Rainer Meyer

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Rainer Meyer , pseudonym Don Alphonso , (born February 3, 1967 ) is a German journalist , author and blogger .

Life

Youth and journalistic beginnings

Meyer graduated from the Christoph-Scheiner-Gymnasium in Ingolstadt in 1987 and, according to his own statements, became a journalist in 1998 "rather by chance". He studied medieval archeology and epigraphy . He worked as Germany correspondent as well as office manager of the structure and designed a radio program for the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Munich and Upper Bavaria on M94.5 . For this he was awarded the Alternative Media Prize in both 2000 and 2001 .

Personal blogs

He became known in the internet and media scene as one of the authors of the website " Dotcomtod ", which from 2001 onwards accompanied the decline of the New Economy in the internet and in 2002 also received the alternative media award. Meyer used the pseudonym "Don Alphonso", which comes from his student days. At that time he called his speaking role for a radio comedy and made fun of the CSU- affiliated Alfons Goppel Foundation . He processed his experiences in the novel Liquide , which was published by Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf in 2003 . In this “farce on the new economy” he dealt with the end of the dot-com boom .

In December 2003 he started the blog Rebellen ohne Markt , which is dedicated to the consequences of the decline of the digital economy and its actors. In 2004 he and Kai Pahl published the book Blogs! out, which he continued with the meta blog Blogbar.de , which was operated until 2012 . In the first half of 2009, the “Blogbar” was one of the ten most important media blogs in German-speaking countries. Don Alphonso took the view several times in the “Blogbar” that blogs did not deliver any worse performance than classic journalism. Most of the texts on the “blogbar” are commentary and criticism.

About his style of blogging, he said in 2007 that it was:

“A form that differs from journalism in that it is very self-reliant and in which - frankly - you can let loose. You no longer have the limits of journalistic writing, you can creatively try out everything that, as an editor, you would immediately cross out of every intern. Because the journalist has to take a step back, he reports, but usually remains invisible himself. "

From 2008 to 2010 Meyer was on the jury of the Alternative Media Prize .

Blogger for the FAZ

In 2009, Frank Schirrmacher won Meyer to report on the blog pillars of the society on faz.net . There he dealt with the upper class from Upper Bavaria, which, according to Meedia , he wanted to " target ". In July 2010 he also started the blog Deus ex Machina , also on faz.net . Here, too, he appeared as "Don Alphonso":

“I'm sending Don Alphonso into battle, he's fighting with people outside. Meanwhile, I am sitting at home, drinking tea from a Biedermeier pot, eating fine pralines and watching what happens. "

In March 2018, FAZ.net parted ways with Meyer and other authors such as Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht and Carsten Knop on their blog platform in favor of new offers such as the podcast objection .

Blogger for the world

Meyer's blog, Stützen der Gesellschaft bei der Welt , has been published since April 1, 2018 , where it is published in print and on the website, primarily in the paid service Welt Plus . Also Deus ex Machina is in the world continued.

reception

In connection with his work for the website “Dotcomtod”, Meedia wrote about Meyer's information: He “seemed to be sitting under the desk of the investors and CEOs and taking notes”. His novel Liquide , which is the essence of his work there, is a key novel on the New Economy that sums up the scene of the time with the usual malice.

Thomas Thiel described Meyer in the FAZ in April 2008 (even before Meyer's work there) as the “worst among German bloggers” and “self-proclaimed 'Don Gnadenlos'”. Driven by the “radical enlightenment impulse: Contra deum terramque, against God and the world”, “he railed against the self-loving Berlin blogger scene, politically unaccountable”. Meyer "judges and rages, [got entangled] in insults and warnings , [...] has messed with half the blogosphere and acquired a corresponding reputation". Although he called the media concerned, he often did not receive an answer, so that he has now often waived an advance warning. According to Thiel's impression, Meyer likes to be challenged: “He has a thick skin. He can dish out. He doesn't have to plug it in. According to his theory, he is protected from this by his fictional character Don Alphonso, who is being insulted and who has nothing to do with his private self. "

In 2010, the dpa described Meyer in a report printed in Die Zeit and in the Hamburger Abendblatt as a “ blogger known for his polemics ”. In 2009, the online branch service Meedia called him the “bad boy of the blog scene ” who was “digging into the wounds of the media and internet scene ”.

