“Ask not, what RIAS can do for you – ask what you can do for RIAS” <\/strong><\/p>\n Dear Friends and Fellows of the RIAS Berlin Commission: To borrow the words of John F. Kennedy at his inauguration, \u201cAsk not what your country can do for you \u2013 ask what you can do for your country,\u201d I would like to appeal to all of you in the RIAS alumni network to \u201cask not what RIAS can do for you \u2013 ask what you can do for RIAS.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In our 25th<\/sup> year, the RIAS Berlin Commission has done everything possible to keep the exchange programs between Germany and the United States up and running while trimming administration costs and keeping an unchanged budget in balance. It has not been easy but thanks in part to those of you who made generous donations to RIAS in 2016 we are in solid fiscal shape. As many of you know, perennial low interest rates have taken a heavy toll on our foundation\u2019s investment income in recent years but we are still doing everything we can to put together the best-possible exchange programs in Germany and the United States with limited means.<\/p>\n If you had a good and possibly life-changing experience on an RIAS exchange program, we hope that you might be able to give something back to RIAS and make even a modest tax deductible donation to RIAS Berlin Commission. Last year we received a total of more than 1,000 euros off the bat in year one in tax deductible donations in Germany and $1,000 in the United States from alumni making contributions ranging from $50 or $100 to 300 euros. In this second year of fundraising to expand the exchange programs, my personal hope is that there will be donations from alumni totaling at least 10,000 euros \u2013 that amount alone wo As many of you know, we have also been trying to encourage the creation of Alumni Chapters in both Germany and the United States. The Cologne chapter was created in early November an Here is the RIAS Berlin Commission account for tax-deductible donations in Germany: Or you can donate via paypal on www.darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com<\/a><\/p>\n Here is the link for tax-deductible donations in the United States: https:\/\/www.rtdna.org\/content\/rias_german_american_exchange_program<\/a><\/p>\n Thanks for your support and please stay actively involved with the RIAS Berlin Commission.<\/p>\n Sincerely November 10, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Cologne alumni chapter created to network and keep RIAS spirit alive<\/strong><\/p>\n As RIAS executive director Erik Kirschbaum told the first alumni chapter, RIAS is eager to promote the exchange of alumni across the Atlantic in the hopes of helping to produce stories in both countries. Some financial support for transatlantic travel is available for alumni working on projects for their broadcasters.<\/p>\n Lueg said that all RIAS alumni in the Cologne area and northwestern Germany are welcome to join the chapter and that they are hoping to connect with RIAS fellows and chapters in the United States.<\/p>\n Vivienne Radermacher , Michael Stang, Torsten Beermann, Stefan R\u00f6mermann, Carsten Schr\u00f6der, Monika Dittrich, Yvonne M\u00fcther, Arnd Riekmann, Anna Schubert, Andrea T\u00f6nni\u00dfen, Marika Dresselhaus, and Andrea Lueg<\/p>\n November 9, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Former RIAS honorary Chairman Murphy elected New Jersey governor<\/strong><\/p>\n Congratulations to former RIAS Berlin Commission honorary co-chairman Philip D. Murphy, who on Tuesday was elected governor of New Jersey. Murphy was an enthusiastic supporter of RIAS Berlin Commission during his term as US ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “By promoting excellence in journalism, RIAS is not only keeping memories of its glorious past behind, which it is, it is building new models of cooperation for the future,” Murphy said in a speech at the RIAS media prize ceremony in 2012.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n October 28, 2017<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n German fellows complete 3 week tour of United States<\/strong><\/p>\n The 12 German reporters from networks across the country also spent one week each on their own working at local network stations across the United States with US RIAS alumni \u2014 looking over their shoulder, learning more about the US media landscape across the prairie and beyond.<\/p>\n Ralph Szepanski of ZDF TV made the most of his station week visiting Tom Hawley of KSNV News 3 in Las Vegas and put together this 2-minute story for ZDF <\/a>back home in Germany.<\/p>\n Anja Goerz of Radio Bremen also kept busy during her station week in Seattle, hosted by Amina Al-Sadi of KUOW radio. She filed several radio reports back home as well as several highly readable blogs.<\/a> She stayed in New York after the program and wrote about a terror attack in Manhattan<\/a> as well. Vanessa L\u00fcnenschlo\u00df of BR had the chance to do reporting <\/a>for her network back home in Bavaria from South Carolina on German corporate activities there.<\/p>\n Laura Koppenhoefer of SWR radio did a report<\/a> from Florida for her station back home in Germany on the politcal aftereffects of the hurricane season in Florida. Benedikt Wenck of Radio DPA tracked down a senior official of Audible Germany for an interview in New Jersey that lead to this widely used story.