Carlo Masala, a military expert who frequently appears on talk shows, says he doesn’t feel nervous before his appearances. “I used to play music to finance my studies” he told the weekly “Die Zeit”. “Standing on stage with a band has always felt completely awkward. But if you put me on a stage and ask me to speak about international politics, I become a showman. That’s my world, and I feel at ease there”.
In the “Zeit” interview, three of the most frequent guests on political talk shows spoke out. Masala was joined by SPD politician Ralf Stegner and political journalist Melanie Amann. Stegner explained that politics feels like a combat sport on television: “If you’re not well prepared for “Lanz”, it quickly becomes uncomfortable. You need resilience. The same goes for “Maischberger”-you can’t get through with idle chatter”.
Amann answered a question about whether her many TV appearances leave a mark: “In my work it has happened that people felt they’d hit their heads when I kept going on and on. That was likely intensified by the talk shows. But I’m not trying to blame Markus Lanz”.