Michael Miersch

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Michael Miersch (* 1956 in Frankfurt am Main ) is a German publicist and documentary filmmaker .

Career

Miersch grew up in Frankfurt, Bamberg and Hanau , first studied German in Frankfurt and later switched to the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences to study social work. He only worked briefly as a qualified social worker and began a traineeship at the daily newspaper ( taz ) in 1985 . After some time at hr-fernsehen ( Hessen today ) he became editor of the environmental magazine opportunities and from 1989 on at natur . From 1993 to 2006 he worked as a freelance journalist, book and film author. He then worked as an author and consultant to the editor-in-chief of the magazinesCicero and Die Weltwoche . From 2008 to 2010 he worked as a commentator for the daily newspaper Die Welt , where hepublished a weekly column, mostly together with Dirk Maxeiner , for over a decade (2003-2014). Then he was head of the knowledge department at Focus magazine. Since 2014 Miersch has been the managing director of "Communication & Education" at the German Wildlife Foundation .

Fields of work

Articles by Miersch have appeared in over seventy European newspapers, journals and magazines, as well as radio reports. The team of authors Maxeiner and Miersch wrote several non-fiction books on political and ecological topics that were controversial in politics and the media. Translations have appeared in America and China, among others. Books, reports and columns by Miersch have received awards in the USA , Spain and Germany. Together with Dirk Maxeiner and Henryk M. Broder , he was editor, author and publisher of the weblog The Axis of the Good until January 2015 . He justified his departure by shifting the blog's formerly liberal opinion profile to the right. In November 2015, Miersch also resigned as a partner and co-owner.

As a documentary filmmaker, he is primarily concerned with the relationship between humans and animals and nature. He adopts a science-oriented attitude that avoids humanizing animals. He made most of the films together with producer and cameraman Gerd Weiss .

Books and statements

Miersch is against, in his opinion, excessive risk perception and advocates better exploiting the opportunities offered by new technologies. He criticizes restrictions on individual, economic and scientific freedom as well as the hindrance to technical progress . He criticizes those environmentalists who, from his point of view, place the environment as central to human concerns (“ ecologism ”). Miersch takes a state-skeptical, liberal position and advocates the expansion of individual freedoms. In terms of foreign policy he is oriented towards the Atlantic and advocates solidarity with Israel . On topics such as genetic engineering , animal welfare , global warming and Islam , he caused a stir with some controversial theses.

Michael Miersch as a guest speaker at the state party conference of the Bavarian FDP in 2019

Miersch's texts, books and films have received several awards, including the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Business Journalism and the “Science Book of the Year” award (2000 and 1996) from the magazine Bild der Wissenschaft .

criticism

In a publication by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Miersch is because of his views on global warming together with u. a. Dirk Maxeiner and Fritz Vahrenholt referred to as “ climate change skeptics ” who contradict a scientific consensus . Miersch therefore sued the Federal Environment Agency before the administrative court. The lawsuit was dismissed in November 2015 because the statements of the UBA, according to the court, are "factual, not falsifying and not exaggerated". Miersch appealed, which was rejected by the Magdeburg Higher Administrative Court in 2017. The Basler Zeitung commented: “It is the astonishing end of this tiresome story: The German state warns of a journalist; the courts protect this warning; the journalists are silent. ”Miersch and Maxeiner received support for their criticism of the Federal Environment Agency from their friend Josef Joffe , Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, die Welt, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and other media in German-speaking countries. The German Association of Journalists complained to the then Environment Minister Altmaier. In the Bundestag, FDP members criticized the Ministry of the Environment for the brochure. Martin Schneider, chairman of the science press conference (WPK) said: “It is not the job of a state institution to determine which opinions may and may not be expressed. Journalists can and must represent different positions, and they can and must always question established scientists. "