<\/a><\/p>\n Fall 2017 participants:<\/strong><\/p>\n October 20, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Senior Editors spend week in Texas studying immigration, border security<\/strong><\/p>\n Six German journalists got a chance to take a closer look at US-Mexico border and all the ramifications of border security on a RIAS Berlin Commission week-long program in the Southwestern United States.After enlightening talks at the start of the week with academic experts addressing all aspects of immigration and border s “It felt a bit like in a scene from the film ‘Apocalypse Now’. Only that this is a real life scenario,” said ARD Tagesthemen anchorman Ingo Zamperoni, who is on his second RIAS fellowship in the last 13 years. “Seeing this rugged border along this insanely windy Rio Grande river up front gives<\/p>\n you an idea of how impossible President Trump’s request for a impenetrable wall actually is. It’s just too vast even though you can understand the need for a more secure and better protected border.”<\/p>\n Also on the research-study trip are Anja Heyde from ZDF and MDR TV networks, Annette Betz from Bayerische Rundfunk (BR) TV, Petra Gute from RBB TV, Vladimir Balzer from Deutschlandradio and Alies Lindenboom from ARD TV.<\/p>\n “If you’re standing there at the Mexican border, you suddenly realize that America and Europe have lots in common these days,” said Betz, an anchor for Bavarian TV. “We’re searching for answers ourselves how to strike the right balance between humanity and security with border protection. It’s all about people and how we want to live.”<\/p>\n The German journalists also visited the border and senior U.S. Federal Reserve officials in El Paso, New Mexico’s Santa Teresa Port of Entry, and Veronica Escobar, a top candidate for Congress, for<\/p>\n an riveting talk as well academic experts to learn more about the issues that have become such political hot button issues in the United States and Latin America. The RIAS journalists also meet with former RIAS fellows in Las Cruces, New Mexico and in Houston.<\/p>\n “If you’re standing there in McAllen at the Mexican border, then you suddenly realize that the United States and Europe have lots in common right now,” said Heyde. “We’ve also been searching for answers about how to the right balance between humanity and security.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The program was organised with the help of RIAS Berlin Commissions board member Hildegard Boucsion and the organization’s long-time cooperation partner, the European Union Center at Texas A&M University, and associate director of the EUC at Texas A&M, Ann Klaus<\/p>\n September 18, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n RIAS Fall 2017 US Fellows Hit Ground Running in Brussels <\/strong> DW bureau chief Max Hofmann<\/strong>, who was a RIAS fellow in the United States in 2008, treated the group to a riveting discussion about the growing importance of the EU capital city and how its view of the United States has changed and evolved over the last year. The US fellows will also spend time in Berlin and Hamburg over the next fortnight after a stop at NATO headquarters on Tuesday. Visits to leading German broadcasting outlets, think tanks, political scientists, party headquarters on election night, a Bundesliga soccer match, an American craft beer brewery in Berlin, ethnic communities, the Elbphilharmic in Hamburg, as well as memorials and historical sites are all on the busy schedule.<\/p>\n Here is a list of the fall 2017 participants:<\/strong><\/p>\n September 7, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n RIAS alumni share memories, look to future at meeting at RTDNA<\/strong><\/p>\n More than 50 alumni and friends of the RIAS Berlin Commission came to the annual U.S. alumni meeting at the RTDNA Excellence in Journalism (EIJ17) convention in Anaheim<\/strong> on Thursday, September 7. Coming from far and wide across the United States, the RIAS alumni from program years as far back as 1995 shared happy memories of their life-changing experiences in Germany and talked enthusiastically about how to help the exchange program grow and prosper in the future.<\/p>\n Many spoke glowingly of the unforgettable times they also had hosting German RIAS fellows over the years as well as other American journalists they had recommended to take part in the exchange programs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lee Anderson<\/strong>, the News Director at KTVZ\/ And Frank Mottek<\/strong>, the Senior Money Anchor on CBS all-news station KNX 1070, recalled his exchange to Germany and the German fellows his station has hosted over the years for their station weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n RIAS Berlin Commission executive director Erik Kirschbaum<\/strong> paid tribute to RTDNA executive director Mike Cavender<\/strong>, who is retiring <\/a>at the end of the EIJ after leading the organization for the last six years. The RTDNA has been the RIAS Berlin Commission’s partner in the United States and Cavender has worked tirelessly to raise the awareness of the RIAS exchange programs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here are some more pictures from the alumni meeting:<\/p>\n in Fellows > In the USA > 2017 (pics Slider)<\/span><\/p>\n September 4, 2017<\/strong><\/span> The RIAS Berlin Commission is accepting applications for its journalism exchange programs in the United States and Germany in 2018. Experienced radio, TV and digital journalists working in Germany and the United States are encouraged to apply for the two- to three-week fellowships.