On RIAS trip to USA, German students get involved in college life across country
Fifteen German students were able to learn more about the United States and journalism training at eight leading American universities in the Midwest and Southwest on a newly created RIAS Berlin Commission program. Several of the students were invited on local campus and radio TV shows to talk about their experiences in the United States or compare life in Germany to the United States while others met local groups of students, or local political leaders.
Three students from Germany spent two weeks in Carbondale, Illinois visiting Southern Illinois University and host Fred Martino, who took part in a RIAS program to Germany 20 years earlier. Tom Wagner, Leonie von Wagner and Simon Lanzerath talked for 30 minutes on Martino’s talk show about what they’ve learned in the United States and how pleasantly surprised they are about the openness and friendliness of Americans they have met during the program, which started in mid-March with a first week together as a group in New York. Here is their interview:
At Arizona State University in Tempe, Friedrich Steffes-lay was invited to talk about working in journalism in Germany on the campus radio station on the “Blaze Radio Show”. He also talked about the cultural differences between the United States and Germany as well as differences in the media in the two countries. Steffes-lay also had the chance to meet local councilwoman Ann O’Brien to talk about local issues as well as why she believes Arizona has become a swing state in U.S. elections and could become even more polarised in the future.
At New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, Rieke Smith was able to take part in classes where former MNSU university students talked about how they got their start in journalism in the United States after graduating and talking about their experiences on the job. She also joined a student news team covering an event where homeless people were getting free haircuts for the local campus news station.
At the University of Oklahoma, Daniel Heyd and Florian Sädler had the chance to listen to a speech from former President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. They also had the chance to visit the Tulsa police department and have a meeting with its police chief and press officer as well as meeting the department’s homicide department.
At Indiana University, Marita Wehlus and Andrian Liehr attended a speech by President Trump’s former head of intelligence Dan Coats, who had also been the U.S. ambassador to Germany during George W. Bush’s presidency. They also met Paul Helmke, the former leader of the Brady Campaign to tighten gun control laws in the United States.
At the University of Minnesota, Jessica Schäfer attended courses on radio journalism from Scott Libin, a RIAS alumni and the former chairman of the RTDNA in the United States. She also spend a day at KARE 11 TV station in Minneapolis, learning how their evening news show is produced. She worked in the sports department at the station as well as in the control room. Schäfer also had the chance to spend a day at MPR radio.
At Texas A&M, Sarah-Maria Köpf and Lara Jäkel had the chance to see the local TAMU newscast being put together. They also visited the local ESPN TV sports channel station where the baseball game they watched was being covered on television.
The ERP program is supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has been funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Economy and Energy (BMWi) Ministry. There is a reciprocal program to Germany for American students studying journalism or a related field that focuses on the role of broadcast journalism and the role it played during the Cold War, especially in Berlin.
