Christian Lerch (born 1978) is a journalist and radio documentary producer based in Vienna, Austria and Berlin, Germany.

Early life and education edit

Lerch graduated from the University of Vienna, He studied at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Career edit

Lerch worked at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York City.

In 2006 he began working as a radio producer, author and director for radio art/documentaries for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF, the cultural channel Radio Österreich 1 and the German public broadcasting network WDR focusing on political and (pop-)culture topics.[1] In 2009 he produced the radio documentary "Sold/Verkauft!"[2] about four Uighur men who had been sold as suspected terrorists to the CIA and imprisoned for four years at the prison camp Guantánamo Bay.[3] The radio documentary was published as an audio book in 2011.[4]

Lerch created a three part series of radio programs on illegal drugs: "Crystal Meth. A homemade drug" (produced by the ORF 2007),[5] "Apocalypse Goa" (a co-production of WDR/ORF 2010)[6] and "Viva La Muerte. The drug ballads of northern Mexico" (produced by the WDR/ORF 2012) [7] are documentaries commissioned for broadcast in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[8]

Lerch is the co-founder of "name>it positive media" and co-editor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup web journal kaptransmissions.org.

Lerch occasionally writes and publishes for newspapers, including Der Standard, Wiener Zeitung and the Russian weekly magazine Ogoniok.[9][10]

In 2014 Lerch is a fellow at the European Journalism Fellowships at the Freie Universität Berlin, researching surveillance and control of public urban spaces in Germany and in the United States.[11]

In collaboration with the German theater director Matthias Kapohl Lerch produced in 2015 the first binaural radio feature. Through this recording and production technology the radio documentary "Bi-Normal" enables the listeners to a 3D audio experience, that is usually used for radio drama and in sounds for movies.[12]

With the multimedia documentary #illegaledrogentöten (eng. illegal drugs kill) Lerch finalized 2016 the trilogy on the devastating effects of the global war on drugs in consumer markets, transit and producing countries of illegal drugs.[13] It was the first live social media radio documentary, using social media comments as a narrative.[14]

For Austria’s prestigious art museum Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Lerch developed and curated 2019 the multimedia project “six seasons” consisting of an audio podcast and animated videos.[15] Six paintings of the renowned old masters collection of the museum were used by a selection of contemporary writers (a.o. Ann Cotten, Mark von Schlegell, Hanno Millesi) to write fictional short stories, that were transformed into a series of audio dramas.[16] Through fictional storytelling “six seasons” provides a contemporary perception of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, conveying historical artistic intention into new and varied media formats.[17]

Awards edit

 
Christian Lerch, winner of the Prix Europa for the Best European radio documentary 2017.

Lerch received various awards, including the Award for ORF Journalists,[18] and the Hans Nerth- Radio Scholarship.[19] In the years 2010 and 2011 Christian Lerch was nominated for the CNN Journalist Award [20] and for the Austrian Journalism Prize,[21] the Dr. Karl Renner Prize[22] In the year 2010 he received the second prize of the FEATUREPREIS Award in Basel, Switzerland.[23]

For the documentary #illegaledrogentöten (English title: #illegaldrugskill)[24] the third and final part of the trilogy on the effects of illegal drugs and of the war on drugs Lerch was awarded a Silver Award for the best radio programs 2017 at the New York Festivals Archived 2017-06-24 at the Wayback Machine.[25] With the program "Papa we're in Syria"[26] Lerch followed a father searching and trying to rescue his sons, who had joined the so-called Islamic State/ISIS in Syria 2015. That program won him the prestigious European Media Award Prix Europa for the Best European Radio Documentary 2017.[27]

The jury of the BBC Audio Drama Award selected the podcast "six seasons" as a finalist for Best European Drama 2021.

References edit

  1. ^ Zitty. Vol. 30. Zitty Verlag GmbH. 2007. p. 59.
  2. ^ "Verkauft! Vier Flüchtlinge landen in Guantánamo - Passage - Sendungen - Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen" (in German). Srf.ch. 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  3. ^ derStandard.at. "Verkauft nach Guantánamo Bay - Radio - derStandard.at › Etat". Derstandard.at. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  4. ^ "Christoph Merian Verlag - Presseinformation" (in German). Merianverlag.ch. Archived from the original on 2011-08-29. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  5. ^ "Gesellschaft". Oe1.orf.at. 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  6. ^ "Apocalypse Goa - Soundstories - Sendungen - 1LIVE" (in German). Einslive.de. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  7. ^ "¡Viva la muerte! - Soundstories - Sendungen - 1LIVE" (in German). Einslive.de. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  8. ^ Süddeutsche.de GmbH, Munich, Germany. "Review of the radio documentary "Viva La Muerte" for the German Newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung". Newsticker.sueddeutsche.de. Retrieved 2013-09-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ derStandard.at (2008-01-06). "Fußball im Kosovo: "Do you want to play football?" - Leben und Wirtschaft in Osteuropa - derStandard.at › Themenmonat". Derstandard.at. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  10. ^ ""Die Schule ist die einzige Chance" - Über den gescheiterten Versuch, aus einem südafrikanischen Township nicht über Armut zu berichten - Wiener Zeitung Online". Wienerzeitung.at. 27 May 2010. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  11. ^ "Current Fellowships • International Center for Journalism • Department of Political and Social Sciences". Polsoz.fu-berlin.de. 2013-05-04. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  12. ^ "Bi-Normal - WDR 3 - pop 3" (in German). WDR 3. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  13. ^ "Radio Feature - Deutschlandradio Kultur/Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF" (in German). Deutschlandradio Kultur. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  14. ^ "Interview with Christian Lerch - Deutschlandradio Kultur" (in German). Deutschlandradio Kultur. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  15. ^ "Podcast". www.khm.at (in German). Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  16. ^ "Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien - Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien". Spotify. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  17. ^ ""Six Seasons": Ö1 bringt KHM-Gemälde ins Radio - derStandard.de". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  18. ^ [1] Award for ORF Journalists
  19. ^ "Ö1: Hans Nerth-Radiostipendium für den österreichischen Autor Christian Lerch". OTS.at (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-09.
  20. ^ CNN International. "Home". Cnnjournalistaward.com. Retrieved 2013-09-07. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  21. ^ "CNN-Preis Nominierung für Christian Lerch". Kurier.At. 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  22. ^ "Habe die Ehre! — extradienst: Exklusiv / Top" (in German). Extradienst.at. 2013-06-17. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  23. ^ Thomas Leuzinger,Redaktionsleiter (2010-11-08). "Featurepreis 2010 der Stiftung Radio Basel geht an WDR" (in German). kleinreport.ch. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  24. ^ Matthias Horn, Online Editor Deutschlandfunk Kultur (2017-09-01). "Interview with Christian Lerch" (in German). Deutschlandfunkkultur. Retrieved 2017-06-29. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  25. ^ New York Festivals. "Best Radio 2017". newyorkfestivals.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
  26. ^ "Papa, wir sind in Syrien" (in German). Westdeutscher Rundfunk WDR. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  27. ^ "Winners 2017! —". Prix Europa. 2017-10-20. Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2017-11-02.

External links edit

See also edit