Two weeks in USA gives German students insights into heartland states
April 10, 2023
Two weeks in USA gives German students insights into heartland states
A group of German journalism students spent two weeks at U.S. universities in the Midwest, Southwest and Mountain states on a RIAS Berlin Commission exchange program. They met American students, attended college classes on journalism, and got the chance to see how public radio and TV stations set up on the college campuses serve an audience that goes far beyond the college campus and to listeners and viewers across the states.
The 15 German students were on a three-week ERP Transatlantic Fellowship program in the United States and after spending the first week together in New York, they spent the following two weeks at eight different large state universities in smaller groups: Indiana, Southern Illinois, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arizona, Arizona State and Montana. The program organized by the RIAS Berlin Commission is designed to help Germans learn more about how American students in the heartland states learn the trade of journalism as well as helping Americans in those states learn more about Germany.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, Jana Sievers visited one of the state’s biggest broadcasting stations, 10-11, that covers the entire state. She had the chance to meet and shadow Taryn and Jon Vanderford, who anchor a popular show called Pure Nebraska. She later joined a reporter from the station for a shift in the field. Sievers also visited a farm two hours away from Lincoln in Hastings, Nebraska operated by his University of Nebraska journalism professor Ken Fischer. “Agriculture is the most important business in Nebraska,” she said.
In Tucson, at the University of Arizona, Malkam Goytom and Abel Fekade attended journalism and photojournalism classes. They also visited RIAS alumni Buzz Connover at Arizona Public Media and got a look behind the scenes at the popular radio station.
They also spent one day traveling to the USA-Mexico border south of Tucson to learn more about the border and the political tensions surrounding it. Together with Arizona Public Media reporter Tony Paniagua, they drove to see the “wall” separating the USA and Mexican and crossed the border to Nogales, Mexico. There they learned about many of the issues involving undocumented immigrants crossing into the USA but also American guns that are smuggled across the border into Mexico. They also learned that many Americans in Arizona travel across the border to get dental treatments and pharmaceutical products for prices lower than in Arizona. Paniagua also interviewed Goytom and Fekade for an Arizona Public Media broadcast about their experiences that will be broadcast next week.
In Phoenix, while visiting Arizona State University, Lea Nischelwitzer and Clara Hoheisel spent time with RIAS alumni Bill Silcock and his wife Angela. They also visited the LDS church in Mesa outside Phoenix. “We met two young girls who made their missionary in this community. It was exciting to hear more about their perspectives of life and especially about their strong faith.” They learned more about the role of religion, politics, journalism careers Americans’ hopes for the future.
After spending 10 days at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Wiebke Bolle spent a few days visiting RIAS alumni at TV stations in St. Louis. She spent one day shadowing a reporter from St. Louis’s channel 5, Justina Coronel. She was working on a story about a robber who first robbed a gas station and then broke into a house.
In Wisconsin, Linda Bachmann and Kim Loschen wrote articles for the local student newspaper They got to work helping cover a local election in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They were also the subject of a story about exchange programs.
In Oklahoma, Til Schäbitz, Jakob Gierth and Szuli Wendt visited Oklahoma’s channel 9 news station and met the anchor, learning more about the pressures of his job and career. They learned how much important weather reports are in news in Oklahoma, especially early advance warnings on tornadoes that sweep across the state each year.
The goal of the ERP program, which was created with support from a grant from the Economy Ministry, is to expand horizons, help connect young German journalism students with their peers in the United States 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.
