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June 16, 2020

Racism in USA and Germany focus of recent RIAS zoom talks 

RIAS alumni Yami Virgin from San Antonio, Texas and Peter Mücke from ARD radio in New York talked about life in the United States during the Covid-19 crisis in two separate RIAS zoom talks, the protests sweeping the United States and the 2020 election season.

In addition, Greens politician Özcan Mutlu from the central Berlin district of Mitte-Kreuzberg talked to a further RIAS zoom talk group about racism and the political landscape in Germany.

In another RIAS zoom talk, New York Times video journalist Ainara Tiefenthäler talked about the detailed examination that she and a team of reporters worked on of the moments leading up to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that triggered nationwide protests. Here is a link to the video from Tiefenthäler, who won a RIAS media prize in 2019. 

Yami Virgin, an anchor/reporter at Fox San Antonio in Texas, talked about the impact that Covid-19 is having on San Antonio, the recent wave of protests and the 2020 election in Texas. She said that work has been a challenge for the last three months as she and most of her colleagues have been working from home. An enthusiastic station week host for more than a dozen German journalists on RIAS programs over the years, Virgin also spoke about the protests and looting that have taken place in San Antonio.

Peter Mücke, who took part in a RIAS program to the United States in 2001, is one of two ARD radio correspondents based in New York. He has also worked for ARD from Berlin, New Delhi and Tokyo.  He spoke about the popularity of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and contrasted that with some of his earlier comments downplaying Covid-19.

Özcan Mutlu, a regular guest speaker for groups of American RIAS fellows visiting Germany, talked about racism in Germany and some of his own personal experiences being interrogated by police even after another motorist crashed into his car from behind. A member of parliament until 2017, Mutlu talked about anti-police brutality demonstrations spreading across Germany in solidarity with the protests taking place throughout the United States. Mutlu also spoke about the 2021 election in Germany.

June 4, 2020

RIAS zoom talks with alumni focus on tensions in USA, Germany’s Covid-19 response

More than 60 RIAS Berlin Commission alumni members and candidates for future programs took part in three RIAS Zoom Talk sessions this week with distinguished alumni and leading journalists in Germany and the United States.

University of Minnesota journalism student Nicholas Scheffler (pictured left) talked on June 2 about his experiences in Minneapolis and some of the background about racial tensions in the city that has seen an eruption of violence in the last week after a black man was killed while in police custody on Memorial Day.

He talked about how there were large demonstrations that began peacefully but later turned violent. Scheffler, who was a RIAS fellow from the 2019 student program to Germany, said there was a lot of anger on his campus and in the city about the sense of injustice. “It’s anger but it’s coupled with deep sadness,” he said. “It’s very humbling. You can feel the community’s pain everywhere.”

Scott Libin, a University of Minnesota journalism professor and past chairman of the RTDNA (pictured above), joined fellow alumni Stacey Samuel, an executive producer at Al Jazeera in Washington DC who previously worked for NPR and CNN, to talk to another RIAS zoom group on June 3 about some of the deeper issues behind the protests as well as take a look at the media coverage across the country and around the world about the turmoil that began in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25.

Matt Karnitschnig, POLITICO’s Chief European Correspondent, talked to another group on June 3 about how Germany has managed to come through the Covid-19 pandemic less scathed than many other countries. He said it was a combination of dumb luck of getting an early warning after the virus erupted in Italy along with a strong medical care system that was prepared for the pandemic.

Karnitschnig, who is also a member of the RIAS Berlin Commission board, also talked about the political landscape in Germany and how Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservative party has risen strongly in opinion polls in recent months as voters give her and her party credit for their leadership during the crisis. The next Germany federal election is due in the fall of 2021. Merkel is not standing for re-election. The RIAS Berlin Commission is planning to hold another one-week RIAS alumni program in Berlin during the week of the election — likely in late September 2021.

The RIAS zoom talks will continue this weekend on Saturday at 4 p.m. Berlin time (10 a.m. New York time) with a talk with New York Times video producer Ainara Tiefenthäler, who worked on this chilling video story about the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Tiefenthäler won the RIAS Media Prize in 2018 for another story on problems that asylum seekers were having in parts of Germany. “Land of Good –  Seeking Asylum in Germany, and Finding Hatred”. Here is a link to the prize-winning video. 

Please write to info@riasberlin.org for more details about Saturday’s zoom talk.

June 2, 2020

RIAS alumni from Minneapolis, POLITICO’s Karnitschnig at this week’s RIAS Zoom Talks

Two RIAS Berlin Commission alumni from Minnesota will take part in RIAS special zoom talks added to this week’s schedule to talk about the violent protests that have erupted in Minneapolis in the last week and answer questions from other RIAS alumni, candidates and board members.

These talks will include ample opportunities for Q&A. The conversations held on Zoom are generally on-the-record unless otherwise stated. The hope is that these sessions might help inspire ideas for stories, for thinking differently about some issues, for learning more about German and American issues, and above all connect you more closely to the RIAS network.

Please write to info@riasberlin.org for log-on details for the Zoom meetings. Here is more information about the three guest speakers for the three meetings this week on Tuesday and Wednesday:

Nicholas Scheffler, a University of Minnesota student studying journalism and German (pictured above left), will take part in the first RIAS zoom talk at 1700 CET (11 am. EST) on Tuesday, June 2.

Scott Libin, a senior fellow at Hubbard School of Journalism at the University of Minnesota (pictured below), will lead a Zoom talk on Wednesday, June 3 at 1800 CET (12 noon EST).

Libin was a RIAS fellow in June of 2018 in Germany, Prague and Brussels and has also served as chairman of the RTDNA while Scheffler, who graduates in 2020, was a RIAS fellow on the summer exchange program for students in 2019 and visited Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and Cologne. Scheffler wrote a column about the police tension in Minneapolis for the University of Minnesota student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily.

