Are editors of student newspapers considered journalists? If so, then I celebrated my 50th professional anniversary last year. On November 8, 1969 , I received ten marks for an article in the WAZ — my first fee!
Writing has always been my passion, but back then I wasn't yet planning to turn it into a profession.
I come from Holzwickede in the Ruhr area, grew up in Unna, and obtained my university entrance qualification (Abitur) at the local Pestalozzi High School. In Münster, I studied German language and literature, history, and philosophy at the University of Münster, and from 1973 at the Free University of Berlin. I completed my state examination (equivalent to a master's degree in education) with a thesis in Old German philology on the topic: "Feudal Identity and Epic Form in the Nibelungenlied".
During my studies, I was active in the far-left and Maoist Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
My contacts with dissidents of the "Charter 77" movement in the former Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (CSSR) were presumably the reason why I was denied entry into the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
An original quote from the corresponding file of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) reads:
"The subject [B.S.] wears a beard, is clean but not dressed in a modern style, and gives the impression of not being particularly talkative."
After a brief period working as a teacher at a classical secondary school (humanistisches Gymnasium) in Berlin, I ran a taxi business and was the publisher of the magazine "HerrMann". Since 1985, I have been working as a writer and freelance journalist, primarily for publications such as Tagesspiegel, taz, Jungle World, and Telepolis.
From February 2005 to September 2007, I was editor-in-chief of the independent Berlin-based media magazine Berliner Journalisten (today: Nitro).
From 1994 to 2022 I taught investigative internet research at the Berlin School of Journalism and other educational institutions. Until 2017, I also held teaching assignments at the University of Applied Sciences Europe, covering investigative research, the German language, and business journalism.
Since 2014, I also work for the security company Securitas.
In 1993, due to the book "Rechte Kerle" ("Right-Wing Guys"), a photo of me and the photo designer Dietmar Gust was published in the far-right terrorist list "Der Einblick", accompanied by a call to cause "sleepless nights" for those mentioned.
About me:
The New York Times
Testimony of the Twentieth Century - by Marie Ueda
Wikipedia
Memberships:
DJV Berlin (German Association of Journalists, Berlin chapter)
Co-founder and chairman of the association German Privacy Fund.