THE PRINCIPLE NEVERTHELESS

Robert Misik in conversation with Roger de Weck

THE PRINCIPLE NEVERTHELESS
Why we need to save journalism from the media

On the crisis of journalism as a challenge to democratic politics

Authoritarian populists are on the rise. Disinformation and fake news are rampant. And the journalism that should be fighting back? It can't get out of the crisis. There may be more media, but there is less and less funding for journalism. Publishers want to make up for their losses by publishing even more loud opinions and soft topics. However, »tabloid digitalisation« benefits the populists, who use the same stylistic devices: Exaggeration, scandalisation, excitement.

Roger de Weck loves journalism as a profession. He knows it in all its facets - as a newspaperman and broadcaster, reporter and presenter. And he is worried because the laws of the media business and those of journalism are becoming increasingly divergent. In contrast, de Weck relies on the »nonetheless principle«: researching, weighing things up, staying true to himself - despite cost-cutting measures, despite X & Co. But how does that work? The author shows how journalism can be strengthened. Because without this valuable spoilsport, the game doesn't work in democracy.

Roger de Weck, born in 1953, was editor-in-chief of Die Zeit, director-general of Swiss radio and television and a member of the Future Council for Reforms at ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandfunk. Suhrkamp Verlag most recently published Die Kraft der Demokratie, which was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize for the Political Book of 2020.

Moderation
Robert Misik, Author and journalist

Roger de Weck:
The principle nevertheless.
Suhrkamp Insel, October 2024, ISBN 978-3-518-12863-3; € 17.00, also available as an ebook!