As previously announced,  POLITICO’s Chief European Correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig will speak on a RIAS Zoom talk on Wednesday at 1700 CET (11 a.m. EST). Karnitschnig, who is from New Mexico with Austrian roots and has lived in Germany for many years, is a member of the RIAS Berlin Commission Board. He has written a number of insightful stories on Germany’s response to Covid-19, including this story that attributed the country’s success in coming through the crisis relatively unscathed in part to “dumb luck”.

May 27, 2020

WUSA9 anchor Larry Miller talks about changes in USA with Covid-19

Larry Miller, an anchor at WUSA9 TV in Washington DC and a RIAS alumni, said that the coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of new challenges in his job and that there has been a lot of stress involved in covering the news. But he said it has also been an extremely interesting time in his career, which began in Oregon and included a stop in Alabama before he ended up in Washington DC six years ago.

“All interviews have to be done by zoom and Skype and FaceTime or telephone,” Miller told a group of 21 RIAS alumni and candidates in a videoconference. “Our job is about interviewing people. Zoom and Skype have made it convenient and have allowed us to maintain safety. But you certainly lose that human connection that makes storytelling so great. Not being able to talk to people face to face — often there’s texture and color in an interview that’s lost when you don’t get to have that human connection because you may not always understand through body language what the follow up question or comment on those things is that make people visibly uncomfortable and to then go back to that and ask ‘Why do you feel uncomfortable when I ask you that?’. You can’t comment on those things that might make people uncomfortable. I can’t ask those things because I can only see their neck and face. Those things have made it challenging in some respect, but I think we’re doing the best we can navigating that.”

Miller, who made an interesting video for future RIAS participants after his fellowship in 2019, said that viewers seem to be hungry for non-Covid-19 news at times and pointed out that ratings at his station have risen by 250%. “Ratings are through the roof. We’re seeing a substantial increase in viewership. That’s great for job security,” he said. “People want context.”

Miller, who was nominated for an Emmy award this year, said he thinks the media have been slow off the mark to report on the impact on small business from the coronavirus crisis that has sent the unemployment rate soaring and put strains on many companies, large and small.  “I think the story that a lot of people are missing now centers on the business fallout that we’ve had from this. We’re starting to see a lot of businesses, especially minority-owned businesses, not getting access to loans. One study put it that close to 95% of minority-owned businesses applying for these loans are not getting them. There is this economic small business story that we’re not paying attention to.”

Miller said it has been an extraordinary period for journalism. The political divisions in the United States have started to have an impact on the coronavirus discussions, he said.

“It’s been stressful but it’s also been interesting,” he said. “And I think we are just trying to be responsive to the viewers in the best way we possibly can and we’re trying to be respectful as well.”

May 26, 2020

German TV medical correspondent sheds light on country’s Covid-19 track record

Germany managed to come through the first phase of the coronavirus crisis in relatively good shape thanks to a combination of good luck and good preparation, German TV medical correspondent Dr. Christoph Specht said in a RIAS Zoom Talk meeting on Tuesday. A regular commentator on medical news for German networks such as NTV, RTL and ZDF, Specht explained to a group of about 30 RIAS fellows, alumni and candidates from the United States and Germany that a lot of testing and a high number of intensive care beds in Germany also played an important role.

“First of all let me say we’re just in the beginning of the pandemic, we’re not through yet,” Specht said. “If things went well up until now, it’s just the situation now and not the end. There was luck too for Germany, just pure luck. Italy was hit first in Europe so we had an advance warning of two to four weeks before it came to Germany so we saw what could happen. If Germany had been the first country hit in Europe, the situation might have been different.”

Specht added that Germany was also lucky that many of those first infected by Covid-19 were relatively young and healthy who contracted the virus while on skiing vacations in Italy and Austria. He noted that senior citizens are more vulnerable to the virus. That is why the case fatality rate in Germany was under 1.0 in the early weeks and has risen to just 4.6 now compared to levels above 12 in Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn also credited testing and intensive care beds for the relatively low numbers in Germany.

Specht, who is based in Düsseldorf, said that another contributing factor helping Germany was that there is universal health care in Germany available to everyone. He said Germany also started with far more intensive care beds per 100,000 inhabitants (35) than other countries in the United States and even raised the number to 39 beds per 100,000 — many of which were not needed.  He also said that Germans proved to be dutiful in following the guidelines from the governments and health authorities.

“I think that played a role too,” he said. “It might be a piece of the German DNA. But in the beginning people were really frightened by the scenes on the evening news from Italy and Spain, and they wanted to do everything they could to avoid the pandemic. In the beginning people really did everything they could to reduce their risks. That helped a lot.”

Asked about criticism from Italy that Germany and the rest of the European Union should have done more to help Italy, he agreed. “We could have done more,” he said.

Specht said that even though the numbers of infected and reproduction rates in Germany are low and under control in most of the country, there was an understandable fear of a second wave. “We don’t know if there will be a second wave. We don’t know if it will strike in a couple of weeks or a couple of months or in the autumn or winter. I believe it will hit us in the winter.”

Germany will likely be a case study in the future for what might work and not work in a pandemic, Specht said. He added that no one knows for sure if the extensive lockdown measures the government implemented on March 22 worked or not. “We don’t know what measures did what, what effect they had. We don’t know if the lockdown helped. I personally believe the lockdown, especially at the beginning, was the right measure to take. And it’s a good idea now to loosen the lockdown as we are in Germany.”

May 25, 2020

RIAS Zoom Talks lined-up for this and next week

RIAS Zoom Talks will resume on May 26th with a focus on how Germany has handled the coronavirus crisis compared to other countries hit harder.
German medical correspondent Christoph Specht from Cologne will be talking about Germany’s response to the coronavirus on Tuesday May 26th, and WUSA TV anchor Larry Miller will join us from Washington DC on Wednesday May 27th to discuss how the pandemic has changed his world. On Wednesday June 3rd, we will welcome Politico’s Chief European Correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig.

