schawinski’s Radio 24 because of his voice.
Brennwald says he realized immediately in front of the microphone and the camera: “That looks good on me. The adrenaline rush in front of the camera, broadcast live, was fascinating. “
Schawinski later added him to the founding team of Tele Züri. Schawinski recalls that he was talented, intelligent and had expressiveness. And it is ambitious. And bulky. Schawinski says, “Maybe that’s why he didn’t become such a great figure in the audience.”
After three years, Brennwald managed to make the leap to Swiss television despite having dropped out of his studies because he trained as a videojournalist on Tele Züri. He was a reporter and cameraman in one. At SRF, that was a unique selling point at the time. The host of “Rundschau” at the time, Hannes Britschgi, says he quickly realized that Brennwald was a born presenter. Not many presenters have such an intimate relationship with the camera. Brennwald is a camera animal. “
Britschgi also remembered something else. He did not realize that Brennwald was a political person, on the contrary: he was a very creative and curious journalist. Politically, it seemed quite shapeless. Britschgi says: “The side he was later placed on astonished me.”
Brennwald himself recalls that he never had a political argument at home. “My father was apolitical. Only when I was with friends at home did I discover that political discussions could be held there. “
Brennwald is a moderator that the public can no longer get out of their heads. The voice that hums in a low frequency, and then there’s that wide, powerful jaw. At the “Rundschau” it sometimes seemed as if he was biting his guests, to whom he wanted to make a confession.
Brennwald’s career progresses smoothly, facing the scenes. He acted as moderator of “Rundschau” for seven years and in 2007 he moved to the “Arena”. Then, in 2010, the explosion: Brennwald had to give up the moderation of the «Arena» and went to the documentary film department as a reporter. Newspaper articles appear that speak of disputes within the SRF. Brennwald is a senior vice president in disguise, it is said. A fan of Blocher. Very little independent as a journalist for the most important political debate program in the country. Brennwald says, “It all blew me away.”
Brennwald says it is true that he has changed with the “Rundschau.” “In the ‘Rundschau’ we were allowed to catch the so-called responsible very critically and persistently. That is also correct. But I discovered that there are also leaders who take responsibility and create jobs. And journalists don’t tend to create jobs and we don’t have to take a lot of responsibility. “
Brennwald’s understanding of society is changing. He warned internally that journalists not only have to question the economy but also the state: “Doesn’t it interfere too much in our lives? In the economy? “
Has Brennwald really gotten too close to the senior vice president? Christoph Blocher and Roger Köppel too excited? Former coworkers say it was clearly on the list. Perhaps he was simply fascinated by the aura of these powerful men, as a former colleague claims to have observed during an interview with Köppel. Brennwald himself says he doesn’t like the senior vice president’s style, but he has great respect for Blocher’s business performance. And: “I’ve always talked to the SVP people and wondered if they might be right sometimes. You have to listen to all of them. “
The history of Brennwald and the SVP goes back ten years. When you talk to him, it seems like he never understood. Perhaps that explains why now you have the feeling that something that has already happened to you is repeating itself: that you are being placed in a corner where you do not belong. That he becomes a skeptic of the crown or even a conspiracy theorist without him being able to do anything about it.
Brennwald says he was the first in town to go shopping in Migros wearing a mask in the spring. People looked at him strangely, but he was convinced: We have to take Corona seriously. He still believes it today.
Why then is he on stage in front of Corona skeptics? Brennwald has different explanations. They do not contradict each other, but neither do they really complement each other. On the whole, they seem confused.
Brennwald says he was upset by “the media” scaremongering. The insistence on the number of infected without relating them to the number of tests. Then there were the contradictory measures: “Why is my son not allowed to go to school, but allowed to go to the club?”
Brennwald lost his job as moderator of the pandemic events, but denies that this is one of the reasons for his involvement. He used the time to professionalize his social media presence and spent a lot of time on Facebook. «An abyss has opened. I was surprised to see how much difference there is between this published opinion and the opinion of people who have questions and don’t dare to ask them anymore. “
Brennwald begins posting Facebook posts criticizing newspaper articles about Corona or questioning federal measures. More and more people got in touch, he says. “Common people, lawyers, artists who wrote to me: Thank you for asking these questions.” Brennwald says he’s not brave. But it cannot be that people withdraw from public debate because their positions on climate change, migration or feminism are offensive and branded as angry citizens.
Maybe Reto Brennwald found something on Facebook that he was missing after leaving the “Arena”: attention. Direct contact with the audience. Proximity can be addictive. And suddenly you are on stage in front of the crown skeptics in Zurich-West.
Brennwald’s documentary Corona is a balancing act. Because it is deliberately not a balanced film: only the skeptical voices in the crown have something to say. Brennwald defends voices that have not been heard enough. In addition to general practitioners, he mentions as examples the infectious disease specialist from St. Gallen Pietro Vernazza and the immunologist Beda Stadler. Did you hear very little? Vernazza has received more than 1000 mentions in the Swiss media database since the beginning of February, Stadler more than 600. Brennwald says he can be accused of moving among people who have damaged his reputation. “But I think: that’s exactly a stupid accusation. After all, we have freedom of expression. I’m interested in the matter. “
Reto Brennwald calls this legal journalism. If you can be a lawyer and a journalist at the same time, the movie will show it.
