The director of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia is Dr. Tobias Schmid. He also serves as the European Affairs Representative for the Conference of Directors of Media Authorities (DLM) and as the representative for the Digital Services Act (DDG).

Since April 2025, he has led the working group Evolution of the Media Regulatory Framework of the European Board for Media Services (Media Board), the association of national media regulatory authorities in Europe. In this capacity, he is also a member of the Executive Board. From January 2020 to December 2021, he served as Chair of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA), the predecessor of today’s Media Board.

Since April 1, 2021, he has also been a member of the Expert Committee on Communication and Information of the German UNESCO Commission, and since September 2022, he has served as chair of the Federal Expert Committee on Media within the German Music Council.

Tobias Schmid was reelected as director in 2022 and has been serving his second term since January 1, 2023. His deputy is Dr. Petra Gerlach, head of the Department of Media Policy and Innovation at the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Until December 2016, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Brautmeier served as director of the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia. He succeeded Prof. Dr. Norbert Schneider, who served as director until September 2010. Prof. Schneider’s predecessor—as the first director of what was then the State Broadcasting Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia—was Klaus Schütz.