Christoph Specht is one of Germany’s leading medical experts on television and can be seen regularly on NTV, RTL and ZDF explaining, among other things, how the country is getting through the coronavirus crisis.
Larry Miller is a RIAS alumni and a midday anchor on WUSA9. Inspired by his RIAS Berlin Commission fellowship in 2019, he made this video to help future RIAS participants prepare for their RIAS experience.
Matthew Karnitschnig is a member of the RIAS Berlin Commission Board and has written a number of insightful stories on Germany’s response to Covid-19.

These talks will include ample opportunities for Q&A. The conversations will be held on the Zoom platform and will be on-the-record unless otherwise stated beforehand. We hope these sessions insprire reflection and possibly ideas for stories as well as offer everyone an opportunity to think differently about some issues. These are aimed at allowing participants to learn more about German and American issues and, above all, to connect you more closely to the RIAS Network.

Please contact info@riasberlin.org for log in details.

May 20, 2020

Gargiulo says New York TV viewers growing weary of gloomy news

WNBC co-anchor Michael Gargiulo said in a “RIAS Zoom Talk” on Wednesday that he sensed TV viewers in New York were growing weary of a steady drumbeat of depressing half-hour news bulletins on the latest numbers of Covid-19 fatalities and were yearning for some uplifting news or angles on the story different from those that have dominated the media for months. So Gargiulo, a RIAS alumni and co-leader of the New York alumni chapter, urged his station to try to find other ways to report the story without always emphasizing the latest death figures at the top of the news bulletins.

“I asked our producers a couple of weeks ago, I said ‘Let’s not do that every half hour. We need to give out the numbers of people dying from Covid, but let’s put them in the context of a story’. I just don’t think people want to hear every half hour how many are dead. I don’t think that tells the whole story of what we’re doing. We also started a franchise, a set of stories called ‘Grateful 4 You’ because we’re Channel 4. And we run stories every day on things like the chef who is out of work who makes lunch for first responders or the college  graduates who are buying food for people who can’t get out. These are remarkable stories of people who are doing remarkable things.”

Gargiulo, who also made a short video on his early morning routine to and at work, talked candidly about that and other issues such as changes at work and at home since the outbreak of the pandemic.  He said more people than ever are watching the TV news these days, but the problem for networks like WNBC is that they have lost a lot of advertisers — “and that’s going to cause a lot of economic pain.”

In a wide-ranging talk to about 30 RIAS alumni and candidates for future RIAS programs, Gargiulo also spoke about the changes he and his fellow New Yorkers are facing and will be facing for a long time to come.  “Everything we love about cities has changed,” Gargiulo said. “All cities are facing these changes. Cities thrived because people loved that lifestyle. Now we’re trying to figure out what’s next.”

Gargiulo also noted that the coronavirus crisis had worsened some of the political and regional divisions inside the United States. He said that New Yorkers are not always welcome in other states because of the high numbers of infected New Yorkers. He told stories of some New Yorkers who had difficulties driving in Florida with their New York license plates and others who went out of their way to get rental cars with non-New York license plates.

He also talked about the pitfalls of being a public figure in the New York area.

“Yesterday I went for a run with my wife and realized shortly after starting that I forgot my mask. My wife said don’t worry about it. But I thought ‘oh no, I got to go home and get it’,” he said, concerned that his violation of the rule could cause a stir. “I’m very careful when I’m out. We’re always liable to be captured on video doing something. So I always have to obey all the rules all the time.”

There will be two more “RIAS Zoom Talks” next week – on Tuesday May 26 with Germany’s best-known TV doctor Christoph Specht (N-TV) at 1700 Berlin time (1100 EST) and on Wednesday May 27 for a talk with WUSA9 anchor Larry Miller at 1600 Berlin time (1000 EST). Write to info@riasberlin.org for log-in details.

May 19, 2020

Beyer says more connecting Germany and US than dividing it, in RIAS Zoom Talk

The German government’s transatlantic coordinator, Peter Beyer, said in a meeting with German and US journalists that there is far more that connects the two countries than divides them, and expressed his hope that there could one day be a comprehensive free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union. Beyer, who is also a RIAS Berlin Commission board member and travels to the United States on average once per month, said he was disheartened by recent opinion polls showing that German views of China are improving while opinions on the United States are declining.

“My transatlantic heart is bleeding,” Beyer said of those surveys in a virtual Zoom talk with about 32 RIAS Berlin Commission alumni and candidates for future programs. “There is more that unites us than divides us. We have to see how we can overcome some of the problems.”

Beyer, an enthusiastic supporter of German-US relations, has had to put all that travel to the

United States on hold since March. He said he is not sure whether conditions will allow him to travel to the United States again this year. He said he hoped talks for a free trade agreement could start as soon as possible.

Beyer is a member of the German parliament in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservative party and also answered questions from the RIAS alumni about how Germany has managed to get through the coronavirus crisis so far. He said there was likely a combination of factors that helped the country, including Merkel’s leadership.

“Angela Merkel was a good crisis manager before and proved to be the case this time as well,” he said, referring to how Merkel led Germany through the 2008 financial crisis and the euro-zone currency crisis that followed in the ensuing years. “The biggest reason is that the Germans, by the vast majority, were living by the rules. They realised it was a big emergency and played by the rules for a long time. That’s probably the most important contribution.”

Beyer added: “There is no easy answer for that. We’re far from being out of it. We had a lot of intensive care units, more than we needed it turns out. We were well-equipped. We were not well- equipped with masks. We found a good proportionate way of restricting freedom rights and with lockdown restrictions. I think it was a very good format. The federal government and the 16 regional governments coordinated their moves. It was very calmly managed. The lockdown restrictions were not as harsh as in other parts of the world. We’re having modest lifting of the restrictions now. It was time we started lifting the restrictions.”

