zenith is an independent German magazine which focuses on the Arab and Islamic world. The German language magazine is published quarterly and addresses politics, economics, culture, and society in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia as well as the Muslim world in general. zenith is independent both financially and content-wise and is published by Deutsche Levante Verlag GmbH in Berlin. The Editorial Board includes Moritz Behrendt, Asiem El Difraoui, Yasemin Ergin, Daniel Gerlach, Christian Meier, Veit Raßhofer and Jörg Schäffer.
History
The magazine was founded by students of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Hamburgin the summer of 1999 and was initially a non-profit project. In October 2012, the German language flagship magazinezenith was relaunched with a new design and it now features an integrated business section. As of spring 2015, the took on the editorial responsibility for zenith magazine, in partnership with the publishing house Deutscher Levante Verlag. The CANDID Foundation is also active in organising MENA-focused conferences and producing publications in cooperation with zenith for institutional partners as the Federal Agency for Civic Education In August 2019, zenith celebrated its 20th anniversary. Editor-in-chief Daniel Gerlach commented on the occasion by stating that zenith's capability to survive and grow in an age of intense competition and general decline of print media was based on its ability to successfully cultivate a niche in the market and curate an approach to reporting on the Middle East that was both distant and empirical as well as empathetic. On the celebration of zenith's 20th anniversary, the Berlin State SecretarySawsan Chebli spoke of the importance of a publication like zenith to provide the much needed depth in the conversation about the Middle East and the Islamic World.
Vision and Structure
In the spring of 2000, the association "forum zenith e.V." was founded. The association was the official publisher of the magazine zenith until 2008. Currently, the association is concentrating on the content of the magazine as well as supporting the professional development of young journalists and photographers. The magazine views itself as a platform for young, critical, alternative journalism on a region whose image in the world is significantly marked by biased and ideologically entrenched reporting. Today, many former and current contributors of zenith work as foreign correspondents for major German news outlets such as Spiegel Online, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ZDF, DeutschlandRadio, Die Zeit or Die Welt. zenith is considered to be the most popular, most frequently quoted and widest distributed MENA-focused magazine in the German-speaking world which reporting on the economy, politics, society and culture of the Islamic world, including Israel. Among its media partners are Spiegel Online, Die Welt, brand eins, TEDx, Berlin Goethe Institute, Bertelsmann Foundation and the German UNESCO commission. In 2017, zenith launched a new website incorporating English, German and Arabic content. Media projects include support for Local Libya, a network of citizen journalists in Libya, as well as the zenith Photo Award, a photo competition featuring images of Islam in Europe.
