| WMF | WORLD MUSIC FORUM | ||||||||
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| Under the Auspices of the German Cultural Foundation |
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Abracadabra Investigation Technology of 
A SPIEGEL editor discloses the incredible investigation technology of his news magazine. |
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| Klaus Umbach (left), chief music editor of “DER SPIEGEL” in a conversation with the composer Peter Hübner. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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GERMAN MUSIC FORUM: Mr. Hübner, when I look at the facts of our interview, then I come to the conclusion that here, with these statements of DER SPIEGEL, almost nothing is correct. Never before I have found in so little text so much misinformation, and until today I even did not know that this is possible. But what amazes me even more is, that the responsible people of the SPIEGEL take the liberty of doing this. The official writer of the article, the music editor of the SPIEGEL, Mr. Umbach, now has to expect, after all, that people will think he is off his head, and that also the people in the SPIEGEL itself will think like this – now when this is uncovered ... PETER HÜBNER: See, I do not assume that Mr. Umbach has written this article. Firstly, I came to know Mr. Umbach in Hamburg at the classical music fair Klassik.Komm as an outspoken lover of classical music – he is a fan of Wagner . And secondly, I see him as a man of culture, whose innerhuman education does not allow the writing of such an article, in my opinion. I think, we can exonerate the music editor of the SPIEGEL here. He got the order from the SPIEGEL to get in touch with me and to talk with me. This he did and so he was able to give a good amount of simple factual information to the SPIEGEL – totally beyond all music. What the Hamburg editorial office of the SPIEGEL does – this is an entirely different story . GERMAN MUSIC FORUM: But the article carries his name, after all! Are you telling me that the SPIEGEL uses his name only arbitrarily, that he uses him, the alleged responsible writer, only as a frontman – and in this case, actually, I would rather have to say: abuses him? PETER HÜBNER: Right, that's what I am telling you. The employees of the SPIEGEL’s editorial office in Hamburg have that specific “talent” to fabricate such an article – and in my opinion, they are selected according to these qualities. With this special “talent“ of the archetypal smearpress, to dish up a pack of sensationally fabricated cockandbull stories to their readers, come hell or high water: with this mendacious and deceitful mentality they hardly would have come to know me. Therefore, in their field offices, they have to have better, more cultivated, nobler and more appealing people, as they themselves bring along with their very specific talent of intellectual prostitution and deceiving the reader. And they do indeed have these people, as far as I could see. Only with congenial staff members in the field the SPIEGEL can contact people to interview them – or to even speak with them at all. That is, I am convinced that the SPIEGEL article about me and my work was already finished in its essential outlines in the Hamburg SPIEGEL headquarters, before Mr. Umbach had even talked to me. That certain “conversation” of their nice music editor Umbach with me, or alone his meeting with me, the Hamburg SPIEGEL writers need as a kind of alibi, so that they can give the impression of an authentic reporting to their readers when publishing their pack of madeup stories and deceits. And to use his name as the alleged author is then, of course, a part of it. Hence, for the simple, ingenuous reader it shall look as if the SPIEGEL's music editor would have written all this after his personal meeting with me. But still something else is in favor of this version of that “prostituted reporting” of the SPIEGEL, how I want to call it. I think it is impossible: that one single person can be so stupid, or in the understanding of the SPIEGEL headquarters: so “intelligent” to provide with so little text so much misinformation. And I also believe, an individual person would not even dare to do something like this in the media scene. That much stupidity, or “SPIEGEL-intelligence”, comes from many – not from an individual person. This logic, though, the SPIEGEL writers will not understand, but that is also not necessary. But I find it interesting to get to see something like this – normally you would not believe that this exists. But I still have another evidence, which speaks in favor of the situation, that the said article was not written by the music editor of the SPIEGEL, Mr. Umbach, but by specialists in the Hamburg SPIEGEL headquarters. I have a letter at my disposal of a head of an editorial SPIEGEL-office in a major German city, in which the local SPIEGEL editor – after quite a comparable report had been published by the SPIEGEL – writes the following lines to an acquaintance: |
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It is here about a letter with the letterhead of the SPIEGEL, that is, about an official SPIEGEL-representation in a large, wellknown German city. |
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GERMAN MUSIC FORUM: But this is unbelievable! Here you get first hand information from the SPIEGEL, that the SPIEGEL-headquarters in Hamburg arbitrarily manipulate the investigation reports of their external offices, and in such a way, that the reader is given deliberately and willingly a completely wrong picture. This means, that regarding the SPIEGEL such terms as investigation and documentation are not true at all. This means, the SPIEGEL is not a newsmagazine, which documents facts for the citizen. Well, then the whole activity of the Spiegel is by no means that of a newsmagazine. And then, probably the SPIEGEL is not even active in the context of the media law. Then the SPIEGEL is only that, what you generally call a little “smear” journal! PETER HÜBNER: The document speaks for itself, the SPIEGEL is quite obviously a „little smear journal“. But still you should acknowledge that with all the lie and fraud in the context of their literary prostitution they are still able, after all, to prompt great companies, to advertise between their cockandbull stories. GERMAN MUSIC FORUM: But in future this will probably be very hard for them. For which great company group wants to give its good name and to continue to appear in public in such a context? Which large company wants to join forces with lie, fraud, hypocrisy and intellectual prostitution, if this is proven? And when the advertisements drop out, then only lie, fraud und hypocrisy remain in the SPIEGEL – then, at the latest, the readers will stay away. For it very much looks like as if in the SPIEGEL at best that is true which appears in the advertisements. PETER HÜBNER: By this the SPIEGEL-makes its field offices, its editorial offices in the various major cities of the world, to hypocritical suppliers without any investigation competence. When these facts are uncovered, then the current SPIEGEL-reader cannot help buying his “smear journal” almost only in secret – more or less like the catholic pastor buys the Playboy – because this purchase he then can only justify by being a sadist and deriving pleasure form the slander of others, or by being a masochist and finding satisfaction when he is told good and proper lies, fraud and misinformation. GERMAN MUSIC FORUM: And such people exist, more than you think: they are the many clients of the prostitutes specializing in masochism on the Hamburg Reeperbahn: frustrated District Attorneys, who have to protect corrupt politicians, frustrated teachers, who have to put their head on the line for the bad education policy, and frustrated young college educated entrepreneurs, who have to slave now for the shareholders sunbathing in Monaco. PETER HÜBNER: And they are all those who believe in that cheap publicity slogan of the SPIEGEL: “SPIEGEL-readers know more”. But particularly today there is more ignorance than knowledge: there is nowadays more wrong, what you can know, than right: there is at present more disorder in our world than order. A broken window pane always presents itself with a greater diversity than an undamaged one: a garbage heap presents more diversity than an orderly household. |
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From this “diversity” the SPIEGEL lives: from this “more”, what the SPIEGEL extols, when he says: “SPIEGEL- readers know more” DEUTSCHES MUSIKFORUM: After these discoveries hardly any doctor or lawyer can and will still display that garbage adoring SPIEGEL in his clinic and/or office, without his patients or clients rightly running away. |
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With kind permission of AAR EDITION INTERNATIONAL © 1998- WORLD MUSIC FORUM |
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