Beyer said he was unsure how the coronavirus crisis would change the transatlantic relationship, but reckoned it would have an impact: “I can’t say right now how much the pandemic is changing the transatlantic relations. It seems to me the situation will leave footprints and make changes that will be there in the transatlantic relations for some time.”

Beyer also noted the US election campaign this year is a lot different than in the past years due to the pandemic. He said that in normal times, the high unemployment level and difficult economic situation in the United States would be a problem for the incumbent. But he said that this year, with the pandemic looming, the situation is far from clear. He said it was important for Germans to keep in mind the November election would also be for Congress and not just a presidential race.

“We have a strong interest in multi-lateralism.  We sometimes criticise the U.S. administration. We love the United States. I think everyone in parliament and the federal government knows how important the American friends are for our future, for our sheer existence and for our prosperity. But sometimes these days our American friends give us a headache when we oftentimes seem to be aligned and with similar interests, such as in Iran, but we totally seem to disagree on the way to reach these aims. We have similar interests with China. We sometimes take different approaches.” 

The next RIAS Zoom talk will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at 1600 Berlin time with WNBC anchor Michael Gargiulo, who will talk about how the pandemic has changed both his life and news network in New York. German medical doctor Christoph Specht of NTV and RTL networks will speak on Tuesday May 26 about Germany’s handling of the pandemic and RIAS alumni, Larry Miller, will talk about his work during the coronavirus crisis as an anchor at WUSA9 in Washington DC.

May 18, 2020
PLEASE TAKE NOTE: The RIAS Zoom Meeting with WNBC New York Today Show co-anchor Michael Gargiulo has been moved from Thursday to Wednesday May 20 at 1600 Berlin time (1000 EST).

May 15, 2020

RIAS Zoom Talks kick off with meetings with Peter Beyer, WNBC’s Michael Gargiulo

The RIAS Berlin Commission will be starting a series of RIAS Zoom Talks on May 19 and is inviting alumni, candidates and anyone interested to join us for these regular virtual meetings with newsmakers in both Germany and the United States as well as journalists from the RIAS alumni network. These talks will include ample opportunities for Q&A. The conversations will be held on Zoom and generally on-the-record unless otherwise stated. The hope is that these sessions might help inspire ideas for stories, for thinking differently about some issues, for learning more about German and American issues, and above all connect you more closely to the RIAS network.

Please write to info@riasberlin.org for log-on details for the Zoom meetings. Here are the guest speakers for the first two meetings next week:

May 19, 4 p.m.-5.15 p.m. Berlin time (10 a.m.-11.15a.m. EST)

Peter Beyer, a senior member of the German parliament, will talk about German-American

relations, the coronavirus crisis in Germany and his thoughts on the U.S. election.  Peter is one of the most committed advocates of strong transatlantic relations with the United States in the Reichstag.  He is also the German government’s Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation. He studied law in the United States at the University of Virginia School of Law. He is also a board member of the RIAS Berlin Commission. May 19, 4 p.m.-5.15 p.m. Berlin time (10 a.m.-11.15a.m. EST)

Michael Gargiulo, a leader of the New York RIAS alumni chapter, will talk about his work as the co-anchor of “Today in New York” weekday mornings on WNBC in New York, the upcoming US election, and all the changes caused by the coronavirus crisis that has hit New York so hard. Michael grew up in New York and has worked at networks in West Virgina, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Minnesota and Washington DC. He is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and dedicated RIAS alumni who also serves on the RIAS Berlin Commission Media Prize jury.  May 21, 5 p.m.-6 p.m. Berlin time (11 a.m.-12 noon EST)

May 10, 2020

Virtual meetings with RIAS alumni groups in Germany, USA

Dozens of RIAS Berlin Commission fellows from the United States and Germany took part in a series of lively virtual reunions in recent days. Many of the alumni shared stories about the situations at their networks, cities and states during the coronavirus crisis.

They also brainstormed about ideas for further virtual meetings on Zoom for alumni in both the United States and Germany. Many expressed a desire to take part in talks with experts, newsmakers as well as journalists in each other’s countries to learn more about how each country is dealing with the pandemic that has caused such disruption around the world.

There were 18 alumni in one Zoom meeting on Saturday who talked about their November 2019 alumni program to Berlin around the time Germany celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many in that alumni group had filed stories back home to their stations on the events in Berlin.

There were 10 alumni in another Zoom meeting on Saturday who reminisced about their September 2019 program to Brussels, Cologne, Erfurt and Berlin. Several of the fellows on that program have already moved onto to new jobs and two of those participants had in the meantime become fathers. The meeting was organized by Bryan Weakland of MSNBC in New York.

There was a dozen alumni in another Zoom meeting on Friday in New York City when the NYC alumni chapter had a Virtual Biergarten happy hour in a meeting organized by NYC chapter leader Michael Garguilo.

The New York alumni had a lot of brainstorming ideas on possible guest speakers for future meetings with alumni — a wish list headed by such luminaries as former RIAS honorary chairman Phillip Murphy, who is now the governor of New Jersey.

There was also a virtual meeting on Friday of a senior editors group from November 2017 that travelled around Texas to learn more about border security and immigration — a hot issue in the state and across the country then as well as it is now. There were five participants from that small group and they even managed to clink their glasses in a virtual toast to each other at one point.

The RIAS Berlin Commission is currently working on expanding the Virtual Zoom meeting programs to include a number of guest speakers from both Germany and the United States. Peter Beyer, a member of the RIAS board and the German government’s coordinator for transatlantic issues, is planning to give one of the first such Virtual Talks to RIAS alumni and candidates on May 19. More details on that and other virtual talks will be announced soon.

May 2, 2020

RIAS alumni group meets online for reunion after Fall 2018 program

Twelve American journalists who took part in a RIAS program to Germany in 2018 reconnected for a virtual online reunion on Saturday from locations across the United States in three different time zones.

