By Der Spiegel

Copyright spiegel

Proposal number three loops back to the criticism that DER SPIEGEL fosters a kind of author cult around its external columnists yet rarely brings its own people to the fore with comparable vibrancy. The newsroom notes in the print version of DER SPIEGEL are generally characterized by dreary matter-of-factness. And in order to gain any benefit at all from the author photos, it would be necessary for the magazine to offer microscopes as inserts. The website itself has eliminated the newsroom notes entirely. But here, leaving aside the chirping, is my proposal. The magazine has around 20 foreign desks, a vast network. DER SPIEGEL has a colleague in Tahiti, for example, who runs the homepage while Germany sleeps. I first encountered him at 5:30 a.m. one day during my newsroom observations and in a Teams conference – and found him to be quite an interesting guy. My suggestion is the creation of a video column sprinkled with interesting asides and curiosities, yet still journalistically instructive, for distribution on the website and across social media. There is a book titled: “Everyday life happens elsewhere too: Foreign correspondents tell of pitfalls abroad.” It could serve as inspiration.

Proposal number four responds to a contemporary phenomenon that the sociologist Elise Boulding once described as “temporal exhaustion” – an intellectual atmosphere, a breathlessness in politics and the media that consumes the future energies that we so urgently need. From my perspective, the journalistic imperative in a world wearied by constant crises – and acutely affected by the visible toll of a relentless pace – is this: Provide measured orientation, offer inspiring views of the future, concentrate on issues of existential significance, turn away from the cult of immediacy, temper the flood of hype and curb catastrophism. My idea, then, would be to establish a well-defined space on the DER SPIEGEL homepage that offers a clear counterpoint, an experimental laboratory of purely constructive contemplation. It could be a place to draw lessons from large-scale solutions offered in other countries and cultures – whether it is curbing populism, designing migration policies that are both humane and effective, managing the shift to renewable energies, overcoming toxic culture wars or tackling disinformation. Working title: Laboratory of the Future.

Ah yes, and as a final comment – for the sake of form: I never encountered the former DER SPIEGEL editor again, the one who was thinking about cancelling his subscription out of frustration. I cannot say whether he is still following along. Nevertheless, I want to thank him. His email was enlightening, at least for me. And now, at last, a question to you dear readers: What are your thoughts on DER SPIEGEL, on journalism in the midst of the storm? And on our dazzling digital world?