Heated discussion: Book by Precht and Welzer "brims with false claims"
Created: 10/22/2022, 9:21 p.m
By: Victoria Krumbeck
With their book about the media landscape in Germany, Precht and Welzer polarize opinions.
At the Frankfurt Book Fair, a critic pointed out some errors in the book.
The book also ranks high among critics.
Therefore, there is a lot of talk about the two publicists at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
In a conversation with the media journalist Stefan Niggemeier, he accused the authors of having "sloppily written" the book.
The book is full of errors.
Book by Precht and Welzer: Critics accuse authors of poor research
On the fringes of the Frankfurt Book Fair, there was a heated discussion on the ARD stage.
In their book, Precht and Welzer analyze the media landscape in Germany.
Her key point is that the media landscape in Germany is becoming more and more similar.
Niggemeier does not deny this directly, but describes the book as a "poor foundation" because it is "sloppily written".
"It's full of false claims," says Niggemeier.
The philosopher Richard David Precht (l) and the sociologist Harald Welzer (r).
© Henning Kaiser/dpa
As an example, he cited an incorrectly classified post in a chapter about Twitter.
Instead of referring to a Twitter post, Precht and Welzer are said to have explained the Twitter mechanisms using an Instagram post.
The book is poorly researched.
"If we worked as sloppily as this book was written, we would have been bankrupt for years," said Niggemeier, founder of the online magazine
Übermedien
ist.
Precht and Welzer see mistakes: "Of course there are mistakes in this book"
As a further example, the critic cites the analysis of a text by the
FAZ
journalist Jürgen Kaube.
Precht and Welzer accuse Kaube of having asked the defense minister to say "Ukraine will win".
“And it's very much about the word 'victory', the word 'victory' keeps popping up.
They say Kaube wants her to say the word 'win'.
The word 'victory' does not appear in Kaube's text.
That's not true at all," Niggemeier confronted the publicists.
Despite the allegations, the authors remained calm and acknowledged mistakes.
“Of course there are mistakes in this book.
These errors will also be corrected in the respective subsequent editions,” says Welzer.
Mistakes would happen, he admitted.
You can find the whole discussion at
hessenschau.de
.
(vk)