Stuttgart - What a beautiful word: quantity journalism. That's what Jan Böhmermann calls what all the colorful gossip papers at the kiosk and in the supermarket have to offer in the latest issue of "ZDF Magazin Royale", in contrast to quality journalism. The usual dismissal, saying you don't have to get upset, nobody reads it anyway, is absurd. There is no place at the kiosk for things that don't sell.
"These are just fun magazines that you bring to your grandmother in the geriatric ward after breaking your femoral neck?" Böhmermann asks, and promptly says no: "German gossip magazines have a weekly circulation of well over 3 million copies. That's more than the reputable leading media 'Spiegel', 'Zeit', 'Stern', 'Focus', 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung' and 'Pieks – Das Impfmagazin' together!"
The core of the business model
It quickly becomes clear and insightful what triggers Böhmermann's entertainingly presented anger. Not that these papers report on aristocratic houses, showbiz greats, A-celebrities and C-stars of all categories - but how they do it. That there's consistently nonsense babbled together, label fraud operated and every mosquito shit continuously jazzed up as a dinosaur stampede. Or, as Böhmermann puts it: “Sensational headlines about completely boring facts: blowing up a bit of truth to the greatest possible scandalous headline that it’s just barely legally permitted, that’s the core of the business model!”
But even that would be just a rip off on those who buy such magazines. Böhmermann goes the decisive step further: He denounces the fact that the publishers and decision-makers of these papers call the whole thing quality journalism. That they also use journalistic privileges for their friction machine and thus discredit real journalism. That has to be said from time to time, and Böhmermann puts it in such a way that Messrs. Burda and Co. will certainly not consider him as a keynote speaker for one of the next company anniversaries.
"Image" is also parodied
Incidentally, earlier in the program, Böhmermann had already parodied the web TV offer of the "Bild" newspaper and thus created the right short circuit between the rainbow dope and the much more dangerous political dope of some media. The reason for this was probably the announcement by the Springer publishing house that it would start a new "Bild" TV channel before the federal elections. This can mean little other than that Germany will soon be getting its homegrown version of Fox News, with all the society-destroying aftermath. Jan Böhmermann will then at least never run out of material.
The current issue of "ZDF Magazin Royale" can be accessed here in the broadcaster's media library until July 16, 2021.
