Strunz was born in
Münchberg. After graduating from high school in
Bayreuth, he worked as a trainee at the
Nordbayerischer Kurier. He then studied
political science,
German studies and
media law at
LMU Munich from 1989 to 1994. He became editor and head of the news department of the
Munich Abendzeitung. Strunz was deputy editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper
Die Welt and from October 2000 editor-in-chief of
Bild am Sonntag, the sunday edition of
Bild, which he left on 1 August 2008. From October 2008 to mid-2011 Strunz was editor-in-chief of the
Hamburger Abendblatt. Since then he has headed the TV and video production division at
Axel Springer SE, which was created especially for him. Since 2009 he has been a regular guest lecturer at the
European Media and Business Academy of the
Hochschule Mittweida. Strunz appeared on television as host of the discussion programme
Was erlauben Strunz!? (in reference to the famous statement by football coach
Giovanni Trapattoni about player
Thomas Strunz), which was broadcast by
N24 (
ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG at that time) until it was discontinued in summer 2010. Previously he had replaced
Heinz Eggert on the
n-tv talk show
Der Grüne Salon from 2002. From March 2011 to October 2013 Strunz hosted the political debate
Eins gegen Eins on
Sat.1 and from June to December 2013
Deutschland Akut – der WELT Talk on
N24. On 1 July 2014 Strunz became managing director of
Maz & More TV Produktion, which produces the
breakfast television of
Sat.1 (Sat.1-Frühstücksfernsehen). Strunz also appears there regularly as a commentator on current events. After Strunz moderated the program
Akte – Reporter kämpfen für Sie in September 2015 as a representative for Ulrich Meyer, he took over the main presentation of the program on Sat.1 in January 2017. In August and September 2017 he hosted several broadcasts on
Sat.1 for the
2017 federal elections. Strunz was married to the journalist and editor-in-chief of the
Gala magazine Anne Meyer-Minnemann from 2005 to 2019 and has two daughters with her. Strunz was one of four presenters of the TV duel between
Angela Merkel and
Martin Schulz for the
2017 federal elections. Strunz quoted
SPD chancellor candidate Schulz as follows: "What the refugees bring to us is more valuable than gold." Schulz then fully echoed the quotation used against him by the
AfD: "What the refugees bring to us is more valuable than gold. It is the unwavering belief in the dream of Europe. A dream we lost at some point." Strunz also asked with reference to the 226,000 persons obliged to leave Germany at the end of June 2017: "When will they be gone?" This choice of words and the fact that Strunz did not specifically mention the proportion of tolerated persons (159,678) met with criticism on the internet and in the media. In October 2024, Strunz became CEO and editorial director of
Euronews which came under criticism as their owners are tied to Hungarian prime minister
Viktor Orbán. Therefore, rivaling Brussels news outlet
Politico Europe voiced criticism about Strunz becoming appointed. ==References==