RIAS fellows meet Oppenheim, Whitaker and Heusgen among others on US trip
Fourteen journalists from Germany have been meeting American journalists, politicians, Pentagon officials and experts from think tanks on a whirlwind three-week tour of the United States on a RIAS Berlin Commission fellowship. The journalists on the spring group tour had the chance to talk with Noah Oppenheim, president of NBC news, in New York after a packed day of meetings at WNBC, NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo at Rockefeller Center brilliantly led and organized by RIAS alumni Tiffany Zeno, Adam Reiss, Michael Gargiulo and Bryan Weakland.
The Germany-based journalists also had the chance to talk to Bill Whitaker of CBS’s “60 Minutes” at his office following a tour of the CBS news studios. The group was later in the audience to watch a taping of “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”. Bloomberg’s broadcasting operations were explained to the group at another stop by Michael Lysak.
Another highlight during the New York week was a talk with Ambassador Christoph Heusgen at the German Mission to the U.N., who talked about Germany’s role in the world and the country’s seat on the U.N. Security Council as a non-permanent member. The fellows also had the chance to meet homeless and financially strapped New Yorkers at the St. James Church on Madison Avenue, preparing and serving lunch for about 120 people.
Another RIAS alumni, Clare Toeniskoetter, of the New York Times The Daily gave the fellows
insights into the success of the podcast that has attracted millions of listeners in just two years. They also talked with German journalists working at the New York Stock Exchange Heike Buchter and Markus Koch.
Before traveling by Amtrak to New York from Washington DC, the German journalists also had the chance to talk with congressman Mike Doyle (D-Penn) and former congressman Charlie Dent (R-Penn), who talked about some memorable disputes with President Trump. Despite unseasonably frigid weather and even snow in Washington, the fellows made the most of the week in Washington DC with talks at the Pew Research Center, the Women’s Media Center, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the CATO Institute, Freedom House and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Capitol.
They also had the chance to tour the Pentagon and ask spokesman Eric Pahon a battery of questions.
The journalists also had the chance to learn more about the media landscape in the United States thanks to talks at NPR led by RIAS alumni Stacey Samuel, at Deutsche Welle led by Alexandra von Nahmen and the ARD office with Martin Ganslmeyer, Martina Buttler, JP Burgard, Stefan Niemann The week in Washington was capped off with a get-together with about 30 US based German journalists and US alumni.
The German journalists will spend their final week at individual stations across the country together with RIAS alumni – from Tyler, Texas to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Los Angeles to Seattle, San Antonio and Houston as well as Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bloomington, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio
Here is a list of the fellows taking part in the March program to the United States:
- Christian Avital, ARD radio and RTL television, Cologne
- Jan-Peter Bartels, HR TV/online, Frankfurt
- Benjamin Eyssel, RBB radio, Berlin
- Renate Friedrich, NTV Cologne5
- Cornelia Gerhard, Phoenix TV, Bonn
- Lutz-Philipp Harbaum, RTL television, Cologne
- Ann-Kathrin Horn, Deutschlandfunk Nova radio, Cologne
- Sarah Kelly, Deutsche Welle TV, Berlin
- Marcel Machill, University of Leipzig
- Maria Luz Moraleda, Deutsche Welle TV, multimedia, Berlin
- Anna Muellerleile, Hamburg Zwei radio, Hamburg
- Maria Regis, MDR TV/online, Leipzig
- Christoph Tanneberger, NDR/ARD TV/Social Media, Hamburg
- Andreas Teska, WDR TV/Radio, Cologne