Publications

  • Eco-Optimism (with Dirk Maxeiner), Metropolitan Verlag, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-89623-018-2
  • Lexicon of eco-mistakes - surprising facts about energy, genetic engineering, health, climate, ozone, forest and many other environmental topics (with Dirk Maxeiner), Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-8218-0586-2
  • The bizarre sex life of animals - A popular encyclopedia from eels to zebra , Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-8218-1519-1
  • Life Counts - A global balance of life (with Dirk Maxeiner, Michael Gleich and Fabian Nicolay ). Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8270-0350-4
  • The Mephisto principle - Why it is better not to be good (with Dirk Maxeiner), Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-8218-1636-8
  • The future and its enemies - How progress pessimists paralyze our society (with Dirk Maxeiner), Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-8218-3912-0
  • Beautiful thinking. How to be politically incorrect (with Henryk M. Broder, Josef Joffe and Dirk Maxeiner), Piper Verlag Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-492-05016-6
  • Organic food & ecological cult. Which food is really good for us and our environment (with Dirk Maxeiner), Piper Verlag Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-05100-2
  • Good news: Maxeiner and Miersch on everyday madness (with Dirk Maxeiner), WJS-Verlag Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-937989-39-6
  • Everything used to be better: A ruthless review (with Henryk M. Broder , Josef Joffe , Dirk Maxeiner ), Albrecht Knaus Verlag 2010, ISBN 3-8135-0385-2
  • Between animals: Of flirting fish, lustful amphibians and birds in love (Illustrations: Claudia Bernhardt), Istprodukt, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-037718-1
  • The hippies won: How the German consensus came about , Amazon E-Book, Munich 2012
  • A Schwabing monologue , Amazon E-Book, Munich 2012
  • (with Dirk Maxeiner :) Everything green and good? A balance sheet of ecological thinking. Albrecht Knaus Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-8135-0650-1 .

Documentaries

  • And the forests die forever 2011 (with Tobias Streck)
  • A forest full of ghosts 2009 (with Gerd Weiss)
  • Serengeti behind the dykes 2007 (with Gerd Weiss)
  • Oh dear stag 2005 (with Gerd Weiss )
  • Through wild Corsica 2004 (with Gerd Weiss)
  • Animal subtenants 2003 (with Gerd Weiss)
  • Tigers, farmers and tourists 2001 (with Hiltrud Jäschke )
  • God's dearest creature 2001 (with Gerd Weiss)
  • Reporter of Creation . Four-part series 1997 (with Gerd Weiss)
  • Scouts in the animal kingdom . Six-part series 1995 (with Gerd Weiss)

Web links

Commons : Michael Miersch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ An eco-optimist takes over the business Press release of the German Wildlife Foundation, September 15, 2014
  2. ↑ A gorilla for Michael Miersch Wochenblatt SL November 10, 2013
  3. ↑ Well then without me
  4. ↑ Michael Miersch stays with the axle achgut.com (accessed December 12, 2015)
  5. ↑ And yet it is warming up - what is behind the debate about climate change? ( Memento of June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Brochures / leaflets 2013 Federal Environment Agency
  6. ↑ Environment Agency criticizes four “climate skeptics” Joachim Wille Berliner Zeitung May 24, 2013
  7. ↑ Solarify.eu on the allegations of the UBA  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.solarify.eu  
  8. ↑ dpa: Journalists are losing out. In: handelsblatt.com . November 19, 2015, accessed March 16, 2016 .
  9. ^ Truth Guard Basler Zeitung of March 8, 2017
  10. ^ The Truth Authority , Die Zeit (accessed December 12, 2015)
  11. ↑ The Black Channel: Do you also know a climate denier? , Der Spiegel (accessed December 12, 2015)
  12. ↑ Officially dubious , Süddeutsche Zeitung (accessed December 12, 2015)
  13. ^ State propaganda - The Federal Environment Agency disregards the rules of neutrality , Die Welt (accessed December 12, 2015)
  14. ↑ state-tested climate knowledge ( memento from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ^ Office brands critics of the German Association of Journalists (accessed December 12, 2015)
  16. ↑ Plenary Protocol 17/245 DIP, joint information system of the Bundestag and Bundesrat (accessed December 12, 2015)
  17. ↑ WPK criticizes the denunciation of journalists by the Federal Environment Agency WPK, Die Wissenschaftsjournalisten (accessed December 12, 2015)
personal data
SURNAME Miersch, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main