Ilka Steinhausen will become Programme Director of Norddeutscher Rundfunk on 1 January 2025. According to Press Release the Administrative Board of Norddeutscher Rundfunk approved the personnel proposal of Director-General Joachim Knuth. In future, Steinhausen will be responsible for the programmes of NDR Info, NDR Kultur, NDR 2 and N-JOY as well as the NDR ensembles. The decision was preceded by a public tender and a multi-stage selection process.
Joachim Knuth, NDR Director-General: "Ilka Steinhausen has impressed us with her vision, her experience and her team spirit. She has outstanding journalistic skills, which she has already demonstrated in many different positions at NDR. Her strong management experience will help to lead the division further into the digital future. She is exactly the right person for this forward-looking position at NDR."
Ilka Steinhausen: "Offering good journalism and innovation for the people of the north is a matter close to my heart. The division is highly efficient - very experienced colleagues produce journalistic programmes for millions of people in northern Germany and beyond around the clock every day. Information, culture and entertainment, plus great ensembles - the variety of topics is truly extraordinary. I am really looking forward to the joint further development of the editorial offices and departments."
Ilka Steinhausen (55) comes from Preetz in Schleswig-Holstein. She studied biology at the University of Cologne and sport, specialising in journalism, at the German Sport University in Cologne. Since 1992, she has worked as a freelance author for WDR, NDR and Deutschlandfunk. After her traineeship at Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Steinhausen worked as a reporter, presenter and final editor at NDR 2 from 1997. In 2002 she moved to Panorama and in 2005 to the newly founded NDR Info reporter pool. She was a correspondent in the ARD capital studio in Berlin and from 2013 ARD spokesperson during the NDR presidency. From 2016 to 2019, she was deputy programme director at NDR 2. Since 2020, she has been editor-in-chief and deputy director of the multimedia programme offerings of NDR Landeshaus Hamburg.
The current programme director Katja Marx will be leaving her job at the end of the year at her own request.