In addition to polarizing rhetoric, blogger colleagues and journalists also criticized Meyer's inadequate research: In 2011, Meyer published an inaccurate report on his private blog about the alleged closure of the Spiegel Online column collection "SPON" after it was no longer linked on the Spiegel Online website was. In February 2014 Meyer commented on the “Thanks Bomber Harris ” campaign on the anniversary of the air raids on Dresden , in which the Pirate Party politician Anne Helm was also involved. The journalist Michael Seemann then accused him of research errors in his blog. In 2017, Meyer claimed in the FAZ print edition in the subtitle of an article about the G20 summit "in a blog by ' Zeit ', which the Ministry of Justice also paid for," that terror was being played down. After criticizing his article, which was also taken up in a similar form in his blog and by other media, the FAZ corrected: "This is incorrect."

His appointment to the jury of the Bundestag Media Prize, announced in 2018 , met with interest and criticism.

As Don Alphonso, Meyer actively uses Twitter, where he has often had arguments with other columnists. Several of his statements and criticisms received media attention and criticism. In November 2019 in particular, Don Alphonso and his public posts were debated in various media. He was accused of spreading hatred and causing shit storms. In July 2020, the Junge Welt described Meyer as a “mob scout” in the function of a “key word” for the “right-wing mob” after criticizing the Austrian political scientist Natascha Strobl for alleged appearances in antifa groups in one of his blog texts . In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau, Strobl said that the wave of agitation against her had started with Meyer. The Germany radio stated "violent attacks by right-wing extremists on Twitter" as a result of the text. The New Germany criticized that Meyer had denounced Strobl through "hypocritical accusations and distortions (...)". The taz sees a connection between Meyer's blog articles on the attacks by right-wing accounts on Strobl and refers to the similar experiences of journalists Sibel Schick , Sebastian Pertsch and Anna-Mareike Krause after criticism from Meyer.

Private

Meyer lives in Ingolstadt and Gmund am Tegernsee .

Awards

Publications

literature

  • Don Merciless . Stefan Winterbauer on Rainer Meyer. In: Stephan Weichert / Christian Zabel (eds.): Die Alpha-Journalisten 2.0. Portrait of Germany's new spokesman , by Halem Verlag, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-938258-92-7 , pp. 192–200

