2015

News & Events

November 2015
Number of RIAS Fellows jumped over the fourteenhundred mark!

In November 2015 the total number of former RIAS program participants reached 1441, forming a sizable network of German and U.S. journalists, who, after their initial participation in the Germany or U.S. programs, remain actively involved in the programs of the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION on both sides of the Atlantic. A big „THANK YOU“ to all RIAS Fellows for their continuous support and friendship!


October 14–30, 2015
Ten German journalists participated in the U.S. Fall Program with the first week in Washington D.C. and the third week in New York City. In their second program week they visited U.S. radio and TV stations.
Read more…


September 28 – October 10, 2015
Nine U.S. journalists participated in the Germany Fall Program. They spent the first week in Berlin for talks on current political, economic and media issues. In the second week they traveled to Dresden, to Prague and finally to Brussels for talks with the European Commission and NATO.
Read more…


September 18–20, 2015
Jon Ebinger represented the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION at the EIJ Convention in Orlando, FL and introduced the RIAS programs to the attending journalists.

The „Excellence in Journalism“-convention is annually organized by the Radio and Televison Digital News Organisation/Foundation together with the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and is attended by thousands of journalists for training and networking purposes. We congratulate Jon Ebinger, who was awarded the distinguished „Col. Barney Oldfield Award“ for exceptional service to the RTDNF as Coordinator of the U.S. programs of the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION.


August 20, 2015
The RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION mourns the passing of Egon Bahr, former editor-in-chief of RIAS Berlin. Egon Bahr, a key negotiator in reducing the Cold War tensions of the last century, has died at the age of 93. Bahr was a principal aide to Willy Brandt, the West German SPD chancellor from 1969 to 1974, and negotiated detente deals with Moscow and the communist authorities in East Germany.
NY Times
Spiegel-TV-Video


June 15–27, 2015
Eleven U.S. journalists participated in the Germany summer program. They spent the first week in Berlin for talks on current political, economic and media issues. In the second week they traveled to Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, to Cologne with visits to Germany’s biggest public and private stations WDR and RTL, and finally to Brussels for talks with the European Commission and with NATO.
Read more…


June 12, 2015
RIAS Transatlantic Media Awards 2015
The 1st Radio Award went to Nora Sobich for her rbb Feature “Der Mythos des Salesman”. The 1st Digital Media Award went to Erik Olsen (NYT.com) for his online reports “Germany’s Off-shore Wind Push” and “Germany’s Coal Addiction” (with Melissa Eddy). Dag Freyer won the 1st TV Award for his ARTE documentary “Breath of Freedom”, ARTE. Two 2nd TV prizes went to NDR Panorama’s “ Angst vor Fracking” by Thomas Berbner and Johannes Jolmes and to Christof Boy, Herbert Elias and Michael Grytz for “WDR’s markt — TTIP”.
Read more…


April 27 – May 2, 2015
RIAS U.S. Energy Program in Texas
How low oil prices affect the U.S. oil and fracking boom, the national and international economy and global politics. Six participants talked to experts in and around Houston, TX, and at Texas A&M University, the fourth-largest U.S. university with its renown College of Geoscience, its EU center and its prestigious George Bush School of Goverment and Public Service.
Read more…


March 23 – April 10, 2015
Eleven German journalists participated in the U.S. Spring Program with the first week in Washington DC and the third week in New York City. Individual internships in their second week gave them a chance for practical experience at U.S. radio and TV stations.
Read more…


March 8 – April 4, 2015
Two German journalists participated in the Visiting Media Fellowship Program of the Duke University, Durham, NC with field trips to New York City and Washington D.C.

Read more…