After over 30 years and more than 4500 broadcasts together, Peter Kloeppel and Ulrike von der Groeben are leaving RTL Aktuell. The presenters will host RTL Deutschland’s daily news programme for the last time at the end of August.

RTL Aktuell, broadcast since 1988, is one of the most-watched news programmes in Germany. Throughout the programme, presenters explain complex topics, which affect the daily lives of Germans, in a clear and easy-to-understand way.

To reposition and further strengthen the programme, RTL Deutschland has announced two new teams of presenters, consisting of Roberta Bieling and Andreas von Thien alongside Christopher Wittich and Anna Fleischhauer. From summer 2024, the two teams will take turns presenting RTL Aktuell.

Inga Leschek, Programme Managing Director RTL and RTL+, says: “Relevant journalism has been a strong programme pillar of RTL Deutschland for decades. Reliable information, especially in the current news environment, is enormously important to provide orientation. I am therefore very pleased that Roberta Bieling and Christopher Wittich, two outstanding journalists, will take over the moderation of RTL Aktuell as news anchors in the summer. Together with sports experts Anna Fleischhauer and Andreas von Thien, they are two perfect teams for us and the viewers."

Roberta Bieling has been part of the wider team of presenters for RTL Aktuell since summer 2022. She has also moderated the lunchtime programme Punkt 12 since 2006. From the beginning of 2022, she also appeared on daily RTL/NTV specials to report on the ongoing war in Ukraine. In 2017, together with Peter Kloeppel, she hosted an RTL town hall meeting featuring former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Christopher Wittich has been reporting for RTL and NTV from Washington DC since May 2022. Beforehand, from 2014 to 2022, he was a news presenter at NTV. Christopher regularly reported from Berlin and Brussels and presented several election specials. Since August 2021, he has been part of the RTL Aktuell team of presenters.

Anna Fleischhauer has been part of the RTL Aktuell team as a sports presenter since summer 2021. Previously, she worked as a freelance journalist for RTL and WDR. Anna is a graduate of the RTL School of Journalism and held various positions at RTL Deutschland, ZDF and WDR during her training.

Andreas von Thien has been a sports presenter for RTL Aktuell since 1997. He began his career in 1990 as a sports reporter and joined RTL in 1992. He presented programmes such as Guten Morgen Deutschland and Punkt 7. Since 2020, he serves as Head of Sports at RTL News.

Gerhard Kohlenbach, Editor-in-Chief of Politics, Society and Sport at RTL News, says: "Continuity paired with journalistic excellence is very important to us in the future line-up of RTL Aktuell. With Roberta Bieling, Christopher Wittich, Anna Fleischhauer and Andreas von Thien, we are relying on four of our best journalists, who have been familiar to RTL viewers for years and are very popular. I am particularly proud that we are filling these important positions with colleagues who have developed in-house."

Presenters Maik Meuser, Charlotte Maihoff and Pinar Atalay as well as Anna Kraft, Monica Lierhaus and Birgit von Bentzel will continue to be part of the extended team of presenters for RTL Aktuell. In addition, Maik Meuser will take over as host of RTL Nachtjournal, taking turns with Ilka Eßmüller.