Newspapers and Magazines

Cicero, the “Magazine for Political Culture”, has been around since 2004. But politics and culture are wide-reaching concepts, so what is “political culture” supposed to mean here? The following is an attempt to glean an answer from its June–October 2008 issues.

The editorial slant, at any rate, is readily apparent: Cicero has it in for the left. For the Social Democrats (SPD), insofar as they still represent a left-wing opposition to be reckoned with, but for small-scale leftist parties, too, like the Communist Platform (Kommunistische Plattform, KPF). The latter’s leading light, Sahra Wagenknecht, is treated to a derisive dig in the July 2008 issue: “I was recently sitting on an ICE train from Berlin to Hannover, in first class, and Sahra Wagenknecht was sitting a few seats over. I’d have gladly reassigned her to second class.” The political polemicist playing the resident stuffed shirt here is Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre.

The editors drive the blow home in their October issue by letting “The Left” (Die Linke) party spokespersons speak for themselves. The article’s telling title “Let’s expropriate BMW!” shows some political instinct, what with a number of governments looking to nationalize big banks lately. Within The Left, calls to nationalize are platform planks for Ralf Krämer, spokesman of the Socialist Left (Sozialistische Linke); Jochen Traut, Geraer Dialog’s spokesman; and Uwe Hiksch, spokesman of the Marxist Forum (Marxistisches Forum). Oddly enough, this October issue does not include any articles addressing the global financial crisis. The subject is covered, though, in Cicero’s online edition – under partner periodicals like Manager Magazin. Also posted there are the unabridged versions of important interviews from the print editions.

Celebrity counts

With a circulation of 77,077 (2nd quarter 2008), Cicero has a pretty comfortable setup in the press with financial backing from its corporate group. Its quid pro quo is a consistently congenial take on celebrities and “high society”. Cicero’s “Debate” section features big brass like Italian ambassador Antonio Puri Purini, Al Gore, Julian Nida-Rümelin, Günther von Lojewski and Prince Felix von Löwenstein. The magazine’s “Weltbühne” (“World Forum”) stars Jean-Claude Juncker, Christoph von Marschall, Necla Kelek, Ernst Piper et al. The “Berliner Republik” (“Berlin Republic”) showcases everyone who thinks they’ve got something to say. And the “Kapital” section limelights Jette Joop, Thea Dorn, Jakob Augstein (son of Der Spiegel magazine’s founder), Christiane zu Salm and Nils aus dem Moore, to name just a few.

Though not yet ennobled, Bela Anda is another prominent personage. One-time government spokesman under ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Anda is now head of communications for a financial service-provider and natters in his column on “New Poverty and New Envy”. Gerhard Schröder can expect kid-glove treatment at the hands of Cicero, for one of his first jobs after leaving office was a consulting gig at the Ringier Media Group – which owns Cicero. It is par for the course, in polished politico-corporate culture, to have Michael Ringier himself put in an appearance in the “Salon with Art Collection and Library” section (June 2008).

Elitism, not criticism

When Cicero came up with its list of the 100 most important women in Germany (June 2008), Max A. Höfer, manager of the Initiative Soziale Marktwirtschaft (INSM, Social Market Economy Initiative), got to comment: “The leading literary pundit is the most influential female German intellectual.” Putting Elke Heidenreich at the top of the list is indeed puzzling; she herself takes a humbler view of her sway: “I do book recommendations, not criticism.” But that fits right in, for criticism, the foremost task of an intellectual, is unwelcome at Cicero. Martin Walser, an author long steeped in criticism, makes no bones about it in his essay “Don’t be so critical!” (August 2008), which quite encapsulates Cicero’s approach to “political culture”.

That also points up the INSM initiative’s ideological involvement in this rather inscrutable elite-ranking project at Cicero. Inscrutability may well be part of INSM’s corporate culture – neoliberal lobbying requires discretion, after all – but a “magazine for political culture” really ought to go for clarity and transparency. So the subsequent list of the “300 leading thinkers” in the German-speaking world (October 2008) was based on quantifiable presence in the “34 leading German-language periodicals” and on references on the Web and in academic publications. Now a genuine critic does take first place: philosopher/sociologist Jürgen Habermas.

The managing director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, Gunter Thielen, on the other hand, is one of those whom Cicero has taken under its wing on the elite front. Although the interviewer is allowed to pose some genuine questions, this article is less about providing some insight into the foundation’s political activities than about providing a showcase for Thielen (July 2008). Political significance is to be found indirectly in Cicero: the Bertelsmann Foundation is currently pushing hard to privatize municipal administrative tasks, and the article about that is in the magazine’s “Kapital” section. So the magazine for political culture does provide some food for thought; then again, that’s critical culture.