{{short description|German journalist}} {{expand German|topic=bio|date=December 2021|Ulrich Wickert}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Ulrich Wickert | image = 11-01-15-buchmesse-ffm-by-RalfR-14 (cropped).jpg | caption = Wickert in 2011 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|12|02|df=y}} | birth_place = Tokyo, Japan | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Journalist | years_active = | spouse = | partner = | children = | website = }} '''Ulrich Wickert''' (born 2 December 1942) is a Japanese-born German journalist. He is one of the best-known broadcasters in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.institutfrancais.de/kalender/veranstaltung/2017-07-06t160000-frankreich-rendez-vous-mit-ulrich-wickert-gespraech-lesung|title=Frankreich! Rendez-vous mit Ulrich Wickert … GESPRÄCH & LESUNG|date=20 June 2017|website=Institut français Deutschland|language=de|access-date=20 July 2019|archive-date=20 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720205617/https://www.institutfrancais.de/kalender/veranstaltung/2017-07-06t160000-frankreich-rendez-vous-mit-ulrich-wickert-gespraech-lesung|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Early life == Born in Tokyo, Japan, Wickert grew up in Heidelberg and Paris as a result of his father Erwin Wickert being employed with NATO as a German diplomat. In the 1960s, he studied law and political sciences at the University of Bonn. In 1962, he spent a year at Wesleyan University on a Fulbright scholarship.
After passing the first level of German bar exams in 1968, he started working as freelance radio producer for ARD, becoming a full-time editor there a short time later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.academie-de-berlin.de/Archive/mitglieder/ulrich-wickert|title=Ulrich Wickert {{!}} Académie de Berlin|access-date=20 July 2019|archive-date=20 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720205613/https://www.academie-de-berlin.de/Archive/mitglieder/ulrich-wickert|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djtPAAAAIAAJ&q=ulrich+wickert+wesleyan|title=Frankfurter Hefte|date=1973|publisher=Neuen Verlagsgesellschaft der Frankfurter Hefte.|language=de}}</ref>
== Career == Between 1969 and 1977, Wickert was an editor for ''Monitor'', a political affairs program produced by the WDR network. He was deployed as a correspondent for every French presidential election between 1969 and 1978. In 1978 he was made French correspondent and transferred to the Paris bureau of the ARD.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/gallery2380681/Er-war-einmal-Mister-Tagesthemen.html|title=Ulrich Wickert: Er war einmal "Mister Tagesthemen" – Bilder & Fotos – WELT|website=DIE WELT|access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref>
In 1981, he founded the discussion group "Journalists for Public Broadcasting"; in that same year he became chief correspondent of the ARD bureau in New York. In 1984 he became chief correspondent of the Paris ARD bureau.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin/2014/38/ulrich-wickert-tagesthemen-moderator|title=Ulrich Wickert: "Ich kann wunderbar nichts tun"|last=Prüfer|first=Tillmann|date=11 September 2014|work=Die Zeit|access-date=20 July 2019|language=de-DE|issn=0044-2070}}</ref> At the Place de la Concorde he demonstrated how French pedestrians walk across several lanes of busy car traffic without the help of traffic lights.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/weltspiegel/50-jahre-weltspiegel-ulrich-wickert-am-place-de-la-concorde/das-erste/Y3JpZDovL2Rhc2Vyc3RlL1dlbHRzcGllZ2VsLzEzMDMzMDI2OTY | title=50 Jahre Weltspiegel: Ulrich Wickert am Place de la Concorde - hier anschauen }}</ref>
From July 1991 to August 2006 he was chief anchor for ''Tagesthemen'', in alternation with Sabine Christiansen (1991–1997), Gabi Bauer (1997–2001) and Anne Will (2001–2006). On 11 April 2004 he announced that he would not seek a renewal of his contract, which expired in 2006. On 1 September 2006 Wickert was succeeded by Washington D.C. bureau chief Tom Buhrow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ulrich-wickert-zu-40-jahre-tagesthemen-nachrichten-sind-die.694.de.html?dram:article_id=407296|title=Ulrich Wickert zu 40 Jahre "Tagesthemen" – Nachrichten sind "die Stärke der Öffentlich-Rechtlichen"|website=Deutschlandfunk|date=2 January 2018 |language=de-DE|access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/medien/tom-buhrow-folgt-ulrich-wickert-bei-tagesthemen/661386.html|title=Tom Buhrow folgt Ulrich Wickert bei "Tagesthemen"|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=21 November 2005|language=de|access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref>
He was elevated to the French Légion d'honneur in 2005 for his service to French-German relations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/gallery2380681/Er-war-einmal-Mister-Tagesthemen.html|title=Ulrich Wickert: Er war einmal "Mister Tagesthemen" – Bilder & Fotos – WELT|website=DIE WELT|access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Wickert is in his third marriage, to Julia Jäkel, CEO of the publishing house Gruner + Jahr.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
He is the uncle of actress Emily Wood.<ref>[http://www.sat1.de/tv/sechserpack/das-sechserpack/emily-wood Emily Wood biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827014625/http://www.sat1.de/tv/sechserpack/das-sechserpack/emily-wood |date=27 August 2012 }} {{in lang|de}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *{{IMDb name|id=nm0926888}} *[http://www.sbznet.de/?rubrik=kultur&thema=03-10-21-01 Interview with Ulrich Wickert: "Bunt und locker flockig reicht nicht"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717021217/http://www.sbznet.de/?rubrik=kultur&thema=03-10-21-01 |date=17 July 2012 }} (in German, by [http://www.sbznet.de/ sbznet.de])
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickert, Ulrich}} Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:German television reporters and correspondents Category:German broadcast news analysts Category:20th-century German journalists Category:21st-century German journalists Category:University of Bonn alumni Category:Wesleyan University alumni Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:ARD (broadcaster) people Category:Westdeutscher Rundfunk people Category:20th-century German male journalists Category:21st-century German male journalists