Ken Jebsen

Ken Jebsen (real name Kayvan Soufi-Siavash, born in 1966) is a German conspiracy theorist and former radio host.

Ken Jebsen
Jebsen at the Cologne Charlemagne Prize awards for dedicated engagement in literature and journalism in 2014
Born
Kayvan Soufi-Siavash

1966 (age 56–57)
Hüls, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Children3
AwardsSee Awards
Career
ShowRadio Fritz
Station(s)Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
ShowKenFM
CountryGermany
Websitekenfm.de

Jebsen rose to prominence as moderator of his show KenFM with the public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). After an email with antisemitic remarks by him became public in 2011, he was fired for violating RBB's journalistic standards. Jebsen subsequently launched his own web-portal KenFM and an eponymous YouTube channel. There he mainly published "alternative views" and conspiracy theories, such as about the 9/11 attack and the COVID-19 pandemic. YouTube closed his account permanently on 22 January 2021 for repeated publications of COVID-19 misinformation despite warnings and previous blocks.[1]

Zeit Online described Ken Jebsen as "probably the best known German conspiracy ideologue".[2]

TV and radio show presenter

First assignments

Ken Jebsen volunteered from 1987 to 1991 under the pseudonym Keks for the private broadcaster Radio Neufunkland in the city of Reutlingen, followed by a job as a reporter at Deutsche Welle TV, where he attracted attention for his spontaneous attitude and his feature banana microphone. In 1994 he became the presenter for a weekly late-night-show at the ZDF, a premier public-service TV broadcaster.[3] Again a reporter, he worked for the Radio 4U show of the largest local Berlin broadcaster SFB.[4] Around this time he landed his first assignment in the morning show team, the Radiofritzen at Radio Fritz, a public radio station. His last brief seasonal tenure took place in 1999 as he joined the team of hosts of the current morning show of ProSieben, a major private TV network.[5]

Radio Fritz and dismissal
Ken Jebsen at the Radio Fritz studio in 2005

From 2001 until 2011 Ken Jebsen served as the host of the popular radio show KenFM at Radio Fritz of the public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB).[6]

In 2007, Ken Jebsen and Susanne Wündisch won the European CIVIS Radio Prize, awarded in the category Short Programme for their work Irgendwo dazwischen: Portrait of a Young Kurdish Woman in Berlin, broadcast on 16 March 2006 by RBB. The film depicts a young Kurdish teacher and choreographer, born and raised in Berlin, performing the daring and delicate balancing act of living in between both her traditional Islamic culture and the modern western lifestyle.[7]

In early November 2011, an email of Ken Jebsen was published by author Henryk M. Broder, who criticized it for containing antisemitic statements. In the email, Jebsen states among other remarks that he knows "who invented the Holocaust as a PR stunt", he insinuates a connection between Joseph Goebbels, PR-pioneer Edward Bernays, the CIA as well as rich "Jews" such as Henry Kissinger. RBB initially defended Jebsen against the allegation and on 9 November it was decided to carry on with Ken Jebsen, who was instructed to "sensibly check future political issues". However, on 23 November 2011 RBB suspended his show and he was eventually dismissed, after it had been surmised that he had violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on a number of occasions. Although he did not deny having written the email, Jebsen has repeatedly dismissed any allegations of antisemitism as "absurd."[8][9][10]

Internet portal
Main article: KenFM

In spring 2012 Jebsen launched his own internet portal named KenFM, which is funded entirely through donations.[11]

KenFM mainly publishes "alternative viewpoints" on contemporary issues and news. The portal is mostly known for publishing a wide range of conspiracy theories. This includes conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attack, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or the COVID-19 pandemic.[12][13][14][6]

Criticism
See also: KenFM § Criticism

Ken Jebsen and the KenFM outlet are regularly subjected to harsh criticism. During his early days after the dismissal from RBB, he was defended by some commenters. For example, some authors like Evelyn Hecht-Galinski argued that criticism has "gone beyond all measures" with respect to the fact that the wider debate on the Holocaust, antisemitism and related subjects requires restraint and a high degree of decency in Germany. However, with KenFM mainly publishing disproved conspiracy theories, mainstream media warns of the danger of his disinformation spreading, especially in the light of serious topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic.[15][14][6]

Since 2014 Ken Jebsen has been a keynote speaker at the Vigils for Peace events (German: Mahnwachen für den Frieden). The Vigils for Peace have been criticized for being a gathering place of right-wing populists, nationalists, conspiracy theorists, and anti-semites.[16][17]

In 2017 Ken Jebsen received the Cologne Charlemagne Prize awarded by the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung" blog for dedicated engagement in literature and journalism. A public award event at the Berlin Babylon Theater planned for 14 December 2017 was cancelled upon political protests, that effected an intervention of the city's Culture department.[18]