Determined not to let the coronavirus crisis get in the way, the 12 Americans from the fall of 2018 group came together for a virtual meeting on Zoom for more than two hours.

They shared stories of how they and their TV or radio stations or media outlets are dealing with the Covid-19 lockdown and how they have been in the 18 months since their two-week tour of Brussels, Cologne, Mainz and Berlin in September 2018.

The group that bonded so well during the RIAS program in Europe has stayed in contact over the last 18 months through their WhatsApp group — sharing news of career moves, important stories they were working on, their travels and some of their family developments among lots of other things.

Some of the fall 2018 alumni had taken part in RIAS alumni gatherings in Washington DC, New York and in Berlin — as well as at the annual RTDNA EIJ convention in San Antonio, Texas in 2019.

There was a longing, nevertheless, to connect again as a group.

“We should do a virtual HH (happy hour) soon,” Latese Clark in Washington DC suggested recently. The idea caught on fire and all 12 members of their group quickly agreed to take part. One member of the group, Justin Campbell, had his smartphone camera set up on the dashboard of his car as he drove around in Florida. Another member, Kane Faranbaugh, apologized for missing the first half hour of the reunion because he admitted he got the 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) start confused with his Central Standard Time (CST) home base in Illinois.

Alongside Latese Clark, members of the virtual reunion included: Jessica Prater (CNN New York), Bonnie North (public radio in Canton, New York), Gitzel Puente (KJRH TV, Tulsa, Oklahoma), Carol  McKinley (freelance ABC, CBS Littleton, Colorado), Judith Synderman (freelance Washington DC), Kenya Woodard (CTTV, Tampa, Florida), Andrew Lapin (Editor, Detroit Jewish News), Justin Campbell (WJXT TV, Jacksonville, Florida), Bryan Weakland (MSNBC, New York), Kane Faranbaugh (Voice of America, Midwest, Illinois).

The alumni talked about the different stages of lockdowns and reopenings in their parts of the country as well as the impact that the coronavirus crisis was having on their work — many have been working in home office for much of the last two months. They also shared their experiences about the economic havoc being caused by the pandemic and the shutting of businesses in their cities and states.

They all shared fond memories of their RIAS trip to Germany and alumni gatherings that some have attended since. There will hopefully be a big RIAS alumni reunion in Berlin with about 30 participants in the fall of 2021 around the time of the next scheduled German election and many said they hoped to take part in that.

April 24, 2020

RIAS Media Prize winners for Digital Video talk about their award-winning report

Here is a short interview with Han Park. Together with his colleague David Diwiak, they are the winners of the RIAS Digital Award 2020 for their report entitled “Veggie vs. Labor?”

Question: Where did you get the idea to do your story?

Park: Veggie products have become more and more popular in German grocery stores. Most people are not critical about the ingredients at all. As I am a journalist and have a passion for food, I was interested in researching meat alternatives and the announced “revolutions” on the market. My vegetarian colleague David was a perfect partner.

Question: When and exactly where did it air?

Park: It aired on STRG_F, our YouTube-channel by funk, NDR and Panorama. The publishing date was 4th June 2019.

Question: What’s the bigger story you hoped to tell?

Park: We asked ourselves how and what we will eat in a few years. Can fake meat save the world? What are the ingredients? How much money do you need to save the world?

Question: Do you like veggie hamburgers?

Park: It really depends: I dislike seitan burgers. Veggie burgers can be good, when they don’t imitate meat. But mostly I prefer butcher’s burger meat. David is vegetarian.

Question: Did you like them more before or after the story?

Park: While making the story, I really fell in love with the taste of a vegetarian burger that “bleeds” and tastes like a meat burger. Driven by biotechnology, the evolution of meat alternatives has reached a new milestone. The future can taste good.

Question: How much money did you spend on all these hamburgers?

Park: A lot. Fake meat is way more expensive than real meat. Or animal-meat is too cheap compared to meat alternatives.

Question: How much was the most expensive one?

Park: We had a chicken nugget made of cell-based meat. The company told us that the nugget cost about $100.

Question: How much time did you spend on your story – talking with the protagonists and others?

Park: We spent almost half a year from the start of research till finishing the story.

Question: Was it difficult to find the protagonists in your story or did they fall into your lap?

Park: It was really, really, really, really hard to find the protagonists. Many companies have started to fundraise money. A few companies have started to research on cell-based meat, but the technique is top secret and not yet market-ready. We contacted almost all of the companies in the world, and fewer than five have produced more than a gram of cell-based meat. Only one company has gave us the opportunity to eat it.

Question: Do you think things in the United States serve as a prototype for Germany? Or vice versa? Or are the two countries just too different in too many ways?

Park: In terms of start-up entrepreneurships, the United States are a prototype. We started our research in San Francisco, it is the center of cell-based start-ups. The latest big businesses like Uber, twitter and Google have their headquarters in that dynamic area. The fastfood scene is awesome – maybe the best I have ever experienced.

Question: Do you think Germans are open enough to learning from the experiences of the United States?

Park: I can’t say for Germans, but I hope everybody is open to learning from others. But it’s always important to ask questions.

Question: Your story is incredibly neutral and non-partisan – anyone watching that story would probably never know if you preferred US or German veggie food. How difficult was that to do? How important is that for journalism?

Park: Nobody cares about politics when it comes to food. The most important thing is the taste. But most of all, we are journalists. We always look for a non-ideologic approach. It doesn’t depend on countries.

Question: Anything else you’d like to add?

Park: We enjoyed the research. We are happy that we have tasted the future of meat. And we are keen to see if cell-based meat can save the world.