<\/p>\n The dates for the three-week exchange program for Germany-based journalists to Washington DC, New York and stations across the United States have been set. The first program runs March 5-23<\/strong> while the second program in 2018 starts is October 8-26.<\/strong> The deadline for the spring 2018 program is October 31, 2017<\/strong> and the deadline for the fall 2018 program is January 31, 2018<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The dates for the two- to three-week exchange program in Berlin and Brussels for U.S.-based journalists are June 11-22 and September 17-28.<\/strong> The deadline for the spring 2018 program is February 1, 2018<\/strong> and the deadline for the fall program is May 1, 2018<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The exchange programs are packed with visits and talks at leading think tanks, with journalists, radio and TV stations and some cultural highlights. It is a great opportunity for German-based journalists to learn more about the United States and for U.S.-based journalists <\/a>to learn more about Germany and Europe.<\/p>\n The RIAS Berlin Commission is a binational organization to promote German-American understanding in the field of broadcasting that was created in 1992. It has been sponsoring the journalism exchange programs between the two countries since 1993.<\/p>\n For further information contact us at RIAS <\/a>Berlin Commission, Funkhaus am Hans-Rosenthal-Platz, D-10825 Berlin, +49 30 8503 6970, info@darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com<\/a>. Here is an application <\/a>or U.S.-based journalists.<\/p>\n August 1, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n RIAS Alumni Meeting set for Sept. 7 at EIJ in Anaheim, California<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the RIAS Berlin Commission and its successful long-running partnership with RTDNA\/F, alumni from the last quarter century are all cordially invited to attend the annual alumni meeting of the RTDNA\/RIAS Berlin Commission at RTDNA\u2019s Excellence in Journalism (EIJ) convention at the Anaheim Marriot in Anaheim, California on Thursday, September 7 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.<\/p>\n All members of the Radio and Television Digital News Association\/Foundation and alumni of the German-American exchange program attending the EIJ convention are welcome to attend the alumni meeting free of charge while non-members of RTDNA\/F are also able to attend the RIAS reception without signing up for the full conference. For non-members interested in signing up for the EIJ conference itself, they can register here: https:\/\/www.spj.org\/c-register.asp<\/a><\/p>\n There have been a lot of interesting changes in the RIAS Berlin Commission over the last year and Berlin-based executive director Erik Kirschbaum, the first American to hold that position, will elaborate on those changes and answer your questions at the alumni meeting along with the new U.S. coordinator in Washington D.C. Annette Raveneau \u2013 who is also an alum. The RIAS Berlin Commission is hoping to expand and deepen the alumni network now that more than 1,500 journalists have taken part in the German-American exchange programs over the last quarter century. With more than 750 American alumni and 750 German alumni, the RIAS Berlin Commission has an enormous reservoir of journalists on both sides of the Atlantic eager to build up and further develop the exchange network with new programs especially designed for alumni.<\/p>\n Please take a look at the new RIAS Berlin Commission website (darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com<\/a>) and register yourself in the RIAS Community private area to help broaden and expand the network.<\/p>\n Please RSVP whether you will be able to attend the alumni meeting on September 7 info@darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com<\/a> as soon as possible so we can plan on stocking enough food and beverages.<\/p>\n RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION 2017 spring program concludes with stop at NATO headquarters<\/strong><\/p>\n Twelve American broadcast journalists from eight states and a dozen networks across the United States completed a whirlwind trip of Germany and Brussels with a four-hour visit to the NATO headquarters in Brussels following a day of talks at the European Union headquarters just before a summit meeting in the capital city of the EU. The American journalists also had an interesting visit to the Brussels offices of Deutsche Welle TV, where former RIAS fellow and DW Brussels bureau chief Max Hofmann<\/strong> explained how his DW team in Brussels not only covers the EU and NATO from Brussels but also serves as the \u201crapid response\u201d force for Deutsche Welle across Europe to cover breaking news across the continent.<\/p>\n [expander_maker more=”Read more” less=”Close”]Before reaching Brussels, the US journalists had a great breakfast meeting with German TV journalists Helge Fuhst<\/strong> of Phoenix TV and Thorsten Beermann<\/strong> of WDR TV in Cologne. They also visited the national headquarters of Germany\u2019s largest commercial network RTL and the all-news station N-TV for an enlightening afternoon on the other side of the Rhine River before sampling Cologne\u2019s famous beer at the Rheinterasse beer garden overlooking the famous river. Other favorite stops on the 12-day journey included the eastern German cities of Erfurt and Eisenach, where the fellows had the chance to learn more about Martin Luther and the Reformation 500 years ago as well as meet refugees from Syria and Iraq, and talk to the head of the Thuringia Office for the Protection of the Constitution Stephen Kramer<\/strong>. During the first week of the program in Berlin, the American fellows had more than a dozen meetings with political, cultural and media leaders ranging from Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s spokesman Steffen Seibert<\/strong> to Deutsche Welle director general Peter Limbourg<\/strong>. Several fellows also visited nearby Potsdam.