US journalism students complete 3-week RIAS fellowship to Germany
August 14, 2023
US journalism students complete 3-week RIAS fellowship to Germany
A group of 13 American students from universities across the United States took part in a jam-packed three-week RIAS Berlin Commission fellowship in Berlin, Dresden, Erfurt, Magdeburg and Leipzig. The fourth annual European Recovery Program (ERP) summer program fellowship was created thanks to a grant from the Economy Ministry’s Transatlantic Program.
The American students were in Germany from June 18 to July 8 and came from universities across the Midwest, South and Southwest: the University of Oklahoma (3), Arizona State University in Phoenix (2), University of Arizona in Tucson (2), University of Miami-Ohio (2), University of Georgia (1), Elon College in North Carolina (1), Ithaca New York (1), and University of California-Berkeley (1). For many of the American students it was their first trip outside the United States and for some the first journey outside their home region.
The students had dozens of meetings with German journalists, editors, directors, politicians, community leaders, experts and political analysts. The Americans also learned more about the role that broadcast journalism, including from the legendary Radio in American Sector Radio and TV broadcaster (RIAS), played during the Cold War. The American students also had numerous encounters with German students and young journalists on trainee programs in Germany.
The Americans visited journalists and students in Leipzig and Hamburg during their final week of the program, talking with journalists at ARD’s “Tagesschau” news broadcast such as anchor Michail Pawletz and Der Spiegel news magazine in Hamburg with senior editors Hendrik Behrend and Julia Lang. In Leipzig they met with journalist at MDR TV such as Sven Knoblauch and Radio Mephisto student radio station in Leipzig on a busy day organized by RIAS alumni Til Schäbitz, Miriam Wüst and Sarah-Maria Köpf.
They had the chance to meet German government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner for an hour-long briefing. They also had a meeting with Fabrizio Micalizzi, chief of staff in the Foreign Ministry’s Transatlantic Coordinator’s Office. The Americans also had the chance to talk with NTV and RTL journalists Christian Wilp, Nina Lammers and Katharina Kühnert as well as watching the live interview with Greens’ party parliamentary floor leader Katharina Dröge. They had the chance to ask Dröge questions as well after the interview and she admitted to the Americans it was at times a challenge for three different parties to share power in a three-party coalition government.
The goal of the ERP program is to expand horizons, help connect young American journalism students with their peers in Germany and help aspiring journalists in both countries learn more about journalism training in each others’ countries. The ERP program is supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Economy and Energy (BMWi) Ministry.
The American students also had the chance to talk with Andrew Ullmann, who is the only member of parliament in Germany with a US passport. Ullmann was born in Los Angeles and lived in California for more than a decade before returning to Germany with his family. He later studied medicine in the USA as well and talked at length and in great detail about the differences between the US and German health insurance and medical systems.
The first week was spent visiting media outlets, students and trainees at TV stations in Dresden, Erfurt and Magdeburg in formerly Communist East Germany. The second week featured meetings in Berlin with TV journalists at the commercial Welt TV network, at Deutsche Welle international broadcaster, at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, at the former Stasi prison in Hohenschönhausen and the former Stasi headquarters in East Berlin. They also had the chance to watch ZDF Morgenmagazin live and meet with its editor in chief Andreas Wunn. They toured the ethnic Kreuzberg neighborhood with former Greens political leader Özcan Mutlu, met American swing dance band leader Andrej Hermlin and visited the US Embassy. The young Americans also learned more about tight gun controls in Germany that have all but put an end to school shootings, and the health insurance system that covers almost everyone in Germany.
