Hans Weiss´ journalistic work often provoked heated public debates, sometimes also lawsuits and legislative changes. Here are some of his most outstanding publications:
Austria – tax heaven for multinational companies. In February 2018 Hans Weiss published a series of three articles in the German weekly paper „Die Zeit“, about the tax evading tricks of multinational companies. Österreich – Steueroase für Konzerne, Heimat großer Steuersparer, Fast zum Nulltarif
The bragger. An award-winning investigation about the most prominent German beauty surgeon, in DER SPIEGEL, 40/2011. This story was published in cooperation with my colleague Markus Grill.
Tax holidays for the fattest Austrian company. In 2010 Hans Weiss exposed, that the largest Austrian company Raiffeisen paid almost no taxes. From 2006 to 2008 the Raiffeisen-Banks alone made a profit of 1,9 billion Euros – and paid only 19 million Euros in taxes. This amounts to a tax rate of one percent, whereas the official tax rate is 25 percent.
The nursing chancellor. In 2006 Hans Weiss uncovered the fact that the family of the Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel employed two illegal geriatric nurses from Slovakia – for 2 Euros per hour. As a consequence his party ÖVP lost the following elections.
Take 2, pay 1. Based on classified documents from pharmaceutical companies, Hans Weiss disclosed a widespread corruption scheme between Austrian doctors and pharmaceutical companies. He gave an interview for Austrian Radio (ORF1), which had a huge impact and led to legislative changes in Austria.
Alternative medicine in test. This was a cover story for the German magazine stern, in cooperation with Krista Federspiel. Their conclusion, after visits to several prominent alternative doctors: You cannot trust them – they are all completely unreliable miracle healers. (Wunderheiler und Krankbeter – Alternativmedizin im Test, in: stern, 28.11.1991)
Resistance against the Nazis. This was a story about Hans Weiss´ family to commemorate the 40th anniversary of liberation from the Nazi regime. (Verfolgung und Widerstand in Vorarlberg, in profil Nr. 21, 20. Mai 1985)
In the 1980´s Hans Weiss made a number of sensational documentaries for Austrian TV (ORF) and wrote several cover stories for the Austrian magazine profil. Since then he occasionally worked as a freelancer for magazines like transatlantic, Falter, flair, TAZ, DER SPIEGEL, stern, DIE ZEIT, for the Austrian radio station ORF and the hugely successful German TV series “Die Schwarzwaldklinik”. He also had a lecturing assignment at the University in Vienna.
