Wolfgang Günther (journalist)
Wolfgang Günther (* 1960 in Erlangen ) is a German journalist and media trainer. His focus is the development and systematisation of journalism in audiovisual media.
education
Günther attended grammar school in Erlangen and graduated from high school in 1980. He studied political science, theater and media studies, sociology and law at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and graduated in 1989 with a Magister Artium. The topic of his master's thesis was: "Politics and television - an instrumental relationship."
In 1989/90 he completed a program traineeship at Bayerischer Rundfunk .
Professional background
Parallel to his studies, Günther worked as a freelancer for Erlanger Nachrichten . The focus was on court and social reports. He also produced industrial and image films as a director , cameraman and film editor . After completing his internship, he was an author , director and cameraman for BR , ARD and arte for 15 years . He produced magazine films and reports , mainly for the youth editorial team and the foreign department of Bavarian TV. In 1998 Günther was part of the founding editorial team of the show quer (BR) of Bavarian television. There he was Chief of Service (CvD) until 2006 .
Between 1991 and 2005 Günther had lectureships at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg , degree in theater and media studies, at the University of Eichstätt , degree in journalism and at the German School of Journalism in Munich. Since 2000 he has been a trainer at the ARD.ZDF media academy .
Günther has been a television trainer in the volunteer training of Bavarian Broadcasting since 1993. There he trains news, magazines, reports, video journalists , scenic storytelling and supervises the final reports of the trainees editorially and dramatically. Günther has been working to a similar extent in trainee training at ZDF and West German Broadcasting since 2018 .
Günther has been working full-time as a seminar leader, trainer and program consultant for all major private and public broadcasters in Germany and Switzerland since 2006 . The focus is on broadcast analysis and program optimization.
In 2015, Günther founded the trainer association tv-handwerk , an association of television trainers from various areas of work for public and private broadcasters. Since 2019, there have also been an increasing number of radio and online trainers in the team. The common working basis is the principles developed by Günther, in which manual criteria for audiovisual journalistic forms of representation are listed. The core team of tv-handwerk includes the journalists Julia Engels, Britta von der Heide , Tobias Henkenhaf, Till Nassif , Johannes Prokopetz, Lisa Schurr, Anna Tillack, Christoph Wittmann, Verena Schälters, Julia Schweinberger, Bibiane Wimbauer and Stefan Brainbauer.
Private
Wolfgang Günther is the father of five daughters and married. He has lived in Munich since 2002.
Set of rules
As part of his trainer work for broadcasters and training institutions, Wolfgang Günther has developed manual rule models and test instruments. They have become the basis of training and further education programs in television journalism:
The core sentence principle
The three-pillar model is a basic test instrument for the editorial approval of journalistic films. It is divided into the three areas of essence , stringency and conciseness . Pillar 1 checks the relevance, clarity and usefulness of the film's message. Pillar 2 tests the comprehensibility and logic of the narrative structure. And pillar 3 is the cinematic strength and thus the memorability of the film. The core sentence principle / operational is aimed more at the producing author and less at the decreasing editor . It is a modification of the core sentence principle and arranges the test criteria along the production chronology.
The staircase for effects
The cinematic staircase defines the third pillar of the core sentence principle ( conciseness ). The various cinematic means are arranged on a scale according to their effectiveness. The authenticity of the presentation is an important factor. In training courses on news and magazine formats, the impact staircase is nicknamed the compromise cascade . This takes into account the difficult production conditions in current television journalism, which often make it difficult to reach the upper steps of the stairs.
The original sound staircase
It is a kind of enlargement of a section of the filmic staircase . It takes into account only the film journalistic means interviewing original sound . Formally different types of interviews and their cinematic environment are systematized and classified in terms of their effectiveness on the viewer. An important test factor for the classification is the degree of authenticity of the interview and the surrounding situation.
The safety net principle
The model is an assessment tool for the target and broad impact of journalistic programs. It is mostly used as a theoretical preparation for training courses on the sequence principle . Günther starts from the assumption that there are basically four reasons that make television viewers receptive: knowledge, aesthetics, empathy and experience. Based on this system, the user should assess the extent to which the program has "thrown out all safety nets" in order to win over viewers to the journalistic topic. The safety net principle is thus seen as an “over-model” to the other principles. It does not yet provide any specific manual tools, but defines and structures the objectives of television journalism.
