Mario Kaiser (2008), Curt Nickisch (2005), Ayla Jean Yackley (1999), Ulrich Timm (1991), Dr. Björn Peter Böer (1988) (from left to right; photographer: Jan Lauer/wdv).

In early October, the Internationale Journalisten-Programme invited 60 journalists from 20 countries to discuss “Biotechnology and Its Impact on Society” at its alumni conference in Heidelberg, one of the main clusters of Germany’s biotechnology industry. IJP administers 12 international fellowships in Germany, including the Burns Fellowship, and organizes an annual conference for alumni of its programs.

At a time when the closing of newspapers and staff reductions in newsrooms around the world raise concerns about the end of journalism as we know it, the attending journalists—including five Burns alumni—chose not to lament the challenges facing their profession. Instead they educated themselves in biotechnology and the ethical questions raised by its rapid advancement.

Setting the tone for a conference heavy on controversial issues, Professor Dr. Werner Arber, who received the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1978 for his work relating to enzymes and molecular genetics, said in his opening lecture that “genetic engineering will shape the future of our planet.” Calling a moratorium on genetically-modified food “nonsense,” Dr. Arber said that he expected crops to undergo several genetic changes in the foreseeable future. “We are already too many people on this planet,” he said. “We need to feed them.”

In a series of panel discussions spread over three days, biotechnology experts and journalists discussed a range of issues from stem-cell therapy and personalized medicine to the effects of the financial crisis on research and development.

In a provocative keynote speech, Dr. Kári Stefánsson, CEO of deCODE Genetics, projected that in five to 10 years most people would have their genetic information tested. Pointing out that the cost of genetic testing has already dropped from 1,000 to 500 euros, he said that he eventually expected the cost to be a fraction of this and thus to become increasingly popular.

Dr. Stefánsson, whose Reykjavik-based company is attempting to genetically map the population of Iceland, said that “the big question” is whether it is justifiable to give people information about their health risks derived from genetic testing. “I have no aspiration to tell people how to use information about themselves,” he said.

Calling a person’s DNA “the holy grail,” Dr. Stefánsson said that an individual’s destiny is, to a large extent, written in his or her genes. “The free will,” he said, “is simply an illusion.”

Mario Kaiser is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. He spent his Burns Fellowship at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2008.

Barbara Leidl

“I was able to experience the life of a foreign correspondent, without some of the more tedious requirements and duties.”

- Barbara Leidl, Bayerischer Rundfunk (Radio); Hosted by Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland, OR

“People will have to die for my articles to run in The Washington Post. On only my second day in the newsroom…I was welcomed by the obituary editor via email, saying that he was missing Helmut Kohl in his database. In a subsequent meeting (‘What, Helmut Schmidt is still alive?’), he added another chancellor to the list…

What remains (other than the obituary for Helmut Schmidt, which I promised to send), is the wish to maybe go back to the United States as a correspondent. I have learned to love this country with all its contradictions and possibilities, but yet didn’t see enough of it between July and October 2009. I will return for sure. I will stay in touch with colleagues at the Post, and was asked to possibly write a couple more stories for the business or editorial desks. Nobody will have to die for those stories.”

- Roman Pletter, Freelance Reporter & Editor, Hamburg; Hosted by The Washington Post, DC

“Though I didn’t anticipate it earlier, I slowly became designated as the American correspondent, with the majority of my remaining work touching on the U.S., from foreign oil consumption to healthcare and student loan reform.”

- Helen Chang, Freelance Journalist, Vienna, Austria; Hosted by Financial Times Deutschland, Hamburg

“Television producers here are advanced—technically as well as editorially; they are brave, loyal and gutsy; they take care of their product and of each other. They defend an ambition—which is rare in a notoriously illreputed and superficial American TV environment—to produce programs with depth. I have left the station with great humility—considering our ongoing bickering at public broadcast stations in Germany, where the government each year drops a big sack of money in front of our door.”

- Doris Tromballa, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich; Hosted by WPBT, Channel 2, Miami, FL

Moises Mendoza

“My Burns Fellowship was at times overwhelming but also freeing. It wasn’t easy coming into a foreign environment with the language skills of a small child. But it was wonderful to discover that I could adjust, perform and learn. And I loved that many of my colleagues seemed to want to learn as much from me as I wanted to learn from them.”

- Moises Mendoza, Hearst Fellowship Reporter, Houston Chronicle, TX; Hosted by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt

“All colleagues at NewsChannel 8 were extremely inquisitive, and I never had to complain about not enough questions. While the worldly cameramen...often have traveled half the globe, I was for many reporters, who have never left their continent, the expert on Europe and world affairs…”

- Björn Winter, Sat 1 (TV), Hamburg; Hosted by KGW NewsChannel 8, Portland, OR

“The Chicago Tribune is so prepared for the arrival of the annual Burns Fellow that the first thing they did was provide me with a bike, complete with lock and helmet...I could not have asked for more.

“I soon scored my first assignment which took me to Milwaukee, 90 miles north of Chicago, in Wisconsin, where I researched a piece about the remains of the once vibrant German culture...I met with sausage makers, beer brewers and even went to the annual German-American day, where my surreal experience was complete when the Rivercity orchestra struck up the German national anthem—and people started singing along, in dirndls and lederhosen, no less.”

- Fredy Gareis, Freelance Journalist, Der Spiegel, Berlin; Hosted by Chicago Tribune

“As a weekly magazine, Spiegel’s editorial rhythms were much like BusinessWeek’s. But in contrast to the endangered weekly model at home, Der Spiegel is financially healthy. An editor explained to me that several years ago, management of the magazine decided not to rely too heavily on advertising for revenue. Instead, more than half of revenues would come from subscriptions and newsstand sales. With this setup, a recession and concomitant slump in advertising wouldn’t mean the implosion of the publication’s finances. Also remarkable to me is that the magazine is partially employee owned, with employees receiving dividends each year. Nice model, I thought. Why can’t we do this in the U.S.?”

- Moira Herbst, Writer, BusinessWeek, New York; Hosted by Der Spiegel, Berlin

“I was surprised to learn that my German was good enough for writing. I wrote all my stories at Die Welt in German...The colleagues who edited me did a very nice job of turning my clumsy stories into better language, while retaining my structure, quotes, style, and jokes.”

- Helen Fields, Freelance Journalist, Washington, DC Hosted by Bild and Welt/Welt am Sonntag, Berlin

“It was interesting for me to see how such a large radio station functions: compared to local stations in the U.S., the Bayerischer Rundfunk is enormous. It has five separate frequencies and thousands of staffers and freelancers. I am quite sure it dwarfs even NPR. The amount of content it puts out every day is staggering, and to see how this process works, which is exceedingly different from how KALW operates, was fascinating to me.”

- Chris Hoff, Freelance Reporter/Producer, KALW Public Radio, San Francisco, CA; Hosted by Bayerischer Rundfunk-Radio, Munich