RIAS journalists from Germany meet American counterparts

German journalists on a three-week fellowship to the United States had the chance to meet many of their American counterparts in Washington DC as well as some German foreign correspondents based in the United States during the first five days of their journey to the the USA.

The 11 German radio and TV reporters from across the country talk with Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason at the White House and be part of the press corps for about half an hour that watched President Joe Biden jog over to the Marine One helicopter waiting on the South Lawn before it lifted off. They also learned a lot about the upcoming Midterm elections on November 8 in talks with former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent (R-Penn) and Hudson Institute senior fellow Peter Rough.

During their busy Washington program with four to five appointments each day, the Germans also learned more about the larger role that religion plays on politics in the United States at Pew Research, about the success of video journalism at the Washington Post during a talk with executive editor for original video David Bruns, and about American TV journalism in talks with WUSA9 anchor Larry Miller and reporter Matt Gregory as well as a visit to NPR headquarters.

The German reporters also got to learn about how German journalists report on the USA in talks with ZDF bureau chief Elmar Thevessen, ARD chief correspondent Gudrun Engel, Deutsche Welle journalists Ines Pohl, Carolina Chimoy and Mikaela Kuefner, Der Spiegel correspondents Roland Nelles and Rene Pfizer as well as Christopher Wittich from NTV/RTL. They has met a dozen American RIAS alumni at a lively get-together at the Admiral restaurant.

The Germans then traveled to New York for the second of three weeks before fanning out across the country for the final week to take part in individual station week stops in Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Bend OR, Tyler TX and Sioux Falls SD.