Fritz Singer Prize

The Fritz Singer Prize for courageous journalism was founded in 1981 by the SPD party executive on the 80th birthday of the journalist and former SPD member of the Bundestag Fritz Singer (* December 24, 1901 - † July 30, 1984 ).

The award is intended to pay tribute to those who stand up for freedom of the press and broadcasting during their lives and work . According to the "Statute on the Foundation and Award Conditions", it is intended to emphasize the importance of the journalist Fritz Singer for the development of a democratic press in the Federal Republic of Germany.

It is awarded every two years and is endowed with € 5,000 (previously: DM 10,000 ). The prize was awarded for the first time in 1983; the last award was in 1998. According to the SPD's media department, it is currently not clear whether and when a tender will take place again.

Prize Committee

The award committee was appointed by resolution of the SPD party executive and consists of 16 members. A member of the committee who is proposed as a possible award winner is excluded from voting on the award of the award due to bias .

Members of the jury included Hans Abich , Herbert Bermeitinger , Freimut Duve , Günter Grass , Peter Glotz , Anke Fuchs , Peter Merseburger , Harry Pross , Irmgard Schäfer-Sänger and Rudolf Wassermann .

Award winners

• 1983 - Franca Magnani for years of fearless resistance to the restriction of her journalistic work.
• 1985 - Elisabeth Rottmann for her involvement in the local press, Hans Peter Riese for his journalistic work in the CSSR and as a correspondent for Deutschlandfunk .
• 1987 - the murdered Chilean journalist José Carrasco Tapia ( posthumously ). On behalf of him and the journalists murdered in the dictatorships of the world, Carrasco's partner Silvia Vera accepted the award.
• 1989 - Hans-Joachim Lang , Wolfgang Moser (rejected by the award winners)
• 1991 - Peter Merseburger for his critical journalism during his time as a correspondent in East Berlin .
• 1993 - (symbolic) the journalists killed in the former Yugoslavia for their courage and commitment.
• 1995 - Susanne von Paczensky for her unique journalistic life's work, Wilfried Huismann for his report "Das Totenschiff" in the series " ARD-exclusiv ".
• 1998 - Frank Jansen , for his courageous reporting on right-wing extremism .

Special

In 1989, the two nominated winners, reported Wolfgang Moser and Hans-Joachim Lang , the award two days before the ceremony for the awards ceremony back because Fritz singer in her opinion during the Nazi -Regimes was in Germany war propagandist. Singer fell into the twilight, but since he had died in 1984, he could no longer comment on the allegations.

literature

• Birtgit Rätsch: “The active person is always more important than the dead or even just the tied up.” Fritz Sänger's dilemma between participation and opposition . in: Christoph Studt [Ed.]: "Servant of the State" or "Resistance Between the Lines"? : The role of the press in the "Third Reich" . XVIII. Königswinterer Conference February 2005. Königswinter 2005, series of publications of the research association July 20th; 8, 2007, pp. 183-194

Web links

• Information on the Fritz Singer Prize at Kulturpreise.de
• Rejection by Wolfgang Moser