<\/p>\n One of the many highlights on this spring\u2019s program was the frequent meetings with RIAS fellows from Germany, who had many chances to meet and spend time with the American fellows. With more than 1,500 fellows on both sides of the Atlantic over the last 25 years, the RIAS Berlin Commission alumni grows larger each year and the networking will hopefully grow more extensive in the months and years to come.[\/expander_maker]<\/p>\n June 18, 2017<\/span> <\/p>\n U.S. President George H.W. Bush<\/strong>, who founded the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION together with Helmut Kohl<\/strong><\/p>\n Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush<\/strong>, who founded the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION together with Helmut Kohl<\/strong> 25 years ago, paid a heartfelt tribute to the former German Chancellor and his close friend who died at the age of 87 on Friday. The two leaders, who worked together to end the Cold War and pave the way for German unification in 1990, were also jointly behind the creation of the German-American exchange program for broadcast journalists in 1992 that has carried on the spirit of the famous Cold War-era Radio In American Sector (RIAS) broadcasting network that had served listeners in Berlin and beamed news and music across the border into East Germany until 1992.<\/p>\n [expander_maker more=”Read more” less=”Close”]\u201cBarbara and I mourn the loss of a true friend of freedom, and the man I consider to be one of the greatest leaders in post-war Europe,\u201d Bush and his wife Barbara wrote in a tribute to Kohl, who was the chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990 and then the leader of reunited Germany until 1998. Bush praised Kohl, who is often called the architect of German unification, for strengthening institutions of democracy in Germany and beyond. \u201cThroughout our endeavors, Helmut was a rock \u2014 both steady and strong. We mourn his loss today even as we know his remarkable life will inspire future generations of leaders to achieve greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 1,500 American and German broadcast journalists have had the chance to spend time learning about each other\u2019s respective country on the transatlantic exchange programs operated by the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION over the last 25 years thanks to the endowment set up by the German and U.S. governments in 1992. At the annual RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION media awards ceremony just five days before Kohl\u2019s death, executive director Erik Kirschbaum<\/strong> and RIAS Fellows such as Ingo Zamperoni<\/strong> and Petra Gute<\/strong> paid tribute the \u201cforesight and wisdom\u201d of political leaders such as Kohl and Bush for creating the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION.<\/p>\n Kohl and Bush had both sent letters of congratulations<\/a> to the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION five years ago on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to express my thanks to all those who have helped to make the BERLIN RIAS COMMISSION the successful project that it has become,\u201d Kohl wrote in May 2012 and noted that more than 1,000 journalists from both countries had participated to that point in exchanges. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a special responsibility as multipliers in your daily work in helping to actively promote a better understanding of each other\u2019s country. That was the hope that George Bush and I had when we founded the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION 20 years ago. Our hopes are as important today as 20 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Bush wrote of RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION in 2012: \u201cWe share your pride in the fact that more than one thousand American and German journalists from hundreds of radio and television stations have already participated in this program, and we wish you continued success in the years ahead. Keep up the good work.\u201d[\/expander_maker]<\/p>\n June 13, 2017 <\/span> The RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION celebrated its 25th anniversary on Monday, June 12 in Berlin with a gala fest at the historic RIAS Funkhaus broadcasting building<\/strong> together with more than 200 RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION fellows from the last quarter century and prize winners from seven categories of this year’s distinguished Media Prize awards.<\/p>\n ARD Tagesthemen anchor Ingo Zamperoni<\/strong> shared his life-changing experiences as a RIAS Fellow in the United States back in 2004 in a keynote speech, as did MC Petra Gute<\/strong> of RBB TV, who was a fellow in the United States in 2000. Kent Logsdon<\/strong>, acting American ambassador to Germany and honorary chairman of the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION exchange program, and Dr. Willi Steul<\/strong>, the director general of Deutschlandfunk radio where the program is based, spoke about the intrinsic value and lasting importance of transatlantic exchanges like the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION.