![Anna Sophie Kühne (2023): Zwischen Anpassung und Selbstbehauptung. Identitäts- und Handlungsmuster ostdeutscher Journalist*innen [Between adaptation and self-assertation: Patterns of identity and behavior of East German journalists].](https://journalistik.online/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/cropped-journalistik-hintergrund-groß.png)
Reviewed by Stine Eckert
Anna Sophie Kühne’s study about the patterns of identity and behavior of East German journalists was published in the »BestMasters« series by Springer VS. The series publishes master’s theses which received the highest grade by »renowned universities« in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Hence, the 93-page publication is structured like a master’s thesis, providing readers orientation via its many chapters and subchapters. Beginning on page 57, readers find the most interesting part of the book, as the findings chapter gives voice to eleven journalists that Kühne interviewed in two focus groups.
Remarkably, among these journalists, all five men are cited with their real names, while all six women chose a pseudonym (which is not further analyzed). Hence their brief biographies remain vague, but provide an overview over the participants’ careers. Kühne was particularly interested in the construction of East German identity by different generations of journalists, socialized before and after the reunification of Germany. The group of those born in 1986 or later included Thomas Vorreyer, who reports for the East German public broadcaster MDR, and Martin Machowecz, the head of the »Streit« [»Argument«] department of the national weekly paper Die Zeit, who previously had co-founded the sister paper Die Zeit im Osten [Die Zeit in the East], as well as three women journalists. They worked as freelancers or for public broadcasters. The older group, born in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) between 1949 and 1972, was represented by six participants: Jörg Wagner who works for the East German public broadcaster RBB as a media journalist, Christoph Dieckmann who writes for Die Zeit, the sports journalist Thomas Skulski for reports for the national public television station ZDF, and the correspondent Henry Bernhard who covers the East German state of Thuringia for the national public radio station Deutschlandfunk as well as two women journalists. One was retired; the other one wrote for the literature department of the national newspaper Neues Deutschland.
Kühne‘s selection of participants considered a variety of media in which East German journalists work and achieved near parity of women and men journalists. Yet, as one participant, and Kühne herself, noted, her sample was limited to successful journalists. Those who were not able to enter or remain in the profession – especially in the older cohort after the reunification – were not part of her data collection.
Kühne summarized her findings along five propositions, which confirm extant scholarship on East German identity, but offer especially interesting insights into the experiences of the younger journalists and their understanding of journalism as a profession. Moreover, she highlights nuances in the experiences of the older cohort and shows commonalities and differences between both groups. Her analysis of the intersection of age/generation with GDR/East German socialization foregrounds the complexity of East German identity. She found that both groups showed »specific East German structures of expectations and interpretations, which influenced the participants in their decision to become journalists« (p. 58). The younger cohort was shaped by growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s, a time immediately following the reunification that saw many difficulties, leading them to develop a fine antenna for inequalities. The older cohort was characterized by a heightened sense to detect political vibes and was impacted by the status of their parents and the education available in the GDR. All participants confirmed that their East German identity first came to the fore when they travelled to the West, and all said they especially appreciated the freedom of the press in Germany. Further, the older journalists emphasized their antenna for ideologies, while the younger cohort, as Kühne puts it, drew parallels between their experiences as East Germans and people who experience racism: while people of color in Germany were often burdened with being the ones who had to explain racism, in a similar vein East Germans had to repeatedly explain East Germany. The younger journalists expressed their solidarity with marginalized groups and empathy for the burdens caused by discrimination. Yet, both cohorts saw themselves as facilitators between East and West Germany.
In her second proposition, Kühne highlights that the older journalists criticized that the oppositional work and tricks that journalists in the GDR used to undermine censorship was not sufficiently recognized right after the reunification and still has not been appreciated enough to this day. In this vein, Jörg Wagner recounts how live broadcasts in the GDR were used to spontaneously air critical voices, along the motto of asking for forgiveness later, rather than permission first. In pre-produced reports such criticisms would have been cut out. The detailed direct quotes from participants give a stage to the journalists and the treasure trove of experiences they can mine. They enliven this academic publication tremendously. They make it at times an exciting page-turner in which contemporary witnesses can offer their views of journalism in the GDR that makes history come alive, albeit framed by Kühne’s research context.
