Who we are
“Network” is a fair description of Zeitenspiegel, but the word says too little – terms like “solidarity” and “mutual aid” come closer to reflecting what Zeitenspiegel is about. The agency is a cooperative, with members taking what they need and giving what they can. Authority is distributed democratically. But the form of the organization is secondary. More important is its content: Why would journalists join forces to create something larger than themselves?
Because we still remember why we went into journalism – a memory that can haunt those pushing 27 as much as those over 70. We became journalists because we want to tell stories. Sometimes those stories are right outside our door, sometimes they require weeks of arduous travel. But no story can be researched in a day, or from behind a desk. A journalist needs to get close to the people who make things happen, and to the people who feel their effects. Understanding requires sharing people’s joy – being frustrated by them – suffering with them. And to tell people’s stories, you have to understand.
We became journalists because we believe that readers and the media need such stories. The staff at our Weinstadt headquarters who provide organizational, design, and editing support believe it as ardently as our writers and photographers. Convincing media outlets is not quite as easy. But Zeitenspiegel has kept trying for nearly 25 years – an experiment with highs, lows, and numerous offspring.
Our firstborn was the “Zeitenspiel” kindergarten, located downstairs in Weinstadt. It was a much-wanted love child – we had kids, and our workdays were hardly compatible with mornings-only Germany nursery schools.
The next was the Hansel Mieth Prize for the year’s best photo feature on a socially relevant theme. It, too, had to be: One of the most prestigious awards in German journalism, it commemorates our honorary member, photojournalist Johanna “Hansel” Mieth (1909-1998).
A child of sorrow: the Gabriel Grüner Grant, awarded annually to support research on a promising feature story. The jury steers funding toward ideas that would have inspired our friend and colleague Gabriel, who was murdered on assignment in Kosovo in 1999.
The baby of the family (in cooperation with the Reutlingen VHS community college) is a feature reporting school named in honor of Zeitenspiegel member Günther Dahl, a master of writing big stories about small themes who passed away in 2005.
The nuclear family has many cousins: offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Dortmund, Munich, Havana, New York, Genoa, Copenhagen, Prague, and Shanghai. But reunions always take place at the same long table in the office kitchen in Weinstadt, where members and friends currently in the neighborhood meet every day for a hot lunch. Some of us are pretty good cooks.