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph-Scheiner-Gymnasium : Annual Report 1985/86, page 60
  2. ↑ eblogs, podcasting & video journalism: New media between democratic and economic potentials ( Memento from December 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), conference of the ZKM | Institute for Media and Economy, mbw-ka.de, September 2005.
  3. ^ Stefan Winterbauer: Stefan Winterbauer about Rainer Mayer alias Don Alphonso . In: The Alpha Journalists 2.0 . 2009, p. 199 .
  4. ↑ a b The carefree crowd , umagazine.de
  5. ↑ Timo Fehrensen: A fossil, very much alive . In: THE WORLD . February 2, 2004 ( welt.de [accessed June 28, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Alternative Media Prize: Prize Winner 2000
  7. ↑ Alternative Media Prize: Prize Winner 2001
  8. ↑ Alternative Media Prize: Prize Winner 2002 ; Journalism Academy: Rainer Meyer (alias Don Alphonso) .
  9. ^ Christian Scholz: New Economy: The Principle Don Alphonso . In: Manager Magazin . August 20, 2003.
  10. ↑ a b c Don Alphonso: Blogging for Beginners and Professionals , Golem.de from July 9, 2007, accessed on March 8, 2018.
  11. ↑ Review notes on Don Alphonso: Liquide at perlentaucher.de
  12. ↑ Maik Söhler: Don Alphonso: Blogging for Beginners. Interview with Don Alphonso, Netzeitung , 7. – 9. February 2007 ( Part 1 ( Memento of February 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) / Part 2 ( Memento of February 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) / Part 3 ( Memento of February 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
  13. ↑ Tobias Eberwein: From “Holzhausen” to “Blogville” - and back: Media monitoring in the daily press and weblogs . In: Tobias Eberwein, Daniel Müller (ed.): Journalism and the public: A profession and its social mission. Festschrift for Horst Pöttker . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-15759-7 , p. 154 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-17798-0_3 .
  14. ↑ Christoph Neuberger , Christian Nuernbergk, Melanie Rischke: A question of perspective? The external and self-portrayal of bloggers and journalists in the public metadiscourse . In: Christoph Neuberger, Christian Nuernbergk, Melanie Rischke (eds.): Journalism on the Internet: Profession - Participation - Mechanization . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-15767-2 , p. 151 f ., doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-531-91562-3_4 .
  15. ↑ Tobias Eberwein: From “Holzhausen” to “Blogville” - and back: Media monitoring in the daily press and weblogs . In: Tobias Eberwein, Daniel Müller (ed.): Journalism and the public: A profession and its social mission. Festschrift for Horst Pöttker . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-15759-7 , p. 160 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-17798-0_3 .
  16. ^ Rainer Meyer (alias Don Alphonso) ( Memento from September 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Alternative media prize
  17. ^ Lutz Hagestedt: High culture arrogance and seriousness idea . In: literaturkritik.de . October 2012.
  18. ↑ a b c d Stefan Winterbauer: Don Alphonso blogs at the "FAZ" . In: Meedia . January 19, 2009.
  19. ↑ a b Media: “Deus ex Machina”: “FAZ” starts new blog . In: The time of July 30, 2010.
  20. ^ "FAZ" separates from Don Alphonso , Tagesspiegel of March 6, 2018, accessed on the same day
  21. ↑ Don Alphonso: pillars of society , blog at Welt.de.
  22. ↑ Don Alphonso changes from FAZ to Welt: “You can't tell a story today without someone feeling affected” , interview on meedia.de, accessed on April 1, 2018
  23. ↑ Thomas Thiel : Who blogs so late through night and wind? . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . April 14, 2008.
  24. ↑ “FAZ” starts blog about the divine internet machine . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . July 31, 2010.
  25. ↑ Rainer Meyer: SPOHN May 30, 2011.
  26. ↑ Stefan Niggemeier : Don Alphonso's premature ejaculation . May 30, 2011.
  27. ↑ Rainer Meyer: The hoaxige Femen demonstration in Dresden . February 28, 2014. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014.
  28. ↑ Michael Seemann: The Don Alphonso problem . In: mspr0.de , March 7, 2014.
  29. ↑ Stefan Niggemeier : Maas doesn’t promote the trivialization of terror at “Zeit” . In: uebermedien.de , July 16, 2017.
  30. ↑ Michael Borgers: Jury appointment of "Don Alphonso" in the criticism . In: deutschlandfunk.de , January 29, 2019.
  31. ↑ Juri Sternberg: The Troll from Tegernsee. In: taz.de. November 28, 2019, accessed December 18, 2019 .
  32. ^ Debate about Don Alphonso. When online hatred threatens life. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. November 22, 2019, accessed December 18, 2019 .
  33. ^ Mob Scout of the Day: Rainer Meyer. In: Junge Welt. July 30, 2020, accessed July 30, 2020 .
  34. ↑ Natascha Strobl: "As if I were constantly looking into the abyss". In: Frankfurter Rundschau. July 31, 2020, accessed August 1, 2020 .
  35. ↑ NZZ journalist on German media - "Some debates are not controversial enough". In: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved on August 1, 2020 (German).
  36. ^ Mascha Malburg: A male friendship. In: New Germany. Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Peter Weissenburger: Threats Unleashed by “Welt” author: Consciously exposed. In: taz. Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
  38. ^ Rainer Meyer: Don Alphonso: Why I protect myself from Google , Donaukurier from August 13, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Rainer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Don Alphonso
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and blogger
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd February 1967