The German Journalists Association (DJV) elected a new federal chairman in Magdeburg on Monday. The association announced that 94 percent of the delegates at the Federal Association Congress were in favor of the journalist Mika Beuster. Beuster has been on the federal board of the union for journalists for four years and has been its deputy chairman since 2021. He works at the Rhein Main publishing group as chief topic reporter.
Frank Überall, who chaired the association for eight years, said of his successor in the association’s statement: “I have known Mika Beuster for a long time. He can do it. I am pleased about the smooth handover of the baton.” It became known last week that Überall, who frequently commented on controversies in the industry, attacks on journalists and austerity measures at publishers and broadcasters, was resigning from his position. In an interview with the Daily Mirror During his tenure at the DJV, he described himself as a “traveling preacher of journalism”.
In the future, the interest group Beuster will be led by a Hessian – and by the youngest chairman in the association’s history. Mika Beuster is 44 years old. He wants to work to strengthen the journalism profession, he says: “In times of disinformation, war propaganda and attacks on reporters, we journalists are needed to be predators of fake news.” He wanted to help ensure that press freedom “gained momentum again” through good journalism.