“None of our politicians since Franklin has found such a direct contact to the masses”. Eleanor Roosevelt about John F. Kennedy (Photo: http://bit.ly/iWNn4)
In these days, Barack Obama is negotiating with the Republicans over the national debt limit and, in the end, over America’s creditworthiness and the country’s future rating on the financial markets. The talks prove to be extremely complicated for the man who had been carried in the White House on a wave of enthusiasm. And the next election campaign is just around the corner. The question is: Can he repeat his success from 2008 where he ran a brilliant grassroots campaign? (more…)
Max Frisch turned 100 (Source: http://bit.ly/iOtP6c)
Bob Dylan just turned 70. And Max Frisch turned 100. Well, at least he would have. Both artists are very important to me. The way both Dylan and Frisch express (or expressed) themselves somehow speaks to me. Why is that so? I think it’s the same reason why I like the paintings of Edward Hopper. Everything these people create has some kind of beauty. (more…)
Noam Chomsky (Source: http://bit.ly/gYOtrn)
Of course I was disappointed. When I followed the German news on the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, I got the feeling that the world was unable to adress the size of the challenge ahead. I fully agreed with the coverage in German newspapers, which emphasised that this had probably been the last chance to turn the game around – and that we failed to take it. Yet, facing the the rather uniform coverage on Copenhagen, I started wondering whether media in the US or China would be treating the topic in a similar way. (more…)
Yosemite National Park from Glacier Point.
I loved every second. From the touchdown in LA to the helicopter flight through the Grand Canyon. I surely did one of the most travelled trips through the states at all (LA – Sequoia National Park – Yosemite – Death Valley – Vegas – Grand Canyon – LA). Yet, the beauty of this country made me forget my “Ze-German-Tourist-on-his-way”-appearance completely. I was too impressed to feel embarrassed. (more…)
Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand.
The media had only one topic in the days right before my visit to New Zealand: The earthquake in Christchurch. Even though I had been a bit worried at first – it did not affect my journey at all. I was lucky to have a nice trip through the whole northern and a small part of the southern island. Yet: It was winter. (more…)
Hong Kong from Victoria Peak.
No, it’s not rain. When there is clear blue sky and 33 degrees celcius in Hong Kong, the only water coming from above is the tiny cool drops running out of the thousands of air conditionings on the walls of every building. When I first crossed Nathan Road in Kowloon, I wondered how much energy this city would possibly consume on a single day. Yet, the beauty of Hong Kong struck me from the very first moment of my journey. (more…)
Photo: New York Stock Exchange 1963 (Source: http://bit.ly/amYJNo)
This afternoon, I came across an interesting passage in Anatole Kaletsky’s “Capitalism 4.0″ (2010):
“The media, influential academics, and the political establishment usually hold the same view. These powerful opinion-formers have risen to prominence under the old system. Their intellectual conservatism is often even more entrenched than lobbyists’ pragmatic economic interests” (ibid: 24). (more…)
Photo Source: http://bit.ly/chDf6J
No – it’s not a typo! Last week’s Economist published an article under the headline: “Newspapers: not dead yet”. For years it seemed as if the death of newspapers was only a matter of time. The Internet and its free content promised to be their grave digger. However: “German and Brazilian papers shrugged off the recession … Even American newspapers, which inhabit the most troubled corner of the global industry, have not only survived but often returned to profit”, says the article. (more…)
Hi and welcome to my blog.
Finding the right words for a good start is never easy and therefore I just started typing. The picture you see above was taken during a car ride through Lower Bavaria in 2005. And basically it shows the state this blog is in: I’m on my way. This is a blog about various things I come across in my life. Mostly it will be about my field of studies and work, media and communications. However, I will also cover all the interesting things I come to know during my journeys and the conversations with inspiring people – things which otherwise would just be locked away in my head.
So please feel free to comment on my stories and let me know how you think about my points of view. Or about the current performance of Bayern Munich. Or about anything you want to tell me … I am really looking forward to hearing from you and I hope that I can give you something in this blog in return.
Regards, Christoph
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