In 1985, a few young writers and photographers in the Swabian province joined forces to form a community of reporters. Far away from the major media centers of Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, many predicted failure. The skepticism was even greater when our founders ventured a model based on solidarity: all fees went into a common pot and were withdrawn as needed.
But it worked. We got orders, new members, and committed social reportage quickly became a core element of Zeitenspiegel. In order to promote such stories outside our community, in 1998 we announced our first reportage prize in the name of our honorary member, the photographer Hansel Mieth. Today, this prize and the Gabriel Grüner Scholarship - named after our colleague who was shot in the Kosovo war - are among the most prestigious awards in German journalism.
Over the years, we founded a kindergarten and a reporting school. Together with the Culture Counts Foundation, we launched the global reportage series „Peace counts“ about peacemakers. Our Courage magazine has been published for ten years with a similarly constructive approach - as a supplement in up to 20 daily newspapers and with a circulation of around 800,000 copies. A heartfelt project, award-winning, just like many of our reports.
Our home is still Weinstadt, an idyllic spot between vineyards in the Stuttgart suburbs. We run the stern Baden-Württemberg office here in a former farmhouse. Other Zeitenspieglers are based in Hamburg, Dortmund, Berlin, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Manila and Beijing, among other places. Together, we develop new ideas every week: for daily newspapers, magazines, radio and TV.
We think in many narrative forms: political analyses, columns, podcasts, video stories. And, of course, classic reportage in pictures and text. The same golden rule has applied for four decades: good stories have many facets. And we want to tell them.
Voices on Zeitenspiegel:
„The last and only kibbutz on German soil.“
Stefanie Rosenkranz, Stern reporter
„You're neo-hippies!“
Souleymane Oulai, Ivorian radio presenter and former Rastaman
„A bit pietistic, but open-minded.“
Markus Grill, journalist at the WDR/NDR/Süddeutsche Zeitung research network
„Money was always tight, but I was the freest man on God's earth, I could choose the stories I wanted to do and travel wherever I wanted.“
Jürgen Schaefer, editor-in-chief at GEO about his time at Zeitenspiegel
„When you go public, I want to know.“
Thomas Osterkorn, former editor-in-chief of Stern magazine
„Side gussets - who is that?“
Elaine Miradour, television presenter on state television in Côte d'Ivoire
What is Zeitenspiegel? A “sheltered workshop” as some mock?
Stephanie Nannen, freelance author
„I appreciate the inner attitude at Zeitenspiegel and believe that good writers are always needed. Anyone who wants good, committed, enlightening journalism, who appreciates the undaunted way in which Zeitenspiegel devotes itself to the problems of the Third World in projects such as „Peace Counts“, who values meaning and responsibility, must wish this community of reporters that it will be around for a long time to come.“
Ingrid Kolb, Stern author, former director of the Henri Nannen School