FEATURED STORIES

German Elections: An American View
By Clay Risen (Burns 2009)

Americans are often surprised by the low-key spirit of German elections. In the United States, enormous campaign operations work non-stop for years before voters go to the polls. In Germany, six weeks before the September national elections, everyone was on vacation. "Wait until the end of August," one SPD official told me. "Then things will get started."

Perhaps. But this year seems even more low-key than usual. Only a tiny minority expect Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the SPD to come in first, and most foresee an end to the Grand Coalition, with Angela Merkel and the CDU aligning with the FDP and the SPD slinking into the opposition for the first time in 11 years. It's hard to get excited in the face of such a rout.

Under the surface, though, German politics is going through rapid changes, changes that perhaps only outsiders can see clearly. For one, the abysmal performance of the SPD during a recession is incomprehensible—in Western politics, left-wing parties always do better during times of economic crisis. Clearly, there is something deeply wrong with the party, and if it does as poorly as expected, the day after the elections will begin a long walk in the wilderness.

Clay Risen poses in front of the Berlin Cathedral

The SPD must decide—in the face of a massive membership exodus, the upstart threat from the Left Party, weakening ties with unions, and a conservative opponent able to capture its central themes—precisely what it stands for. Will it tack to the left to capture the Linke's voter base, even at the risk of losing support from the middle class? And who will lead the push—Klaus Wowereit, the blow-dried mayor of Berlin, who would likely push the party in a metropolitan, left-chic direction, or Andrea Nahles, the former head of the Young Socialists, likely to push the party back toward its working-class roots? Or is there a new centrist waiting in the wings? Whatever the case, no one in the party thinks the status quo is the way to go. The SPD of 2010 will look very different from that of 2009.

This year there is a lot of talk about the end of the people's parties, that in an age of pixilated political interests, neither the CDU nor the SPD can cover everyone equally. The relative success of the Linke, and the incipient popularity of the Internet-focused Pirate Party, does seem to support their case, as does the declining membership in both major parties.

A complete dissolution, call it the Rome-ification of German politics, is unlikely; the CDU and the SPD are simply too ingrained in day-to-day life to be completely knocked from their perches. But this year will probably see the Linke capture something in the neighbourhood of 10 percent, proving that there is room in the political scene for more than the traditional 2+2 party structure (which was just 2+1 as recently as a generation ago). That itself makes 2009 a landmark election.

But to an American observer, what's most interesting in this election is what's missing. After watching Barack Obama ride the Internet into the White House, it is striking how little role the Web plays in German national politics. Steinmeier's site has all the requisite bells and whistles—a personal blog, email registration, Twitter and Facebook links—but it's a Potemkin Web page. As of mid-August, his Facebook group had only 5,100 members, while the SPD had a mere 2,500—fewer friends than many American teenagers (Merkel is way ahead, with 14,000 members, though the CDU has only 1,600).

If this were a developing country, such numbers might be understandable. But 40 percent of German adults use the Internet regularly, and 3,329,060 are on Facebook. Germany is online, en masse, but the mainstream parties don't seem interested in reaching them there. As one SPD official told me, the CDU and the SPD are still membership parties, and they stay in close contact with their rank-and-file through local offices and clubs. What use do they have for the Internet?

But that particular socio-political model broke down in America long ago, and it will fall apart in Germany, as well. The era of massive industry, which facilitated the era of massive politics, is over, and if massive parties are to survive, they have to adapt. And quickly: Despite SPD assertions that people under 30 are reconnecting with the party, independent polls show an increasing sense of alienation among younger voters with the political process, even as the number of self-identified independent voters climbs. These cohorts aren't going to weekly party meetings, and they aren't voting in lockstep with their party's dictates.

This was a lesson the American Democratic Party learned painfully in the 1970s and 1980s. The decline of the industrial economy and the rise of increasingly personalized media meant that it could no longer rely on single messages filtered through local party structures, nor could it continue to flog its old standard themes of worker protections and middle-class expansion, at least in traditional terms. Instead, it had to become deft at using new media and organizing techniques to build temporary coalitions, with a message specific enough to inspire yet general enough to mutate. Having learned those lessons, by 2008 the Democrats were primed for the Internet as a political tool, and they used it with astounding success.