April 17, 2020

RIAS student program alumni Ailport wins Congress-Bundestag Fellowship

  RIAS alumni Michelle Ailport of Arizona State University took part in the RIAS summer exchange program in 2019. After getting her first exposure to Germany on that three-week fellowship, Ailport applied for the “Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals” fellowship in the fall and got accepted. Here is a short interview with Ailport about RIAS and the Congress-Bundestag program:

Question: Congratulations on getting the Bundestag scholarship. How did you hear about it?

Ailport: I heard about the Congress-Bundestag program from Andrew Adair back in November. It came across his email and he shared it with the summer 2019 RIAS student group. I decided to give the application a shot and I’m glad I did.

Question: How did your RIAS experience help you prepare for the application–and did it help your chances?

Ailport: My RIAS experience definitely prepared me to apply for CBYX. Aside from inspiring my need to come back to Germany, everything I learned on the summer program helped me during the interview process.

Question: What were some of the lasting things you learned during the RIAS summer exchange program?

Ailport: I’m still in awe of the media industry in Germany. I was working at Arizona PBS in the fall and I think I made my supervisor a little jealous after sharing what journalism is like in Germany (especially considering the robust budget for German public broadcasting media). Aside from the things that I learned, I’m thankful for all the connections I made and have kept since traveling to Berlin.

Question: What does the Congress-Bundestag scholarship entail? How long will you be in Berlin? What will you be doing?

Ailport: The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals is a fellowship funded by the German Bundestag and the U.S. State Department. Each year it supports an exchange for 75 Americans and 75 German young professionals ages 18 and a half to 24 years old to live, study and work in each country. Normally the program would begin in late July or early August, but given the current climate, the program will not begin until 2021. Normally it’s a year long but the official program has been shortened by Covid-19. If I can I plan on staying in Germany through the end of 2021 past the program end date permitting and take the whole year off from ASU.

Question: Do you speak German? Are you planning to learn it?

Ailport: Eine bisschen. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a German classroom so I’m excited to grow my language skills. I’m learning Polish over the summer through an intensive program at ASU so I’ll likely get to use that while in Germany as well. As an aside note, if anyone is down to help me study or practice, I would love that. I’ll start intensive German language study October through December.

Question: What are you career goals? How might the Congress-Bundestag fellowship help?

Ailport: I’m currently studying journalism and public policy. While I’m still exploring how I’ll spend my future career, I know RIAS and CBYX have been and will be the hallmarks of my experience as a young professional. In Germany, I’ll likely seek an internship in journalism/media or government.

April 6, 2020

RIAS Media Prize winners talk about their award-winning reports

As part of a series looking more closely at the 2020 RIAS Berlin Commission Media Prize winners, here is an interview with Monica Quintero of KPEJ KMID TV in Odessa/Midlands, Texas and David Wagner of KLST/KSAN in San Angelo, Texas who worked on their story “Beyond Borders – A Trip Abroad” during their two-week RIAS Berlin Commission fellowship in September 2019. Their reporting aired on those stations in Texas in November 2019.

Question: Where did you get the idea to do your stories?

Monica Quintero: Before going to Europe, we read many of the books that RIAS
recommended and found out the countries there were dealing with many of the same heated issues that we deal with here in America. So, that’s where we got the idea from for the stories and along the way, they developed into much more than we even anticipated.  We were given access to 

some top leaders and that helped us give even better insight to many of the issues.

Question: When and exactly where did they air? Were they part of a nightly series at both of your stations? Or even more widely seen?

Question: How much time did you spend on your story? Talking with the protagonists and others?

Question: How did you manage to squeeze all the work into your RIAS fellowship? Did you sleep at all?

Question: Was it difficult to find the  protagonists in your story? Or did they fall into your lap?

Question: Do you think things in Germany could serve as a prototype for the United States? Or are the two countries just too different in too many ways?

Monica Quintero: That question is one I wanted to leave up to the viewers.  

Question: Do you think Americans are open  to learning from the experiences of other countries?

Question: Your story on gun control is extraordinarily neutral – anyone watching that story would never know how you personally felt about gun control in Germany or Texas. How difficult was that and do you feel that is what journalism should be? 

Question: Anything else you’d like to add?

March 20, 2020

RIAS Media Prize event cancelled due to coronavirus

The RIAS Berlin Commission regrets to announce that its Media Prize gala event will not take place in 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis. The annual event celebrating outstanding broadcast journalism covering transatlantic issues was scheduled for May 7 in Berlin, where the five winning entries of the Media Prize competition from the United States and Germany were to be honored. A grand RIAS alumni party scheduled for May 8 in Berlin has also been indefinitely postponed.
The RIAS Berlin Commission will pay tribute to the 2020 winners at the next Media Prize ceremony in 2021. The RIAS Berlin Commission annually presents awards for excellence in reporting on German-American issues. The awards are given for radio, TV and internet productions which made special contributions to the mutual understanding between the people of Germany and of the United States of America.
There will also be fuller reports on each of the winning stories on the www.riasberlin.org website in coming weeks. In the meantime, here are the findings from the independent panel of journalists from the United States and Germany who met at the historic RIAS building in Berlin-Schoeneberg on March 7 to pick the five winners from among nearly 100 submissions.

RIAS TV Award:
Bill Whitaker: “60 Minutes – The Rock”
“The Rock” opens with a reference to a previous 60 Minutes report — recognized by RIAS — comparing the German and American incarceration systems and raising the question: Could a German-style focus on rehabilitation work in a United States prison?
In the piece, Bill Whitaker introduces us to a prisoner-turned-college hoops star, wardens who dare to show weakness around inmates and prison lifers who find redemption in counseling young inmates to seize the opportunity of a second chance. Through their voices and experiences viewers are introduced to a program in one of the toughest U.S. prisons, inspired by what officials saw in Germany and challenged to reconsider the role of imprisonment in modern society.
While the jury deliberated long and hard over whether to award a prize to a journalist recognized in 2017, “The Rock”’ stood out, not only as an example of highest quality reporting, but as a testament to the RIAS mission: promoting mutual understanding between German and American society through a free exchange of information and ideas.

