German Angst. Der Spiegel explains the Web.

Would it be okay to add that “Der Spiegel” ist not “Germany” and not even “media in German” but that there is a lot more to it?

Oh absolutely. It is just typical for a media landscape that constantly tries to user scare tactics and trigger feat among its readers. Of course only in the print issue. The web issue is very different.

Spiegels target group is not the digital native audience…so where’s the f***ing problem???

I understand your angle. But I do not agree. What I am describing is not a detailed analysis of an article. It is a general pattern among many, many German media formats. Social networking? That’s innocent teenagers ruining their future career via Party pics. eCommerce? That’s data or credit card theft. For Germany’s media the glass is always half empty. And these cover pages illustrate that. The article does not want to do more.

Oh no. I mean the web in general. Definitely not Facebook. What I tried to do is to describe a pattern how one of the key political magazines in Germany constantly uses scare tactics to sell. I agree that you should not judge a book by its cover. But the way these covers communicate feature their way of thinking. And in fact I have read 3 /4 of these issues. They were extremely biased and designed to trigger rejection by a 50-something target group. The way mainstream media reports about the web in Germany is unique in the way scare tactics are used to sell magazines.

next time a friend of mine ends up with a bullet or my floor is burning down or the guy that slept on my couch is found dead because of certain ways certain people run certain buisnesses connceted to certain ‘new’ ways of communications I give a ‘Landsman’ (ass****) that lives abroad a short notice…shall I?

I also think that’s a bit too easy. Sometimes I have the impression that people react especially hurt when the Spiegel does something like this, even more so of course with a topic that is dear to them, as if this was some kind of personal let-down and they had deserved better. But the Spiegel has to make money, just like any other newspaper, and provoking or overstating is one way to do this. They also do this with business topics, with politics and many more.

The first cover does not explain “the web”. It illustrates the “digital underworld”. From an aesthetic point of view, I think it’s a nice one.

The second cover is a bit silly, but I must admit I think it’s funny, too, and I even agree to the assertion that Facebook is “insatiable”.

The other two: I would have to read the articles to form an opinion, but the covers are eye-catchers. So they did their job.

As for “German Angst”: it’s an overrated, overused term, and I find it interesting that Americans like to use it a lot, and in a strangely different sense than we do. Anyway, Germany, in my opinion, is not a country of frightened, unknowning, unenlightened old people. Of course they exist. Still, the Germans are using the internet, very much so, and all other kinds of modern technologies, many of which they help to develop for the better or worse.

And I’m a bit tired of people, no matter whether German, Non-Germans or Germans abroad, telling me how awfully backward Germany is, and how much more informed, better connected and insightful they are.

Sorry, no offense. But as I said: that’s too easy. 

Ah, sorry, I missunderstood your greatest invention of the era.

The whole web is definitly closer to that than Facebook alone.

I think it is not difficult to trigger rejection in the 50-something
target group concerning web and other modern gadgets, means of
communication etc. It would be much more difficult to trigger acceptance
in those people because in general they already have their opinion and
is often rock solid rejection. It is a bit like “Today’s youth!”. But that is a rather old opinion.

Although I heard in the news today that the number of germans using
internet has increased again, and the group with the highest increase is
people 60+. That leaves room for hope.

I still think that the scare tactics are not only used concerning web
topics but in general – at least judging by the cover. As I mentioned
before I don’t read Spiegel anymore because it is not nearly as good as
it used to be years ago.

Thanks, nnier. That’s probably the best comment. Exactly my thoughts.

so naturally, if der spiegel hates the internet so much, they wouldn’t have a website then, right? oh, hang on, they do….

Thank you very, very much for putting together this great collection!