Dr. Miriam Meckel

Expert on Media Economics and Communication

Miriam Meckel, PhD, is the Editor-in-Chief of WirtschaftsWoche, Germany’s largest weekly business publication. Starting in April 2017, she will serve as Publisher of the magazine to focus on the brand’s digitalization process, its interactive membership community and expanding internationalization efforts. 

Before joining WirtschaftsWoche, Miriam was the Managing Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, where she has held a professorship for Corporate Communication since 2005. She served as a multi-year Faculty Associate at the “Berkman Cmenter for Internet & Society” at Harvard University and was a visiting professor at Singapore Management University. From 2006-2007, she hosted a monthly political talk show on German television called “Miriam Meckel – Viewpoints”.

Previously, Miriam spent four years in politics at the Office of the Premier of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, first as Undersecretary for Media and government spokeswoman, then as Undersecretary for Europe, International Affairs, and Media.

Prior to her political assignment, Miriam became the youngest professor in Germany through an appointment for Journalism and Communication Science at the University of Münster, where she also took on the role of Managing Director of the Institute for Communication Science. Before her academic tenure, she worked as a TV journalist and news presenter for public and commercial television stations in Germany (ARD, VOX, RTL).

Miriam is an award-winning speaker, receiving the Cicero-Speaker Prize in the category of science in 2001, and a bestselling book author who has published prolifically on the development of the Internet, digital life and the future of journalism. Her autobiographical book “Letter to my life“ („Brief an mein Leben“) formed the basis of an award-winning television movie in 2016.

Passionate about international and transatlantic exchange, she participated in the “European Asian Young Leaders Forum” of the Herbert-Quandt-Foundation from 2002-2005, was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship of the USA in 2008, and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellowship at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University in 2016. She is a member of the International Communication Association, and was a member of both the Swiss Federal Media Commission and the international jury of the Development Gateway Foundation at the World Bank, where she helped to develop the Development Gateway Award.

Miriam holds degrees in journalism, communication science, sinology, and political science from the University of Münster, Germany, and the University of Taipei, Taiwan, finishing as a doctor of philosophy. In her spare time, she loves photography, playing the piano and everything related to books, in print or digital.