Zenith (magazine)

Last updated
Zenith
Editor-in-chief Daniel Gerlach
CategoriesPolitical magazine
FrequencyQuarterly
Publisher Candid Foundation
Total circulation5,000
Founded1999
CountryGermany
Based inBerlin
LanguageGerman, English, Arabic
Website www.zenith.me
ISSN 1439-9660

zenith is an independent German-language magazine which focuses on the Arab and Islamic world. The magazine is published quarterly and addresses politics, economics, culture, and society in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia as well as the Muslim world more generally.

Contents

History

The magazine was founded by six students of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Hamburg in summer 1999 and was initially a non-profit project. [1] The founders wanted to introduce new perspectives about the MENA region to the German media landscape, which had long been the preserve of a handful of specialists, such as Peter Scholl-Latour and Gerhard Konzelmann, [2] and to challenge long-held stereotypes about the region. [3]

In the spring of 2000, the association "forum zenith e.V." was founded. The association was the official publisher of the magazine zenith until 2008. In October 2012, the German language flagship magazine zenith was relaunched with a new design and it now features an integrated business section. The zenith editorial team carried research into the lives of Egyptians and Tunisians following the fall of dictatorial rule, [4] which culminated in the publication of Diktatur bewältigen (Confronted Past) in 2013.

In July 2013, zenith fell victim to an attack by hackers reportedly from Turkey having run a cover comprising a map of Kurdistan and devoting the issue to the topic of Kurdistan. [5] As of spring 2015, Candid Foundation assumed editorial responsibility for zenith magazine, in partnership with the publishing house Deutscher Levante Verlag. In 2017, zenith launched a new website incorporating English, German and Arabic content.

In August 2019, zenith celebrated its 20th anniversary. Editor-in-chief Daniel Gerlach commented on the occasion by stating that zenith's capability to survive and grow in an age of intense competition and general decline of print media was based on its ability to successfully cultivate a niche in the market and curate an approach to reporting on the Middle East that was both distant and empirical as well as empathetic. [6] In 2019, zenith editors and contributors collaborated with the Federal Agency for Civic Education to produce the multimedia project, Atlas des Arabischen Frühlings (AdAF), which provides an educational guide through the revolutions of 2011 in the Arab world. [7]

zenith Photo Award

In 2011, zenith ran its first photography award entitled "Muslims in Germany" in collaboration with Stiftung Mercator. The winning entries were exhibited in the Haus der Geschichte. [8] The second edition of the zenith photography award was held in 2013. [9] The photography award continued in 2017. again with the support of Stiftung Mercator, [10] and an exhibition of the winners was held at the Museum in der Kulturbrauerei in Berlin. [11] The winning entries also featured in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. [12]

Vision and structure

zenith is widely considered to be the most popular, most frequently quoted and widest distributed MENA-focused magazine in the German-speaking world which reporting on the economy, politics, society and culture of the Islamic world as well as Israel. zenith has been quoted in the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard as being "a contact point for people who think about the Middle East outside the mainstream media." [13] On the celebration of zenith's 20th anniversary, the Berlin State Secretary Sawsan Chebli spoke of the importance of a publication like zenith to provide the much needed depth in the conversation about the Middle East and the Islamic World. [14] Among its media partners are Spiegel Online, Die Welt, brand eins, TEDx, Goethe Institute, Bertelsmann Foundation and the German Commission for UNESCO.

zenith is independent both financially and content-wise and is published by Deutsche Levante Verlag GmbH in Berlin. Its editorial board includes Moritz Behrendt, Asiem El Difraoui, Yasemin Ergin, [15] Daniel Gerlach, [16] Christian Meier, [17] [18] Veit Raßhofer and Jörg Schäffer.

Currently, zenith is concentrating on the content of the magazine as well as supporting the professional development of young journalists and photographers. The magazine views itself as a platform for young, critical, alternative journalism on a region whose image in the world is significantly marked by biased and ideologically entrenched reporting. Many former and current contributors of zenith work as foreign correspondents for major German news outlets such as Spiegel Online, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ZDF, Deutschlandradio, Die Zeit or Die Welt.

Related Research Articles

<i>Der Spiegel</i> German weekly news magazine based in Hamburg

Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner, a British army officer, and Rudolf Augstein, a former Wehrmacht radio operator who was recognized in 2000 by the International Press Institute as one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinhard Mohn</span> German businessman and philanthropist

Reinhard Mohn was a German billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Under his leadership, Bertelsmann, once a medium-sized printing and publishing house, established in 1835, developed into a global media conglomerate. In 1977, he founded the non-profit Bertelsmann Stiftung, which is today one of the largest foundations in Germany, with worldwide reach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norbert Blüm</span> German politician (1935–2020)

Norbert Blüm was a German politician who served as a federal legislator from North Rhine-Westphalia, chairman of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia (1987–1999), and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Schwarzer</span> German journalist, publisher and feminist

Alice Sophie Schwarzer is a German journalist and prominent feminist. She is founder and publisher of the German feminist journal EMMA. Beginning in France, she became a forerunner of feminist positions against anti-abortion laws, for economic self-sufficiency for women, against pornography, prostitution, female genital mutilation, and for a position on women in Islam. She authored many books, including biographies of Romy Schneider, Marion Dönhoff, and herself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Necla Kelek</span> Turco-German feminist and social scientist

