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

Early life and education

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

Career

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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

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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

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  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. 3 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  14. ^ "Interview with Christian Lerch - Deutschlandradio Kultur" (in German). Deutschlandradio Kultur. September 2016. 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.
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See also

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