Prof. Dr. Markus Ziener

Head of Department of Journalism (Master programs) Campus Berlin

B.A. Journalismus und Unternehmenskommunikation

M.A. Digital Journalism

Background

For Markus Ziener it was the goal from his youth on: To work as a reporter for a newspaper – and preferably abroad. At first, this “foreign country” was the GDR for a few months before the two parts of Germany were reunited. Then in the 1990s it was Moscow, later, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Middle East and finally the USA. Why in these places? Because Markus Ziener wanted to be at the places of the events, wanted to understand why certain developments took place in this way and not otherwise.

Markus Ziener entered journalism through sports at the local newspaper “Nürnberger Zeitung”: with reports and features on field hockey, weightlifting and water polo – marginal sports that no one was really interested in. Then the circles were enlarged, via stations at Bayerischer Rundfunk, Frankfurter Rundschau, Handelsblatt and Financial Times Deutschland. Soon the real purpose was found: Politics and business. Why? Because both fields are so closely connected. Because business makes politics. And because politics often makes the wrong economic decisions. You have to know about both in order to analyze them correctly. And so that in the end the overall picture that the reporter paints is correct. For this, studying sociology, economics and a doctorate in politics was more than useful.

And now? Now is the time to pass this knowledge on to the next generation, the young people who are hungry to become reporters and who want to understand how things are connected economically. This is exactly what Markus Ziener is doing now. At Media University.

"The digitalization of the media is probably the greatest challenge for journalism. But that doesn't change one thing in the least: that the profession of journalism is still one of the best."

Teaching

  • Journalism
  • Business Journalism
  • Fundamentals of economics
  • Crisis and conflict research

Research and Teaching Focus

  • Business Journalism
  • Digital Journalism
  • Recipient research

Curriculum Vitae

  • Education

    1996

    Doctorate (Dr. rer. soc.), Humboldt University Berlin
    1988

    Postgraduate fellowship Duke University North Carolina, USA
    1981-1986

    Study of social sciences (Diplom-Sozialwirt) at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg

  • Work Experience

    Regular author for the magazine “European Affairs”, published in Washington DC
    Since March 2015

    Non-Resident Fellow des German Marshall Fund of the US
    Since 2014

    Professorship for Journalism and Corporate Communications at the University for Media Communication and Economics in Berlin
    2012 – 2014

    Head of the opinion department at the Handelsblatt newspaper in Berlin
    2006 – 2012

    Correspondent of the Handelsblatt in Washington, USA
    2001 – 2006

    International correspondent of Handelsblatt with focus on the Middle East (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran)
    1999 – 2001

    Head of Foreign Affairs at the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD), Berlin
    1995 – 1999

    Correspondent of the Handelsblatt in Moscow
    1990 – 1994

    Correspondent of Handelsblatt for the GDR/New Federal States, as well as Poland and former Czechoslovakia, based in (East) Berlin
    1988 – 1990

    Editor at the Allgemeine Zeitung in Mainz
    1987

    Internship at the Frankfurter Rundschau
    1983 – 1986

    Freelancer for the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation in Munich

Publikationen

Ziener, M.: Existenz am unsicheren Ort: Die Medien im Überlebenskampf. In: Wissenschaftliche Reihe der of Applied Sciences (Media University), Berlin, 2015

Ziener, M.: Der Marschallplan für Deutschland. In: Wunder, Pleiten und Visionen, Düsseldorf/Berlin, 2007

Ziener, M.: Die Grenzen der Verschuldung. In: Berliner Schriften zur Demokratieforschung, Bern, 1996