Personal life

Ken Jebsen was born in 1966 in Krefeld Hüls as Kayvan Soufi-Siavash[19] to a German mother from Hamburg and an Iranian father.[20] As his birth name was too difficult to understand and to pronounce for the majority of the German radio audience, he decided to adopt the stage name Ken Jebsen. The surname supposedly echoes his mothers maiden name.[21][9]

However, according to his own biographical account at Radio Fritz, his birth name was Moustafa Kashefi and he was born on board of a commercial jetliner while traversing Iranian airspace. In a detailed interview with Mathias Bröckers, Jebsen refuted his self-made "absurde Bio" ("absurd bio") and dismissed it as an easily recognizable "Gag" ("gag").[22]

Ken Jebsen has three children and lives in Berlin.[23]

Awards
  • 2007: Europäischer Civis Hörfunkpreis in the category kurze Programme bis 6 Minuten together with Susanne Wündisch for Irgendwo dazwischen, rbb

References
  1. "Youtube sperrt Ken Jebsen dauerhaft". BR24 (in German). 22 January 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  2. Fedders, Jonas (6 August 2022). "Ken bleibt auf Sendung". www.zeit.de. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  3. "Die Mondschein-Show". Fernsehlexikon. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. "Ken Jebsen". Radio4u. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  5. Michael Reufsteck, Stefan Niggemeier (6 September 1999). "Die ProSieben MorningShow". Fernsehserien. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  6. Camilla Kohrs (30 December 2016). "Das Böse ist immer und überall". Correctiv. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  7. "European CIVIS Radio Prize 2007". CIVIS. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  8. "Antisemitismusvorwürfe: RBB feuert Moderator Ken Jebsen - DER SPIEGEL - Kultur". Der Spiegel (in German). 24 November 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  9. Dachsel, Felix (20 January 2012). "Ken Jebsen und der RBB: "Ich benutze Humor als Waffe"". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  10. "ich looking who has invented the Holocaust as PR". The Axis of Good. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  11. "Unterstütze KenFM! - KenFM ist ein freies Presseportal, eine Plattform, die bewusst das Internet als einziges Verbreitungsmedium nutzt". KenFM. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  12. Neuhaus, Elisabeth (15 June 2020). "So läuft das Geschäft mit den Verschwörungstheorien auf KenFM" [How the business of conspiracy theories works on KenFM]. turi2 (in German). Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  13. "Wie aus Kayvan Soufi-Siavash der Verschwörungsideologe Ken Jebsen wurde - DER SPIEGEL - Panorama" [How Kayvan Soufi-Siavash became the conspiracy psychologist Ken Jebsen - DER SPIEGEL - Panorama=]. www.spiegel.de (in German). 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  14. Nils Metzger. "Warum Sie Ken Jebsen nicht vertrauen sollten". ZDF. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  15. Evelyn Hecht-Galinski (18 April 2014). "Üble Angriffe auf Ken Jebsen". NRhZ-Online - Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  16. "Ken Jebsen und die Corona-Propaganda". fr.de (in German). 18 May 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  17. Priska Daphi, Dieter Rucht, Wolfgang Stuppert, Simon Teune, Peter Ullrich (16 June 2014). "Occupy Frieden Eine Befragung von Teilnehmer/innen der "Montagsmahnwachen für den Frieden"" (PDF). Technische Universität Berlin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. "Keine Preisverleihung: Kino Babylon in Berlin-Mitte sagt Ken Jebsen ab". Berliner Zeitung. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  19. Kayvan Soufi-Siavash. In: Trademarkia.com, retrieved 14 June 2021.
  20. Lünser, Lehberger, Heise, Andreas, Roman, Thomas (18 May 2020). "Angriff auf "heute show": Ken Jebsen nutzt Studio von attackierter TV-Produktionsfirma - DER SPIEGEL - Panorama". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 17 June 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. An, laut, stark! Fritz - das Buch zum Radio. Galenza, Ronald, 1957-, Die Toten Hosen. Berlin: Schwarzkopf und Schwarzkopf. 2003. ISBN 3-89602-440-X. OCLC 76722880.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  22. Bröckers, Mathias, 1954- (2016). Der Fall Ken Jebsen oder Wie Journalismus im Netz seine Unabhängigkeit zurückgewinnen kann : der Macher von KenFM im Gespräch mit Mathias Bröckers. Frankfurt/Main. ISBN 978-3-946778-00-4. OCLC 965795812.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. "Ken Jebsen im Interview: "Die Leute sollen politisiert werden."". Planet Interview (in German). 6 October 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
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