<\/p>\n [expander_maker more=”Read more” less=”Close”]A report by CBS’s \u201c60 Minutes\u201d on the state of prisons in Germany compared to the United States was awarded with the best TV film prize \u2014 the first U.S. TV film prize winner in more than five years. Even though \u201c60 Minutes\u201d has won scores of prizes in the United States for outstanding broadcast journalism, CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker<\/strong> and producer Marc E. Lieberman<\/strong> told MC Gute and the audience how honored they felt to win the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION media prize after a short three-minute excerpt from their stirring film “Crime and Punishment” was screened. \u2014 \u201cIt was eye-opening to see the magnitude of difference between prison life in Germany and in the United States,\u201d said Lieberman. \u201cWe hope our story helped inform the debate about crime and punishment in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Jan B\u00f6hmermann<\/strong> and Ralf Kabelka<\/strong> of ZDF\u2019s Neo Magazin Royale also expressed their delight at the ceremony to be honored with the Special Jury Prize award for their entertaining, satirical and yet prescient look at the mood in the United States just before the election. \u201cI think he’s going to win,\u201d B\u00f6hmermann speaks into the camera, referring to Republican candidate Donald Trump, in the film that was aired just five days before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8, 2016. \u201cI think he’s going to pull it off,\u201d B\u00f6hmermann adds. Kabelka told the audience how he had started his career in journalism working for RIAS in the very same building nearly 30 years earlier.<\/p>\n In the radio category, Rebekka Endler<\/strong> of DRadio Wissen\u2019s report \u201cWhite Cop, Black Kids\u201d won this year\u2018s prize for her gripping examination of racism in a small Bible Belt town in Arkansas. The Digital Media Prize was won by a Deutsche Welle team led by Ines Pohl<\/strong> that took a comprehensive, multimedia, multilingual look at what was on the hearts and minds of Americans before the election in a report called \u201c#whatAmerica do you want? The Disunited United States.\u201d<\/p>\n ARD correspondent Sandra Ratzow<\/strong> was awarded the TV Award in the Short Film category for her moving report called \u201cGetrennte Familien \u2014 Wiedersehen am Hochsicherheitszaun\u201d about how separated Mexican families meet on opposite sides of a high-security fence on the U.S.-Mexico border in California.<\/p>\n There were also two awards handed out to RIAS Fellows honoring their work for their media after their RIAS fellowships. Martina Buttler<\/strong> (a RIAS fellow in the United States in 2003) was honored for her two outstanding radio stories from the United States about Donald Trump and undocumented aliens living in fear of deportation while Paige Sutherland<\/strong> of New Hampshire public radio (who came to Germany with RIAS in 2016) drew from her three-week RIAS fellowship in Germany to take a deep dive into how policy makers and social workers in Berlin have tackled a problem that also plagues her home state of New Hampshire: drug addiction.[\/expander_maker]<\/p>\n The Award Winners and Pictures… <\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_9299.jpg\")
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uld be enough to add two more spots on the exchange programs in 2018. Because I\u2019ve seen how important the RIAS program can be and what a positive impact it can have on young broadcast journalists, I am planning to donate 1,000 euros this year myself towards that goal of 10,000 euros so hopefully there will be at least 9,000 euros more donated by the end of the 2017 and hope as many of you as possible will join me.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_9237.jpg\")
In 2017 we were able to reduce admin costs and used those savings right away to add an extra day to the Washington DC program, starting on Monday instead of Tuesday. Thanks to further savings and donations, we were able to raise the number of participants on many of the trips this past year from just 10 or so in 2016 to 12 to 14 in 2017. A total of 30 Germans spent one to three weeks on fellowships in the United States in 2017 while 26 Americans spent two to three weeks in Germany. With enough donations from you, we will aim to take at least 14 on most of the exchange trips in 2018. A new added feature this year was the introduction of an optional \u201cstation week\u201d in Germany for some of the American fellows.<\/p>\n
\nd a Berlin chapter is going to be created on January 11. The goal of these alumni chapters is to tap into the enormous potential of our great alumni network of more than 1,500 alumni from the last 25 years and ide![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_8836.jpg\")
ally foster private and individual exchanges between both German and American fellows. Please do register yourself on our revamped www.darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com<\/a> website in the community section https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/community\/<\/a> The cost-cutting measures
