René Pfister

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René Pfister (born January 25, 1974 in Müllheim ) is a German journalist and Spiegel correspondent based in Washington, DC

Life

After graduating from the Markgräfler Gymnasium in Müllheim, Pfister studied political science at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. During his studies, he completed an apprenticeship at the German School of Journalism . In 2000 he moved to Berlin to work as a journalist for the news agencies ddp and Reuters . In 2004 he switched to the news magazine Der Spiegel , where he worked as a correspondent in the magazine's capital city office. Pfister wrote mainly about the Union parties and the Greens .

In February 2010, he revealed that the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia had offered wealthy sponsors "one-on-one talks" with the then Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers for years. As a result of the affair, the then General Secretary of the NRW CDU, Hendrik Wüst , had to resign.

In January 2012 Pfister became deputy head of the Spiegel capital city office. The article The Uncanny Friend , written in October 2013 with the help of Pfister, revealed the eavesdropping on Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone by the American secret service NSA . The text triggered a crisis in German-American relations and was the subject of an investigative committee of the Bundestag .

In July 2015, Pfister and Michael Sauga were appointed to succeed Nikolaus Blome as head of the capital city office. Since summer 2019 he has been the office manager of Spiegel in the US capital Washington, DC

Pfister was a regular commentator on current political events on the TV channels N24 , Phoenix and ZDF and one of the authors of the Morning Briefing on Spiegel Online .

controversy

In August 2010, a text by Pfister appeared in Der Spiegel that critically examines the leadership style of CSU boss Horst Seehofer . The first four paragraphs of the text describe Seehofer's model railway. On May 5, 2011 the article was awarded the Henri Nannen Prize in the “Reportage” category. At the award ceremony, the presenter Katrin Bauerfeind asked when Pfister had been in Seehofer's cellar. He replied that his descriptions were based on research and reports from third parties. On May 9, the jury announced the withdrawal of the award. She expressly pointed out that the quality of the article was not criticized. Rather, the jury assumed that Pfister was only describing his own experiences. Since this is not the case, the price must be returned. The decision was not unanimous and in some cases met with severe criticism. The editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Kurt Kister , turned against the withdrawal, as did the publisher of the FAZ , Frank Schirrmacher , the editor-in-chief of Spiegel, Mathias Müller von Blumencron , and the editor-in-chief of the magazine Geo , Peter-Matthias Gaede . Pfister's employer reacted with “incomprehension” to the withdrawal. Seehofer himself stated that the text was not pleasant for him. But the facts are correct.

honors and awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In- house communication . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 2010 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Jacob Appelbaum, Nikolaus Blome, Hubert Gude, Ralf Neukirch, René Pfister, Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Jörg Schindler, Gregor Peter Schmitz and Holger Stark: The uncanny friend . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 2013 ( online - October 28, 2013 ).
  3. ↑ Ingo Rentz: René Pfister and Michael Sauga manage the capital city office. Horizont, July 10, 2015, accessed March 1, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Tweet by René Pfister from July 15, 2019.
  5. ^ René Pfister: Careers: At the control desk . In: Der Spiegel . No. 33 , 2010, p. 40-43 ( online ).
  6. ↑ The jury's decision in full (pdf) .
  7. ↑ Kai-Hinrich Renner: Jury recognizes "Spiegel" editor Nannen price. In: Abendblatt.de . May 9, 2011, accessed December 31, 2016 .
  8. ↑ On my own behalf: incomprehension about the withdrawal of the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize. In: Spiegel Online . May 9, 2011, accessed December 31, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Mike Szymanski: Kisch Prize withdrawal - Seehofer criticizes the jury. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 12, 2011, accessed December 31, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Nannen Prize 2016. Jurors, winners, nominees and shortlists. In: nannen-preis.de. May 2, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016 .
  11. ^ Nicola Abé, Melanie Amann, Hubert Gude, Peter Müller, Ralf Neukirch, René Pfister, Barbara Schmid, Christoph Schult, Holger Stark and Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt: Government: Herzdame . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 2015 ( online - September 19, 2015 ).
  12. ↑ Gruner + Jahr: The Henri Nannen Prize 2014 goes to :. May 16, 2014, accessed March 1, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Reporter Forum : German Reporter Award 2012. Accessed March 1, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Reporter Forum : German Reporter Award 2010. Accessed March 1, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Pfister, René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Muellheim