RIAS Radio Award:
Wiebke Keuneke: “Jenseits des American Dream – deutsche Sozialarbeiter unterwegs in den USA“    Listen here
In Wiebke Keuneke’s impressive radio report she accompanied twelve Berlin social workers on their journey to Chicago and Detroit. She recorded the critical, often skeptical and sometimes shocked impressions that the encounter with the reality of American social work led to.
The differences between Europe and the USA are clearly worked out and classified in the journalistic protocol of these encounters, yet it is always clear how universal the underlying questions are: It is about exclusion and lack of opportunities on the fringes of society, which can lead to violence and crime – and about fighting against them.
The report is brimming with a curiosity about another world. At the same time, it is about respect for the people who are trying to change something there. It is an outstanding example of how productive it can be in transatlantic relations to develop a mutual interest in the problems of everyday life, while remaining open and willing to learn instead of turning away from one another. Curiosity about one another helps everyone. Wiebke Keuneke has succeeded in curiously accompanying and exciting this learning process through journalism.

RIAS Digital Video Award:
David Diwiak, Han Park: “Veggie vs. Labor?”
From its very first moments, the video report Fleischersatz: Veggie vs. Labor? captivated the jury with its energy and attitude. David Diwiak and Han Park of youth-oriented NDR online-channel STRG_F explore the growing market for and appeal of meat replacements, both natural and man-made. Eating their way through many mouthfuls in the process, the team manages to shed light on the science, business, and ethics of cultured meat, as well as the differing views in Germany and the US when it comes to genetically modified foods. What starts as a humorous taste test quickly evolves into a well-thought out exploration of the current meat alternative offerings, and those soon to come via technological innovations. Interviews, animation, a deep dive into the California fake meat start-up scene, and other research are all used to excellent effect, leaving the jury hungry for more from this clever duo of young journalists.

RIAS Fellow Award TV:
Monica Quintero, David Wagner: “Beyond Borders – A Trip Abroad”
A thoughtful and intelligent TV documentary that successfully expands viewers’ knowledge of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. David Wagner and Monica Quintero bring the story into the present day by offering their West Texas audience a comparative look between the infamous symbol of the Cold War and today’s Mexico-United States barrier or Border Wall. The documentary deftly delves into the historical circumstances behind the two barriers while providing compelling snapshots of current day issues, including immigration and gun control in each country. Viewers are enticed to decide for themselves whether or not history is repeating itself. Wagner and Quintero utilize a powerful mix of interview subjects and eyewitness testimony. The audience is given further pause at the description of the mixed emotions with which the then West- and East Germans greeted the fall of the Wall: from unbridled joy to confusion to sadness. “Beyond Borders: A Trip Abroad” surpasses the expectations of its title by bringing home to West Texas a pivotal epoch in German history within the context of today’s headlines.

RIAS Fellow Award Radio:
Christopher Conover: “The Buzz: German Perspectives on Immigration”      Listen here
At a time of growing anxiety on both sides of the Atlantic over the short- and long-term implications of mass migration, RIAS fellow Christopher Conover of Southern Arizona public radio explored Germany’s recent experience with the refugee influx of 2015 and what lessons America can take from it. In a series of in-depth interviews with people on the front lines – the architect of Europe’s “refugee deal” with Turkey, a Syrian who nearly died trying to cross the Mediterranean on his way to Germany, and a German journalist who covered the crisis – Conover’s dispatch offers a window into the complexities, challenges and contradictions of Europe’s approach to migration. By letting those closest to the German crisis offer a nuanced picture of their views and experiences, the work exemplifies the RIAS Commission’s founding principle to promote German-American understanding.

March 11, 2020

RIAS Berlin Commission Media Prize Award Winners Chosen

The RIAS Berlin Commission’s 2020 Media Prize award winners were selected by an eight-member panel of international journalists for radio and television stories that recognize the best contributions of transatlantic broadcast journalism. The winners and their stories that touch on transatlantic issues will be honored at a gala ceremony in Berlin on May 7. Three of the winning entries were from the United States and two from Germany.
The independent jury reviewed the scores of entries at the RIAS building in Berlin and spent hours discussing and debating the submissions.
The jury members included: Helge Fuhst (ARD Tagesschau Deputy Editor-in-Chief), Matthew Karnitschnig (POLITICO Chief Europe Correspondent), Christian Wilp (N-TV Chief Correspondent), Dr. Richard Meng (Former Correspondent Frankfurter Rundschau), Susan Woosley (KCRW Berlin), Melissa Eddy (New York Times Correspondent), Susan Stone (freelance journalist, podcast producer/formerly NPR), Michael Gargiulo (WNBC News Anchor).
There will also be a RIAS alumni celebration in Berlin on May 8.
Here is a list of the winners selected by the jury:

RIAS TV Award:
Bill Whitaker: “60 Minutes – The Rock”

RIAS Radio Award:
Wiebke Keuneke “Jenseits des American Dream – deutsche Sozialarbeiter unterwegs in den USA“
Listen here

RIAS Bewegtbild Digital Award:
David Diwiak, Han Park: “Veggie vs. Labor?”

RIAS Fellow Award (Radio):
Christopher Conover: “The Buzz: German Perspectives on Immigration”
Listen here

RIAS Fellow Award (TV):
Monica Quintero, David Wagner: “Beyond Borders – A Trip Abroad”

March 10, 2020

March RIAS Berlin Commission programs to the USA postponed

RIAS Berlin Commission deeply regrets to announce that its programs scheduled for March (standard journalist program and ERP student program) will be postponed until either the fall of 2020 or later due to the current disruptions associated with the corona virus pandemic.
All participants of the standard journalist program will be offered a spot in subsequent programs, which will hopefully be rescheduled as soon there is more clarity regarding the situation. An important consideration behind the decision was the concern that transport disruptions caused by the pandemic could lead to substantial problems for participants to return to Germany in late March and mid-April, respectively. The possibility that some participants could be stranded for prolonged periods due to transportation shutdowns could not be ruled out. In addition to the above-mentioned issues, many US newsrooms and universities that RIAS participants had been scheduled to visit have been cancelling appointments and restricting visitor regulations as part of their precautionary measures.