The sequence principle
According to Günther, the dramaturgical toolbox serves the purpose of using experience, tension and authenticity as a vehicle for conveying information. Storytelling in journalism. The sequence principle uses elements of classic narrative forms such as the hero's journey . However, the sequence principle is tailored to the non-fictional film with only authentic people and situations. The sequence principle was originally designed for longer formats such as reports and documentaries. Recently, sequential criteria for magazine programs and news films have emerged (see train model ).
A modification of the sequence principle is the sequential retelling . The model serves the journalistic claim to also process past and invisible events of relevance for a broad audience in a cinematic way. The sequence principle in its pure form reaches its limits, in television journalism above all economic ones. The toolbox of sequential retelling defines criteria according to which films that are dramaturgically effective and conveying knowledge can also be produced with less elaborate means than those of the feature film.
The train model
The model was developed for news broadcasts and magazines. It is a combination model with the aim of achieving greater depth of explanation for news and at the same time remaining easily consumable. The train model relies on a sequence of emotional and cognitive stimuli to stimulate the viewer's desire to acquire knowledge.
Günther developed the model in 2011 together with his trainer colleague Christian Dröse from the ARD.ZDF medienakademie for advanced training for the employees of the Tagesthemen (ARD). Previously, Dröse had already established similar approaches under the term fan model at heute-journal (ZDF) . Since a program reform in 2016, Bayerischer Rundfunk has been using the train model in its broadcasts Rundschau and Rundschau-Magazin . The Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg is working in the broadcast ARD Mittagsmagazin strengthened since 2018 with the model.
The graphics compendium
The set of rules, designed as a four-pillar model, tests the effectiveness of journalistic explanatory graphics. The four criteria are based on the core sentence principle: essence , didactics , conciseness and aesthetics / appearance . Under these headings, the compendium lists numerous graphic tools and rules that can be used to achieve the respective explanatory goal.
The reporter's stairs
The model is a test instrument for the role of the reporter character in the film. When is the reporter an added value for the viewer in terms of content and dramaturg? Similar to the cinematic staircase, the different functions and roles of reporters in the film are arranged on a scale according to their effectiveness and legitimacy.
The investigation pyramid
The model is aimed at television programs with an investigative claim, primarily reports. It combines the criteria of the sequence principle and the staircase of effects with the legal and journalistic criteria of evidence. It is based on the thesis that elements of the authentic and experiential film automatically have evidential strength when used in accordance with the rules. The combination of the two disciplines of investigation and authentic sequentiality leads to a symbiosis in favor of the easily consumable, content-rich and document-rich film.
Günther developed the investigation pyramid in 2016 as part of further training for the employees of Team Wallraff - Reporter undercover (RTL).
Web links
- Filmography Wolfgang Günther in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen press release
- ↑ ARD.ZDF medienakademie trainer portrait
- ^ Bayerischer Rundfunk: company announcement
- ↑ Marler Media Prize press release
- ↑ ARD-alpha program announcement training project
- ↑ tv-handwerk references and fields of work
- ^ Portrait of Wolfgang Günther
- ^ ARD.ZDF medienakademie: Trainer portrait
- ↑ TV-handwerk coaching team
- ↑ Regulations and test models by Wolfgang Günther
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Trainee training program
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Magazine film training module, p. 7
- ↑ ARD.ZDF medienakademie seminar documents FS magazine, p. 4ff
- ↑ tv-handwerk: The core sentence principle as a three-pillar scheme
- ↑ Felix Hörhager, artsandvision Authenticity and Effect Steps
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Effect stairs in the magazine film, p. 7
- ↑ ARD.ZDF media academy: seminar documents FS magazine, p. 11f
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Reportage training module, p. 9
- ↑ ARD.ZDF media academy: seminar documents FS reportage, p. 8ff
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Training module television news, p. 8
- ↑ Radio Bremen / ARD press release: Jury Bremer Fernsehpreis
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Training module magazine special, p. 10
- ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: training module television reportage, p. 9
- ↑ tv-handwerk: The investigation pyramid as a double staircase model
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Günther, Wolfgang |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German journalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1960 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | gain |