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Sabine-Christianisierung – Book about the famous German TV Show

In March 2006, me and Nicolai Hannig from the Ruhr-University in Bochum organised a seminar for the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation. The seminar was called „Die Sabine-Christianisierung der bundesdeutschen Politik. Politik-Talk und seine Einflussnahme auf die öffentliche Meinung.“ (The Sabine-Christianisation of Germany – Politics-Talk and its influence on public opinion). Since the seminar was a tremendous success and since we think that the topic is very important, we now want to work on a follow-up publication.

Idea

Since 1998, Politics are not made in the parliament, but in a round studio in Berlin’s center. The polit-talkshow Sabine Christiansen, most succesful show of the so-called Berlin Republic with numerous follow-up shows on other channels, has influenced how politics is being viewed in the public. More than 900 guests, among them many international leaders, have participated.

But success brought alongt the critics. Too shallow, too superficial, not controversial enough were the debates. Walter van Rossum’s book “Meine Sonntage mit Sabine Christiansen” (My Sundays with Sabine Christiansen) discussed the connections between Media, Business and Politics, which presented itself in an ever-repeating melange of comments on tax cuts and worker’s flexibility.

In 2007, the TV-Show Sabine Christiansen is scheduled to finish – because Sabine Christiansen has developed a new format with NBC’s Global Players. A good opportunity to assess how the public perception of politics due to the new format has changed.

About the Publishers

Nicolai Hannig has studied History, German Studies and Philosophy at the University of Bochum, works not at the Institute for Social Transformations and writes on his thesis “Kirche und Religion in medialen Debatten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1945-1980″ (Church and Religion in the German media 1945-1980).

Karsten Wenzlaff has studied Philosophy, Economics and Sociology at the University of Bayreuth and is currently enrolled as a student of the Humboldt University Berlin. He has volunteered in the German Youth Press organisation and written articles on various issues of Public Affairs Management.

About the book
In our seminar, we concentrated on the question how media can set the political agenda. From many different perspectives (politics, science, media) our lectures discussed how politics are portrayed and ‘sold’ through the media. The book intends to continue the work of the seminar and discuss some aspects more in detail.

We asked Prof. Dr. Matthias Kepplinger (University of Mainz, Institute for Media Research) to contribut an article on the recent development of political talkshows in Germany. We also asked Tissy Bruns (former chairwoman of the German Federal Press Conference) to contribute a journalistic perspective by discussiong how media and politics present the “human” factor. We asked the essayist Dr. Walter van Rossum will discuss the relation between politics, business and media. And we asked Dr. Thomas Leif, author of the book “Die fünfte Gewalt – Lobbyismus” (Lobbyism – the fifth power) to contribute his perspective on Lobbyism in German TV.
Both publishers will also contribute articles. Karsten Wenzlaff will discuss media ethics in political talk shows, Nicolai Hannig will discuss the medialisation of politics in an historical perspective.

The book will also give an overview over the previous scientific literature published about the TV-Show Sabine Christiansen, such as:

  • Claudia Kusebauch – Die politische Talkshow in Deutschland. Eine exemplarische
    Analyse der Talkshows Sabine Christiansen, Berlin Mitte und Talk in Berlin nach
    dem 11. September 2001 (Sabine Christiansen and 9/11).
  • Dr. Christian Schicha – „Europa“ in politischen Fernsehgesprächssendungen.
    Eine exemplarische Betrachtung von „Sabine Christiansen“ und „Berlin Mitte“ (Sabine Christiansen and Europe)
  • Lobby Control – Sabine Christiansen – Schaubühne der Einflussreichen und Meinungsmacher (Sabine Christiansen and Political Influence)
  • Peter Wachsmuth – Exklusiv-Info oder Polit-Flimmern? Funktionen der Sendung „Sabine Christiansen“ aus Zuschauersicht (Sabine Christiansen and her audience)
  • Michael Hainzinger – Sabine Christiansen: Talkshow-Monographie

Furthermore, we would like to interview people that either have been essential in broadcasting and developing the TV-Show or which have been prominent guests of the show. We would like to combine these views with the above scientific analysis to paint a complete picture of how the show has changed the way politics and media work.
Our interview partners

  • Sabine Christiansen (host of the show)
  • Günter Jauch (host of the show starting in September 2007)
  • Angela Merkel (German Chancellor, Chairperson of German Conservatives)
  • Gerhard Schröder (former Chancellor, former Chairperson of Social Democrats)
  • Guido Westerwelle (Chairperson of the German Liberals)
  • Edmund Stoiber (Bavarian Prime-Minister)
  • Michael Glos (German Minister for Economics)
  • Hans-Olaf Henkel (former chairperson of the BDI)
  • Michael Spreng (Spin-Doctor for Edmund Stoiber)
  • Wolfgang Klein (editor-in-chief of the show, working now for Berlin-Mitte)
  • Dr. Michael Heiks (Co-Producer of the show)
  • Michael Ortmanns (Press Officer of the show)
  • Michael Wedell (former Press Officer, now representative for Vodafone)
  • Knut Bergmann (Chairperson of the Foundation Liberales Netzwerk in Berlin, until 2003 personal assistant of Sabine Christiansen)

(will be expanded)

Anzeige

Grotrian-Steinweg Flügel, 5900 Euro

Grotrian-Steinweg, generalüberholt vor ca. 15 Jahren, Baujahr 1920, schwarz-matt, Schellack, 1,85 Meter lang.

Weitere Klaviere bei Pianohaus Wenzlaff

3 Responses to “Sabine-Christianisierung – Book about the famous German TV Show”

  1. Olga0808 Says:
    Februar 20th, 2007 at 00:42

    Man kann keine grosse europäische Show (Meinungsforum) veranstalten ohne internationale Gäste angehört zu haben. No further comments.

  2. Umlandt Gerhard Says:
    April 4th, 2007 at 17:30

    Here I have to remark a serious contradiction:
    Sabine Christiansen cannot be valued as a successful show. The abbreviation “SC” does not mean “Sabine Christiansen”, but “shareholdervalue concept”, as you can see by who is invited to the stock market discussion. One of the most interesting SC-concepts has been (in 1998) the idea, if the worker´s wages ought to be lowered about 20 or 30 percent. Already from the beginning the brokers agreed, that the wages should be lowered about 30 percent. So SC asked: “Why not lowering the worker´s wages about 50 percent?”, and everyone agreed again.
    It was then, when I learned to think like a broker. So I can: I stopped watching tv and wrote a letter to the Intendant, that he should think like a broker, too – and lower SC´s salary about 50 percent.
    Germany had understood the message and lowered and lowered the wages all the time – down to Euro 1,30 Hartz-IV level. But thanks, there are clever German politicians knowing very well, this salary is too high! So, what can we expect in the future? Workers paying for their bosses? This is an item for the next SC-discussion at the stock market. German people still needs some more education in this direction.

  3. Kasi-Blog » Blog Archive » American Silence Says:
    Oktober 18th, 2007 at 11:44

    [...] Its political character and its success of superficiality I originally wanted to analyse more in detail but never managed to allocate the appropriate time to [...]

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