February 12, 2020

Peter Beyer, German government’s transatlantic coordinator, talks to RIAS alumni group

RIAS Berlin Commission board member Peter Beyer gave a riveting two-hour talk to a group of 28 RIAS Berlin alumni members. Beyer, a member of parliament for the conservative Christian Democrats, is also the German government’s transatlantic coordinator. He talked candidly about many of the challenges facing German-American relations at the moment. He stressed nevertheless that “there is more that unites us than divides us.”

Beyer said he travels to the United States about once each month and made no secret of his positive view of the country and its people. He said he sometimes wished that German journalists would report more of other parts of the country away from Washington D.C. After giving his talk, Beyer took time to do several interviews with some of the RIAS alumni who brought their microphones to the event.

It was one of the biggest alumni chapter meetings ever in Berlin and kicks off a big year of alumni events. Another big alumni event will take place in Washington DC on March 13 and another one on March 20 in New York City when a group of 12 journalists from Germany on a RIAS program to the United States meets with the local chapters.

There will also be a large RIAS alumni event on May 7 in Berlin at the annual RIAS media prize awards ceremony and a special alumni gathering the following evening in Berlin on May 8.

January 14, 2020

RIAS picks 12 journalists, 15 students for March-April exchange programs in USA

The RIAS Berlin Commission has selected 12 journalists from Germany to take part in its three-week March program to the United States. Funding for two of the 12 journalists came from RIAS alumni in Germany, who donated a total of 11,000 euros in 2019. The journalists will together spend four days in Washington DC, six days in New York and six days on their at a “station week” visits with RIAS alumni from the United States across the country — from San Angelo, Texas to Chicago, Illinois and from Seattle, Washington to Bloomington, Indiana. The station weeks are concentrated in heartland states (4 in Texas, 1 in Arizona, 1 in Indiana, 1 in Nevada, 1 in Illinois) and three on the coasts in Seattle, Oregon, and New York City.

Five of the journalists on the March 10-27 program are from commercial networks or companies while seven come from public broadcasting stations. Three of the journalists come from formerly communist eastern Germany, where the legendary RIAS radio station was a popular source of news, information and rock music for millions of East Germans as the “voice of the free world” during the Cold War.

• Lena Mosel, WeltTV –
• Peter Neuhaus, WDR/DLF
• Katharina Hambacher, DLF
• Jan Fritsche, ZDF –
• Najima El Moussaoui – WDR, NTV
• Julia Gruenwald –  MDR
• Martje Freese – NDR Tageschau/Phoenix
• Etienne Bell – NTV
• Michelle Martin, Reuters TV
• Romy Hiller, NDR
• Manuela Kasper-Claridge, Deutsche Welle
• Sven Christian – Spiegel TV

—

The RIAS Berlin Commission has also selected 15 students of journalism and related fields for the first-ever student program in the United States — thanks in large part to an ERP grant. The 15 students will spend three days in Washington DC, three in New York City and then two weeks at universities across the country — from Montana to Texas A&M, from Hawaii to Wisconsin and from Minnesota to Oklahoma.

It is the reciprocal program to the summer exchange program for US students in Germany that was launched in 2018. The university hosts are for the most part RIAS alumni who will be showing the Germans how campus radio and TV stations work as well as campus newspapers and journalism classes.

Five of the 15 students come from formerly communist eastern Germany and 12 of the 15 are from universities in eastern Germany.  The German students, many of whom have never been to the United States before, will be mostly spending their two-week campus visit at universities in heartland states.  The 15 students come from 11 different universities or journalism schools: University of Leipzig (3), University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal (2), Springer Akadamie (2), Halle-Wittenberg (1), University of Applied Sciences Mittweida (1), Cologne (1), Wilhelmshaven (1), Free University (1), Humboldt University (1), RTL Journalism School (1) and Deutsche Journalism School (1).

home university/j-school     University to visit in USA

• Jana Glose – University Wilhelmshaven – University of Oklahoma, Norman
• Daniel Heyd – RTL Journalistenschule – University of Oklahoma, Norman
• Florian Sädler – Springer Akadamie – University of Oklahoma, Norman
• Lara Jäkel – Free University Berlin – Texas A&M, College Station, Texas
• Sarah-Maria Köpf – Halle-Wittenberg – Texas A&M, College Station, Texas
• Simon Lanzerath – University Cologne – University of Montana, Missoula, Montana
• Adrian Liehr, University Leipzig – Humboldt State University, Arcata, California
• Jessica Schäfer, Magdeburg-Stendal – University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Anna Seikel, University Leipzig – Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
• Rieke Smit, Magdeburg-Stendal – New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico
• Friedrich Steffes-Iay, Springer Akadamie – Arizona State, Phoenix, Arizona
• Tom Wagner, Humboldt University – University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Marita Wehlus, Deutsche Journalistenschule – University of Indiana, Bloomington
• Amy Woyth, Mittweida – University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
• Emma-Matthea Lübbert, University Leipzig – University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin

January 6, 2020

Win a trip to Berlin for the May 7, 2020 RIAS Media Prize Awards! 

U.S. and Germany-based journalists are invited to enter their best stories that touch on transatlantic or global themes for the annual RIAS Media Prize Awards. The best TV, radio and digital stories aired or published in the year 2019 are eligible for the prestigious competition and winners in each category  will be invited to attend the gala prize ceremonies on May 7 in Berlin at the headquarters building of the legendary Cold War-era radio station known as the free voice of the free world.

The deadline for submitting entries on January 15, 2020.