Necla Kelek is a Turkish-born German feminist and social scientist, holding a doctorate in this field, originally from Turkey. She gave lectures on migration sociology at the Evangelische Fachhochschule für Sozialpädagogik in Hamburg from 1999 until 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Voßkuhle</span> German legal scholar

Andreas Voßkuhle is a German legal scholar who served as the president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 2010 until 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erich Böhme</span> German journalist and television presenter

Erich Böhme was a German journalist and television presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uwe Bohm</span> German actor (1962–2022)

Uwe Bohm was a German actor. He appeared in more than 100 films and television shows from 1973 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thaddäus Troll</span> German journalist, writer and poet

Hans Bayer, known by the pseudonym Thaddäus Troll, was a German journalist and writer and one of the most prominent modern poets in the Swabian German dialect. In his later years, he was also an active campaigner for libraries and for support, pension rights, and fair publishing contracts for writers. He was born in Cannstatt, a suburb of Stuttgart, and died by suicide there at the age of 66. The literary award Thaddäus-Troll-Preis is named in his honour.

Michael Schmidt-Ruthenbeck is a German billionaire businessman, together with his brother Rainer, owner of 16% of the retail group Metro AG.

Asiem El Difraoui is a political scientist, economist, and documentary director and producer of Egyptian-German descent. He focuses primarily on topics related to the Arab world, and is widely considered as a leading expert on Arab media in general and jihadism internet propaganda in particular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Gerlach</span> German non-fiction writer

Daniel Gerlach is a German author, journalist, publisher and Middle East expert. He is the current editor-in-chief of the German Middle East quarterly magazine zenith and director-general of the Candid Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigitte Mohn</span> German businesswoman and philanthropist

Brigitte Mohn is a German businesswoman and a member of the Mohn family that has a significant influence on Bertelsmann group and the Bertelsmann Stiftung. Mohn is also chair of the German Stroke Foundation's executive board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Palitzsch</span> German theatre director and theatre manager

Peter Palitzsch was a German theatre director. He worked with Bertolt Brecht in his Berliner Ensemble from the beginning in 1949, and was in demand internationally as a representative of Brecht's ideas. He was a theatre manager at the Staatstheater Stuttgart and the Schauspiel Frankfurt. Many of his productions were invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen festival. He worked internationally from 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candid Foundation</span>

Candid Foundation is a private non-for-profit organisation working in the fields of intercultural dialogue, media, research and development. It was founded in 2014 in Berlin. The organization focuses on the countries of the Southern Mediterranean, Western Asia and the wider MENA region.

Christoph Sydow was a German journalist who worked for Der Spiegel as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naseef Naeem</span>

Naseef Naeem is a Christian Syrian–German legal scholar specializing in public and constitutional law. He is an expert on legal and political affairs in the Middle East, Syria, and the constitution of Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Hartmann (politician)</span> German politician (born 1963)

Michael Hartmann is a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was a member of the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2017. Hartmann is a specialist politician for internal security and was the domestic policy spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group as well as the chairman of his parliamentary group in the Committee on Internal Affairs and a member of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefan Weidner</span> German islamologist and translator

Stefan Weidner is a German scholar of Islamic cultures, writer, and translator. Due to his contributions to the reception of Arabic and other Middle Eastern literatures, the German scholar of Modern Oriental Studies Stefan Wild described him as a "leading mediator of Middle Eastern poetry and prose into German".

References

  1. ↑ Alexander Bühler (31 August 2019). "Zeitschrift zenith Die Nahostversteher". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  2. ↑ ""Zenith"-Jubiläum: Mit Ironie und Wissen gegen "Orient"-Klischees". de.qantara.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  3. ↑ "Keine Zerrbilder des Orients". neues-deutschland.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  4. ↑ "Diktatur bewältigen Wie Tunesien und Ägypten mit der Vergangenheit umgehen". hkw.de. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  5. ↑ Krüger, Karen. "Hackerangriff auf Berliner Magazin zenith Kurdistan hat jetzt eine Landkarte". faz.net. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  6. ↑ ""Überleben ist alles"". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  7. ↑ "Atlas des Arabischen Frühlings". bpb.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "Muslime in Deutschland". hdg.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "2013 zenith Photo Award". lfi-online.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  10. ↑ "Kick-off for the zenith Photo Award 2017 Islam in Europe". stiftung-mercator.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "Islam in Europe zenith Photo Award 2017". hdg.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  12. ↑ "Zenith-Foto Wie wir zusammenleben". faz.net. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Seit 20 Jahren im "zenith"". derstandard.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  14. ↑ Baumstieger, Moritz. "Orient-ierung". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  15. ↑ "Yasemin Ergin". akademie-solitude.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  16. ↑ "Daniel Gerlach "Der Nahe Osten geht nicht unter"". deutschlandfunk.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  17. ↑ "Christian H. Meier". Torial. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  18. ↑ "Im Land der geraubten Mütter". cicero.de. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.