Big RIAS alumni reunion in Berlin kicks off new RIAS get-together efforts
More than 60 RIAS Berlin Commission alumni took part in a panel discussion and alumni reunion recently at the historic RIAS Funkhaus building in Berlin. The 2018 RIAS media prize winners Jan Phillip Burgard, Lara Wiedeking, Arndt Peltner, Kerstin Zilm, Ainara Tiefenthäler and Shane O’Neill talked about the changes in the United States in the last two years and whether those changes have had any impact on their work as foreign correspondents.
Afterwards, alumni from RIAS exchange programs over the last 26 years had an enjoyable get-together at a local beer garden across the street from the RIAS building that lasted late into the evening. Some RIAS alumni came from as far away as Washington DC and New York while the German alumni came from across the country, traveling from cities such Dresden, Munich, Mainz, Hamburg, Cologne and Baden-Baden. Many met colleagues working in Germany media for other networks for the first time with the common-dominator being they were all RIAS alumni from previous years. Many of those who took part expressed hope that the back-to-back days of alumni events starting with the media prize awards and culminating with a panel discussion and alumni get-together could be the start of a tradition in Berlin each spring.
The alumni meetings are becoming an increasingly important emphasis of the RIAS Berlin Commission. With informal alumni chapters now formed in Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, Rhine-Main (Mainz-Frankfurt), New York and Washington D.C., RIAS Berlin Commission is hoping that more informal gatherings and individual exchanges between RIAS alumni will happen in the future.
The alumni meetings whether formal or informal are designed to keep the spirit of RIAS and the exchange programs alive even years after journalists take part in the standard program. There are also senior editors programs for alumni to take part in subsequent trips to the United States or Germany as well as new travel stipends available for alumni who are eager to return to the United States or Germany to work on stories or research for their network. Several U.S. alumni have returned to Germany to do reporting on stories and sometimes stayed with German alumni on their reporting trips while a smaller number of German alumni have returned to the United States to work on stories. Please contact your local chapter leaders or write to info@darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com for more information about the travel stipend program for alumni.
The Berlin chapter alumni will be meeting with the next group of U.S. RIAS fellows on June 14 at an American-style craft brewery in Berlin as well as with RIAS alumni in Brussels a week later. Some in the Berlin chapter will also be going to the U.S. embassy’s annual Fourth of July party on field at Tempelhof Airport. German fellows going to Washington and New York in October will also be holding get-togethers with U.S. alumni in those two cities as well
All alumni are also invited to attend the annual U.S. alumni reunion reception, wh
ich will be held this year in Baltimore on September 28 at the RTDNA’s Excellence in Journalism convention. There will also be an alumni panel discussion on Saturday morning, September 29 in Baltimore as well. For more information please write to info@darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com
