Harald Raffer

Harald Dietmar Raffer (born December 10, 1956 in Bleiburg ) is an Austrian journalist , lecturer at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt for media and communication science and company spokesman for the Stadtwerke Klagenfurt Group.

Live and act

Harald Raffer, son of a post clerk and innkeeper and a housewife, grew up in Klagenfurt . He first worked as a journalist at the age of 16 as a holiday intern and freelancer . From 1974 to June 2007 he was part of the editorial team of the Kärntner Tageszeitung in Klagenfurt. He later held various functions as a local reporter , editor and vice-local manager and head of a branch office. Raffer studied and sponsored media communication and German studies during his journalistic activities in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee . The doctorate followed in 2013 .

Raffer made a name for himself as a chief reporter through numerous exclusive reports and unusual interviews and worked for the cultural magazine “Unke” and various magazines. He belongs to the Presidium “Safe Austria” and has been teaching in the field of “ Media Communication ” at the Klagenfurt Alpen-Adria University for years .

Raffer is married to Sieglinde Unterassinger for the second time. His first wife died in 2005 years after a serious illness. There were three children from this marriage.

Journalistic work

Raffer interviewed, among others, the beginning of the 1980s, the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi , who during this conversation during the US embargo the United States threatened with reprisals. He had further interviews with Pope John Paul II , various heads of government and state presidents . He spoke with US spy Felix Bloch , ex- Yugoslavia - intelligence officer Josip Majerski and other famous personalities. Raffer also interviewed serial killer Jack Unterweger while he was in custody in Graz Detention Center . In his column "Naughty questions," replied the former Joerg Haider -Stellvertreter and Klagenfurt Deputy Mayor Reinhart Gaugg ( FPÖ ) on the question of what it to the word " Nazi would think", " n eu, a ttraktiv, such ielstrebig and i deenreich". This statement led to violent protests and weeks of political discussions in the Austrian media beyond Austria's borders .

Raffer's “Wallraff” reports caused a stir. He slept as a “ homeless person ” in Klagenfurt's homeless shelter, spent weeks disguised as Bosnian guest worker Achim Basilovic looking for a job and hostel in Carinthia, looking for a place to stay as an “ AIDS sufferer”, asking for spiritual support from priests as a wealthy “ arms dealer ” , hitting walked the streets of Klagenfurt as a “beggar”, accompanied a truck driver to the Orient and had himself locked in a cell in the Villach detention center. In 1976, while a journalist was on duty in the Ferlach area , Carinthia, Raffer and his colleagues fell about 100 meters into a ravine in a fire jeep , whereby all the inmates survived. Whether civil war on the border with Slovenia or tracking down a living crocodile on a prosecution - Raffer worked as a “thoroughbred journalist”. He was sued once by the then hospital officer, governor Jörg Haider - because of an article about a deceased patient. Because of this story, Haider dismissed the then central works council chairman of a state hospital because he called him an informant. Haider had to withdraw the discharge.

public relation

In 2007 Harald Raffer moved to the Stadtwerke Klagenfurt Group in order to set up the “ Public Relations / Communication” department as company and press spokesman . There he founded the lifestyle magazine "licht.blick" with the marketing department. With the support of the board of directors, he created the “ Carinthian Poetry Prize ” in 2008 , which is now recognized beyond Austria. In the jury were, among others Büchner Prize -carrier Josef Winkler and publisher Lojze Wieser .

Raffer gives lectures on journalism to various organizations . He once appeared in a Club 2 ORF discussion on the subject of “ crime victims” led by Robert Hochner , as well as because of his disguise reports on talk shows such as Vera and The Barbara Karlich Show .

Awards

In the 1980s, Raffer was honored by the city of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee for his “journalistic commitment”. Over the years, Harald Raffer has received the Journalist Prize of the Austrian Hunting Association (1986), the Prize of the Austrian Medical Association , the Golden Lion of the Vienna Lions Club St. Stefan ("Victims of Crime" series), the Prize of the Vienna Chamber of Labor (ergonomics), awards of honor of the Kuratorium Safe Austria, the title " Journalist of the Year " (2006 by an industry magazine), the state award for journalistic achievements in the interest of science and research (1985) by the then Minister Heinz Fischer ( SPÖ ), the human rights award of the state of Carinthia.

Web links

• Harald Raffer at presseteam.at

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Press Team Austria, accessed on February 8, 2018.
2. ↑ Carinthian Poetry Prize, accessed on February 8, 2018.
3. ↑ Press Team Austria, accessed on February 8, 2018.