Matthias Schepp, Moscow bureau chief for Der Spiegel, the Euro Zone’s most influential newsmagazine, and a 2005 alumnus of the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowships will deliver the 27th Graham Hovey Lecture “Powder Keg: Where is Putin Taking Russia?” The lecture highlights the benefits of sabbatical study at U-M for journalists at a mid-point in their careers.
The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Wallace House, 620 Oxford Road.
Der Spiegel, with a circulation more than 1 million, a distinguished record of investigative reporting, a leading website also available in English and distinguished history of independent journalism, has published more than a dozen of Schepp’s investigative reports on corruption between Russia and Germany. He has reported on and interviewed Russian politicians, business and cultural leaders as well as conducting the last comprehensive interview with Alexander Solzhenitsyn before his death.
Schepp is the author of two books: “Gebrauchsanleitung Moskau” (Instruction for Moscow), a psychological guide to Muscovites and the Russian soul and “Von Peking nach Berlin” (From Beijing to Berlin) recounts his adventures riding a vintage Chinese motorcycle from Beijing to Berlin.
He attended the Université de Bourgogne, Johannes Gutenberg University and the Hamburg School of Journalism with emphasis on history, political science and philosophy. He began his journalism career as a Moscow correspondent for the German magazine Stern, later becoming its Moscow bureau chief. He also served as that magazine’s Asia bureau chief in Beijing.
The lecture honors the late Graham Hovey, director of the fellowship program from 1980-86 and a distinguished journalist for The New York Times.
A reception hosted by Lisa Rudgers, U-M vice president for global communications and strategic initiatives, will follow.
