14 German journalists complete 3-week RIAS Berlin fellowships with station weeks
Fourteen leading German broadcasting journalists completed a three-week RIAS Berlin Commission fellowship that took their group from Washington DC to New York City and then to individual week-long visits in American newsrooms from across the country — from Atlanta, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, San Antonio, Tyler in Texas and Wichita in Kansas.
During their first week in Washington DC in early October, the German journalists first had the chance to meet and talk at length with leading American journalists in the capital, such as Wolf Blitzer of CNN, Larry Miller of WUSA9 TV, and Brandon Benavidas at NBC . They also had the chance to talk with leading German journalists based in Washington DC such as Roland Nelles of Der Spiegel, Gudrun Engels of ARD TV, Elmar Thevessen of ZDF TV, Michael Wüllenweber of Welt TV and Ines Pohl of Deutsche Welle. They also had a chance to visit the Washington Post for the first time in many years and talk with David Bruns about his extensive efforts in video and audio journalism. They learned about the powerful role that religion plays in the United States, especially on politics, from Greg Smith at Pew Research.
In New York, they had the chance to attend a Sunday church service at the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, talk with German Consul General David Gill, visit the United Nations and attend its daily news conference, and talk with Scott Richman about his work leading the Anti-Defamation League offices in New York/New Jersey that fights hate speech and hate crimes. The Germans also had the chance to meet leading New York area journalists such as Michael Gargiulo of WNBC TV, Adam Reiss and Shirley Zilberstein at NBC News, and DJ Cunningham at ABC News. They also had the chance to visit The New York Times for talks with leading video and audio journalists.
The Germans also had the chance to learn more about the Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the challenges New York faces trying to integrate thousands of American-born men there who are unable to understand or speak English despite having attended taxpayer-funded schools.
They also had the chance to talk with Chivona Newsome, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter and a political activist, in the Bronx and talk with two leading Republican politicians from the conservative New York bastion of Staten Island. The Germans also were able to watch “Amateur Night” at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
They spent the third and final week individually at American TV and radio stations across the Midwest, South and Southwest states to learn more about other parts of the United States. There they were hosted by American members of the growing RIAS Berlin Commission alumni network who generously open the doors to their stations and local contacts from the mayor’s office to the police chief for their German visitors to help them come away with a better understanding of the United States — and ideally help inform their reporting about the United States back home in Germany.