\nare helping considerably. But we also need to diversify our funding base to cushion RIAS from the impact of such low interest income. We would greatly appreciate your tax-deductible charitable donation. It will help RIAS Berlin Commission continue to reinforce transatlantic understanding.<\/p>\n
\nRIAS Berlin Commission,
\nIBAN: DE72 1005 0000 1160 0155 50,
\nKennwort: \u201cSpende\u201d<\/p>\n
\nErik Kirschbaum
\nExecutive Director<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Unknown.jpeg\")
A dozen RIAS alumni from Cologne and Bonn created the first-ever RIAS alumni chapter on Wednesday, November 8. The alumni group hopes to hold occasional meetings to network and talk about transatlantic issues with riveting guest speakers. The alumni chapter in Cologne, Germany’s fourth largest city and one of its most important broadcast media capitals as the home to RTL, NTV, and the WDR networks as well as Deutschlandfunk, is also hoping to connect for possible exchanges. with new chapters to be set up in other hotspots in Germany and the United States.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Unknown-1.jpeg\")
“I think it’s a great idea because I’ve always wondered why we can’t better use this network,” said Andrea Lueg, who organised the inaugural Cologne chapter meeting. “All it took was a quick email to all the RIAS alumni in the Cologne area and the resonance was tremendous. Twelve alumni came to our first meeting and many others wrote that they couldn’t make it but thought it was a great idea and want to take part in the future.”<\/p>\n
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“Today the RIAS commission provides opportunities for journalists on both sides of the Atlantic to research and report on aspects of each other’s country around us. The uncomfortable uncertainties of east-west ideological conflict have been replaced by the opportunities and challenges of a rapidly changing world.”<\/p>\n
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Some of the best and the brightest German broadcast journalists finished a three-week exchange program of the United States. The 12 TV and radio journalists took part in RIAS Berlin Commission tour that featured a wee in Washington DC and New York City talking with US journalists, newsmakers, political scientists, researchers and lobbyists. Among the highlights were a meeting with Bill Whitaker and Marc Lieberman of CBS \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and with CNN\u2019s Richard Quest.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-cnn.jpg\")
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ecurity at Texas A&M university, the six German anchors and reporters from leading broadcasters across the country took helicopter and high-speed patrol rides with Texas state police along the Rio Grande Valley area to learn first hand about the remarkably porous frontier and the drug-related violence that causes death and disruption on both sides.
\nThe up-close-and-personal tour also included a grueling mile-long hike through thick jungle-like underbrush on trails leading from the river inland into Texas that are used by drug runners and migrants alike trying to evade border controls. Danger seemed to lurk around every corner with alligators in the river, snakes in the brush, and heavily armed Texas Rangers popping up out of the weeds along the trail to guard and escort the group through the wilds.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_9357.jpg\")
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Fourteen U.S.-based journalists taking part in the fall 2017 RIAS Berlin Commission fellowship<\/strong> hit the ground running in Brussels on Monday, September 18 at the start of a busy two-week program in Belgium and Germany in the run-up to the German election on September 24. Kicking off the tour in the EU capital, the fellows got to learn more about the EU’s inner workings from expert speakers and journalists working in Deutsche Welle’s busy Brussels bureau.<\/p>\n\n
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\n
\nApplications open for RIAS Berlin Commission 2018 programs in Germany, United States<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/rias-pic7983.jpg\")
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Program applicants must be full-time radio, TV, or online journalists, either staff or freelancers. While knowledge and familiarity of German for the U.S.-based candidates is preferred, it is not a requirement. German candidates for the U.S. program must have English proficiency.
\nThe exchange is a comprehensive fellowship, providing participants with air travel from their home market to and from Germany, ground and air travel in and across Germany, and hotel accommodations during the program.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/MAIN\/News\/alumni_2017.png\")
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June 27, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h6>\n
\n
\nBush pays heartfelt tribute to RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION co-founder Kohl<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/h6>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/17-awards-42.jpg\")
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\nPrize winners celebrated 25 years of RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION at gala ceremony <\/strong><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riasberlin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/MEDIA_2017\/110_June_12_2017\/1706-CBS60Whitacker.jpg\")
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