Regardless of age, all interviewed journalists saw the current media landscape in Germany critically. Their criticism concerned personnel as well as content about East German topics. Once again, it is confirmed that East German journalists are underrepresented in German newsrooms, especially in positions of leadership. In this regard Christoph Dieckmann speaks about the »devastating consequences for East Germany society« (p. 67). Kühne quotes his conclusion: »In the fall of 1989 the people [of the GDR] found a public language, but this discovery was lost again as the overall German public sphere turned out to be a public sphere for West Germans only, without the West Germans seeing it that way« (p. 67). Similarly, Jörg Wagner put it succinctly: »The Ossis [East Germans] to this day have little say in the [German] media landscape« (p. 67). Since the reunification journalism as a profession has been opened up to everyone, but participants noted that only well-off East Germans with supportive parents can afford to become journalists. At the same time, a financial gap between East Germans and West Germans continues to loom large, participants said. Moreover, climbing the career ladder in media was impeded by West German elites which would recruit amongst themselves, according to the participants, while apprenticeships and jobs in media were lacking in East Germany. Regarding the representation of East Germans in journalistic content, Kühne stated that coverage of East Germany continues to emulate foreign reporting, perceived by both groups as cliché-ridden. Moreover, a medium that could contribute to identity building among East Germans was missing as well as a news medium headquartered in East Germany with impact across all of Germany. The outlet Die Zeit im Osten was mentioned as the only positive example heading in the right direction.
In her fourth proposition, Kühne argues that discrimination of East Germans affects all generations: The younger and older cohorts both had experienced discrimination as journalists by West German colleagues due to their East German origins. Only a few said they did not have such experiences. The participants also noted that during the 1990s West German journalists showed little to no interest to learn about the journalistic realities in East Germany. Kühne summarizes that knowledge about East Germany continues to be lacking in West German newsrooms, linking this circumstance to discriminations. She cites a journalist from the younger group who said that during her work in Cologne she »worked incredibly hard to rid herself« (p. 78) of her Saxonian accent so as not to be teased about it anymore. Kühne concludes that East Germans continue to be judged and condemned by an assumed universal West German standard.
Her fifth, and last, proposition spreads some hope. The younger cohort’s self-confidence regarding their East German identity has slowly started to bring change. Here, as in other parts of the book, gender pops up as an important category in society and media. Only given a gendered backdrop, the participant Martin Machowecz, quoted directly by Kühne, can state that being »ostdeutsch« is an »awesome label«: »For me as a white man there is no other unique selling point than being an Ossi [East German]« (p. 79). Another young journalist also speculated that her East German socialization may have been a decisive factor for a successful application. Alas, the author does not, as in other parts that touch on parental leave, birth of children, child care and loss of work, and the status of working women in German society, drill deeper into the gendered dynamics affecting East German journalists. Although gender was not a focus in the study, salient examples of gendered experiences between women and men journalists are noted throughout the publication. One participant in the older cohort recounts her story. After she went on parental leave from working for the local newspaper Thüringer Tageblatt in the late 1980s she was ready to join the newsroom again. But history had played her a trick: The reunification had killed her paper – and job. Her subsequent application to work in PR for a church was without success as she said a man who was a former editor-in-chief already got the position, despite having been involved with the Stasi. Yet, in instances such as these the gender component is not further analyzed.
Following her overall conclusion that East German identity is impacting journalistic work, Kühne offers several recommendations. She argues that while it may not be a stigma anymore for young journalists to be East German, and in some cases may be an advantage for entering journalism, structural and material barriers would continue to block their path into the profession. Kühne recommends scholarships, mentoring, and an increased presence of journalistic role models in schools and educational institutions. She further urges West German media publishers to more systematically recruit and support East German talent. She advocates for influential media located in East Germany to impact societal discourse in a sustainable manner and closes with the plea to talk more with each other, among East German and West German journalists, but also among different generations of East German media workers, to fill in gaps in understanding each other’s experiences.
Kühne provides an important study as it contributes to keeping the focus on the asymmetrical German media system and the sustained impact of the German reunification and the immediate time after the Fall of the Berlin Wall on journalism. While her recommendations are in line with extant scholarship, her plea comes across as strong as it addresses a younger generation and shows that their East German identity continues to play a significant role in journalism as a profession. This identity needs to be intersected with other dimensions, such as age, as she does. In order to push back against an »ossification« of differences in an »unequally united« Germany (Mau 2024), or to at least better understand them, continued research into the intersections of East/West German identities is needed for all kinds of areas. Applied to journalism studies in the context of Germany this means that research endeavors should always consider this historic intra-German dimension of identity as a factor. Younger East German journalists clearly demand a new discourse and new media. Their potential should be harnessed and can only be a boon for democracy.
Reference
Mau, Steffen (2024): Ungleich vereint. Warum der Osten anders bleibt [Unequally united: Why East Germany remains different]. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
About the reviewer
Stine Eckert, born 1982, is Associate Professor of Journalism in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University in Detroit und co-publisher of Journalistik/Journalism Research.
About the book
Anna Sophie Kühne (2023): Zwischen Anpassung und Selbstbehauptung. Identitäts- und Handlungsmuster ostdeutscher Journalist*innen [Between adaptation and self-assertation: Patterns of identity and behavior of East German journalists]. Springer VS, 93 pages, EUR 46.99