stern editor-in-chief talks about Scholz’s interview and the new issue

Editorial

We journalists conduct interviews so that they can be read. That’s why we were happy that star-Conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (“I don’t tend to cry”) triggered violent reactions. However, I felt a bit uneasy when our cover photo even appeared in the politician’s This is the first step star-Conversation.

It is not journalistic whining if this leads to the concern that we might have created too much of a stage for the Chancellor. But that wasn’t the case, the conversation was conducted just as critically as any other politician interview, perhaps even more critically, Scholz is, after all, the boss of the whole thing.

But his team has apparently recognized two points: a head of government who speaks in understandable sentences is heard more. And: Scholz and the SPD may not be particularly popular with voters right now. But social democratic demands that the interview revolved around, such as a significantly higher minimum wage and a generous pension policy, are well received by the population. As a current Forsa study shows, more than 80 percent of Germans want to stick to the “retirement at 63” option.

Can Scholz make gains again in the election campaign with social demands, especially against a rival Friedrich Merz? That’s the SPD’s big bet, and that’s why we’ll probably soon see a plain-spoken chancellor more often.

Principality of Monaco and Rammstein

Somerset Maugham wrote that the Côte d’Azur is a “sunny place for shady people”, a sunny place for rather gloomy, even windy types. I will leave it up to you to judge what it says about me that I particularly love this region: the light, the sea, the colors, the cities. However, there is one place in the region that I have no affection for, and that is Monaco, the very place for which Maugham coined his bon mot.

Luckily, our France correspondent Andrea Ritter is more open-minded: She took a look around the principality, where Formula 1 cars will be racing through the urban canyons again this weekend. She discovered some things that justified my suspicions (she wrote to me: “Unadorned concrete blocks overshadow the pastel-colored palaces of a bygone era, dark-glazed skyscrapers rise into the sky, bright yellow Lamborghinis and candy-orange Mustangs jostle under green palm trees…”). At the same time, however, Ritter found out why even a billionaire enclave has to think about new business models, such as becoming a clean tax haven and one that focuses on environmental protection.

Rammstein singer Till Lindemann himself would happily agree that he is a rather shady character – you know, the one with the “Row Zero” scandal, with the penis cannon and “Pussy” songs. His fans are celebrating him again at concerts anyway, and the proceedings against Lindemann have been dropped. Has anything changed at least in the music industry and especially in the way stars deal with their fans? Journalists Lena Kampf and Daniel Drepper, both of whom were heavily involved in the Rammstein research, have published a book on the subject, from which we are printing an excerpt in advance, supplemented by . Their conclusion, in short: Yes, but…