Necrolog 

12 July 2004 tbs.pm/577

Inge Meysel dies at 94 [English]

Ah, but for the transitory and temporary nature of television.

Inge Meysel was so ubiquitous and so much the face of post-war West German television that her passing, even at such a “good innings”, has saddened many in Germany.

When the modern democratic Federal Republic was created out of the ashes of the Third Reich, who better than someone (mildly) persecuted by the Nazis to become “Mother of the Nation” to the new Germany?

And what better medium for the times than television, at mid-century the most important development in communications but one so easily displaced by mobile phones and the internet in later years.

Of course, no one involved in any of the latest new media could ever be thought of in such great terms (no, not even Emily Bell, no matter how much she might like to think it).

But then, no one in modern television is likely to be mistaken for being the parent of a nation – or indeed be mistaken for having an original idea – so perhaps the new media and the old new media are less divorced than you’d think.