14 German journalists on riveting tour to expand horizons in USA
Fourteen radio and TV journalists from Germany are spending three weeks in the United States learning about politics and media as part of the latest RIAS Berlin Commission exchange program. The first of two groups of German reporters this year to visit the United States, the 14 fellows have had a dozen fascinating meetings and interviews this week with Congressmen such as Mike Doyle (D-Penn) and Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn) at their offices in Washington as well as meeting American and German journalists at their newsroom. They have also picked the brains of experts at think tanks, and learned more about how Washington works from off-duty journalists and lobbyists at watering holes around town.
Doyle surprised the Germans with candid remarks that his wife had done a much better job predicting the Democrats would not win the 2016 presidential election while Fleischmann told them he was a good friend of President Trump and supports his positions on most issues. Fleischmann also spoke at length and in detail about his admiration of the German apprenticeship system that was being introduced in his Tennessee district more and more thanks in part to a major Volkswagen factory built there.
Other stops in Washington DC included a visit to the Capitol (below) Voice of America (below), NPR, German network ZDF, the Brookings Institute, PEW Institute and the German Embassy, where Ambassador Peter Wittig offered the fellows an insightful and detailed analysis of German-American relations.
Here is a list of the Germany-based fellows and their networks:
- Bianca Leitner ARD Hamburg
- Bartosz Dudek Radio DW Bonn
- Laura Fritsch, N24 Berlin
- Marcel Grzyb, n-tv Köln
- Hanna Klouth,RTL Köln
- Anne Demmer, Radio+online, RBB, D-Radio, Berlin
- Anna-Maria Schuck, TV+Social Media ZDF Mainz
- Eberhard Schade, Radio DRadio Berlin
- Friedel Taube, TV+Online DW Berlin
- Louisa Maria Giersberg, NDR Schwerin
- Sarah Schmidt RTL, n-tv Berlin
- Ben FajzullinTV DW Wirtschaft Berlin
- I?il Nergiz TV Social Media DW Berlin
- Viktoria Kleber RBB, DW, ARD Berlin
