Irene Meichsner (born 1952 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

) is a German science journalist and author. She works for Kölner Stadtanzeiger, a newspaper in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and as a freelance journalist and book author.

Background

Meichsner has studied philosophy and history at Cologne and Freiburg universities. Her doctorate in 1982 ("Über die Logik von Gemeinplätzen", On the Logic of Platitudes) dealt with

platitude A platitude is a trite, meaningless, or prosaic statement, often used as a thought-terminating cliché, aimed at quelling social, emotional, or cognitive unease. The statement may be true, but its meaning has been lost due to its excessive use. ...

s and

truism A truism is a claim that is so obvious or self-evident as to be hardly worth mentioning, except as a reminder or as a rhetorical or literary device, and is the opposite of falsism. In philosophy, a sentence which asserts incomplete truth conditi ...

s from a philosophical standpoint. Since 1981 she works as journalist in Cologne. Meichsner is responsible for the science pages of Kölner Stadtanzeiger. Some of her books comprise collections of her newspaper columns. 1990 a report of Meichsner about a conflict between two female philosophers at Cologne university gained nationwide coverage. Marion Soreth, professor of philosophy in Cologne previously had accused Elisabeth Ströker, a distinguished

Phenomenology (philosophy) Phenomenology (from Greek φαινόμενον, ''phainómenon'' "that which appears" and λόγος, ''lógos'' "study") is the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness. As a philosophical movement it was foun ...

expert and professor at the same faculty, of plagiarism in her doctorate. Meichsners article "Hübsch geklaut (Nicely stolen)" was published first in the Kölner Stadtanzeiger and then by the Hamburg weekly

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History Th ...

. The Bonn Faculty saw Strökers doctorate as being "substantially her own" besides more than 100 scholars sent an open letter in support of her. 1992 Meichsner published a book with coauthors Gerd Rosenkranz and Manfred Kriener (both former

die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...

publishers) about the public relations strategies of the Nuclear Power industry.

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth ...

provided a prologue and endorsed the book in the framework of a larger campaign against

Nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity *Nuclear binding energy Nuclear binding energy in experimental physics is the minimum energy that is required t ...

. Together with Egmont R. Koch, a journalist which had grown famous in Germany with his landmark book ("Seveso ist überall") about the

Seveso disaster Seveso (; lmo, label= Lombard, Séves ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Monza and Brianza, in the Region of Lombardy. The economy of the town has traditionally been based on the furniture industry. Its name comes from the river o ...

, Meichnser published 1990 a book about possible abuse of

Blood donation A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). Donation may be of whole blo ...

s in eastern Germany. Meichsner received 2005 the

Georg von Holtzbrinck George von Holtzbrinck (born 11 May 1909, Schöplenberg, Hagen died 27 April 1983, Stuttgart) was a German publisher and founder of Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Biography In 1931, Holtzbrinck joined the Nazi Young Workers. In 1933, ...

Price for Science Journalism. 2010 an article of Meichner about purported errors in the

IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...

reports in

Frankfurter Rundschau The ''Frankfurter Rundschau'' (FR) is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition (see link below) as well as an e-p ...

was taken down after a demand of

Stefan Rahmstorf Stefan Rahmstorf (born 22 February 1960) is a German oceanographer and climatologist. Since 2000, he has been a Professor of Physics of the Oceans at University of Potsdam, Potsdam University. He studied physical oceanography at Bangor University ...

towards the newspaper. In 2011, a civil case was successfully brought by Meichsner against Rahmstorf. The circumstances gained nationwide coverage in

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wi ...

and

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

Online after a critical report of the science journalists association journal WPK Quarterly. Verurteilter Forscher, Eklat um Klimaberater der Bundesregierung
Der Spiegel, von Jana Hauschild 1. Dezember 2011

Books

* ''Warum kriegt der Specht kein Kopfweh?'' (Why Woodpeckers do not get headaches, with Nicola Kuhrt). Dumont, Köln 2008. * ''Die neue Offensive der Atomwirtschaft. Treibhauseffekt, Sicherheitsdiskussion, Markt im Osten.'' (the renewed offensive of the nuclear industry - Greenhouse effect, Security, Eastern markets, with

Gerd Rosenkranz Gerd or GERD may refer to: * Gerd (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname * Gerd (moon), a moon of Saturn * Gerd Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica * Gastroesophageal reflux disease, a chronic symptom of mucosal damage ...

Manfred Kriener ''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction. Byr ...

):Beck, München 1992, * ''BÖSES BLUT. Die Geschichte eines Medizin-Skandals.'' (Bad Blood, history of a science scandal, with ''Egmont R. Koch) Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1990 (²1993),

External links

Meichsners Page at Dumont

"Journalismuspreis für Irene Meichsner"
ölner Stadtanzeiger
Acknowledgement at Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meichsner, Irene 1952 births Living people German journalists German philosophers University of Cologne alumni University of Freiburg alumni