In Los Angeles, 23 German journalists learn more about West Coast USA issues
A group of 23 German broadcasting journalists from across the country spent a week in Los Angeles learning more about some of the major issues of the day facing the United States, transatlantic relations as well as Los Angeles, California and the West Coast during a RIAS Berlin Commission “short/alumni” program.
The German journalists, many of whom have taken part on full RIAS Berlin Commission fellowships to the United States over the last 33 years, flew to Los Angeles for the October 16-20 program on their own to reconnect with the United States after many years and sometimes many decades away. They also wanted to connect with many of the other German journalists from public broadcasting and commercial networks stations across Germany, most of whom they had never met before. They were able to build new networks among each other and with American RIAS alumni members from the Los Angeles area as well.
In Los Angeles, the German group visited a homeless center in Skid Row just east of downtown Los Angeles and had a lengthy talk with its indefatigable director, the Reverend Andy Bales, and his staff members on how the number of homeless people in Los Angeles has grown to more than an estimated 50,000 and about how there is almost no support from the state or federal government to assist people. The group of Germans also saw the stark contrasts in the United States when they visited business and political leaders in downtown Los Angles.
The Germans also had the chance to meet Gabriela Teissier, a German-speaking anchor at LA’s leading TV station KMEX, and talk about the thriving Hispanic community in California and the issues they are also facing. The mayor of Beverly Hills, Dr. Julian Gold, also talked to the group about the special challenges one of the wealthiest enclaves in Los Angeles county faces as did a senior Beverly Hills police officer, Max Subin, about the surprisingly successful crime-fighting efforts in the small town with the help, in part, thousands of video surveillance cameras and extremely active community watch efforts. They also had the chance to talk with former California governor Pete Wilson, a Republican, about the challenges facing his Republic party as well as former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who talked about his close ties to Donald Trump and the foreign policy advice he gives to the former president.
The German journalists visited numbers TV studios including NBC, KTLA, KABC, NPR’s West Coast offices as well as meet with more than a dozen American RIAS Berlin Commission alumni members in the LA chapter of the RIAS Berlin Commission alumni network that is headed by Frank Mottek . Also helping put together so many high-level meetings were RIAS alumni Scott Shafer, Brittany Silberstein, Thomas Demane, Pam Ortega, Bita Ryan, Andrea Gutierrez, Allison Walker and Anjuli Sastry.
The Germans also had the chance to meet German reporters in Los Angeles, including Frank Fastner of RTL and the German West Coast offices of ARD in Santa Monica. They also visited the “Wende Museum” dedicated to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall and had the chance to talk with several well-known political analysts in Los Angeles, such as Garry South and Dan Schnur.
The visitors from Germany also had the chance to talk with German consul general Andrea Sasse at the Thomas Mann Haus about her efforts to present a more modern view of a more diverse Germany to the West Coast of the United States and build new networks between California and Germany. They also had the chance to meet German fellows at the Thomas Mann Haus as well as visit the nearby Villa Aurore, where they talked with a number of fellows taking part in fellowships there as well.
It was the third such “Short/Alumni” program to the United States after similar large programs were organized in New York in 2021 and Washington DC in 2022. Americans have taken part in “Short/Alumni” programs to Berlin in 2019 and 2021 as well as to Cologne/Munich in September 2023. Like with all RIAS fellowship programs, the exchanges are designed to expand horizons, help create and strengthen networks among and between Germans and Americans, as well as keep the spirit of the original “Radio in American Sector” (RIAS) alive even more than 30 years after the radio and TV broadcasting station went off the air at the end of the Cold War.
