Recommendations for books by journalists

By Fritz Hausjell and Wolfgang R. Langenbucher | A project by the University of Vienna’s Department of Communication, the idea of selecting and presenting the best books by journalists was co-founded by Hannes Haas (1957-2014) and is compiled by Wolfgang R. Langenbucher and Fritz Hausjell. The first edition was published in 2002 in the quarterly journal Message, founded by Michael Haller. When that journal ceased publication, the book recommendations were documented in the magazine Der österreichische Journalist [The Austrian journalist] from 2015. This was interrupted in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2022, a new place of publication was found: Journalism Research.

The top 10 of book journalism Recommendations for books by journalists

By Fritz Hausjell and Wolfgang R. Langenbucher | A project by the University of Vienna’s Department of Communication, the idea of selecting and presenting the best German books by journalists was co-founded by Hannes Haas (1957-2014) and is compiled by Wolfgang R. Langenbucher and Fritz Hausjell. The first edition was published in 2002 in the quarterly journal Message, founded by Michael Haller. When that journal ceased publication, the book recommendations were documented in the magazine Der österreichische Journalist [The Austrian journalist] from 2015. This was interrupted in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2022, a new place of publicationwas found: Journalism Research.

Sylvia Dietl (2022): Transformation und Neustrukturierung des DDR-Rundfunks im Prozess der Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands [The transformation and restructuring of GDR broadcasting in the process of German reunification]

Reviewed and translated by Mandy Tröger | Rarely are there dissertations that make a central contribution to a better understanding of historic reality. Sylvia Dietl’s book is such a dissertation; it rewrites an entire chapter of German media history. This is no small achievement. An indication of the book’s strength are its 658 pages and over 1700 footnotes. But the book’s power lies in its content: Dietl analyzes the transformation and restructuring of East Germany’s broadcasting system more than 30 years ago. The political scientist does this on the basis of a broad range of sources, with analytical ingenuity and a love for detail. In ten chapters, she shows how the unification of the Western Federal Republic of Germany (FGR) and the Eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR) came along with »a complete transfer of institutions from West to East Germany«.