Not that the SPD has noticed; luckily for the party, neither has the CDU. But 2009 will likely be the last of the pre-Internet elections in Germany. If the SPD is willing, it could use its coming years in the wilderness to copy Obama's success and recast its politics for the Internet age. If not, then the CDU—or the FDP, or even the Pirates—will win the first-past-the-digital-post advantage, and the SPD will be kept out in the cold of political relevance for decades to come. Which means that the most interesting part of this year's elections isn't what happens at the polls on September 27, but what begins on September 28.

Clay Risen is the managing editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. Founded in 2006, Democracy has quickly become one of the leading outlets for progressive thinking in Washington. It was named the 2008 Best New Publication by the Independent Press Awards and was a 2009 finalist for Best Political Commentary. Clay is currently a Fellow at Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin.

Orientation 2009: The Quiet Group?
By Helen Fields (Burns 2009)

Some people suspect that Frank Freiling tells every class of Burns fellows that they are "the quiet group," hoping to drive them to new heights of debauchery during the weekend retreat at Airlie. More on how the deck chairs ended up on the bottom of the pool later.

Helen Fields with Roman Kessler enjoying the view from the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The 2009 orientation week kicked off with a tasty chicken dinner at a historic, oil-painting-bedecked home near the White House. The fellows introduced ourselves; wine was consumed; we were told, for the first of approximately five million times, that we should use the valuable Burns alumni network for all our needs in the future. Need a source on the Bavarian fig industry? Ask a Burns alum. Got a question on finding work in San Diego? Try a Burns alum. Looking for someone to change your oil? Check the Burns list first.

The bulk of the talks during orientation week were at the German Marshall Fund. In two all-day sessions, we learned about U.S.-German relations, the upcoming German elections, and a World Bank program to limit the effects of climate change by saving the world's forests. Two Washington reporters dropped by to expound on the state of U.S. journalism, specifically the state of their Web sites, and to tell us we should all be blogging. A researcher from Goldman Sachs told us it's all just "a marketplace of ideas" and that Goldman Sachs has no particular influence in Washington.

Three former fellows came to tell us about their experiences. We were advised both to hang around with other foreign correspondents and to have an immersive experience by avoiding our own country's people entirely. The trend of unusual names continued; for a brief, exhilarating moment, there were three Helens in the room to match the three Romans among the German fellows.

Our last day in Washington began with an enlightening talk about economics at the European Commission, and then continued with a visit to the Newseum—a new, large, and very shiny love letter to the First Amendment. It normally costs 20 bucks to get into the Newseum, so it was a special treat to ramble through its halls for a morning and admire a chunk of the Berlin Wall, an exhibit on presidential dogs, and a lovely view of Pennsylvania Avenue. However, an alarming gap in the Newseum's collection of newspaper front pages from around the world was discovered: the current day's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was missing. Alert! International incident! International incident!

Fellows chat around the pool while Helen knits

At last, our brains full of wisdom, we rode the minibus out to Airlie Conference Center near Warrenton, Virginia, the lovely retreat where Burns fellows gather every year for a weekend of bonding and relaxing by the pool.

While it's possible that Frank tells everyone they're the quiet group, it's also possible that we actually were the quiet group. Someone who will remain nameless…ok, it was me, knitted during parties. It's true, three deck chairs did find their way into the pool. But the fact that the person who put them there carefully fished them all out again kind of ruined the effect. Discussions about hotwiring ICFJ staffer Mario Scherhaufer's car and driving it into the pool went nowhere, and we finished the weekend without having made any mark in the history books.

With that, it was off to our fellowship sites. The German fellows scattered by plane, train and automobile. The U.S. fellows piled onto a turboprop that tried to kill us by falling out of the sky. We arrived in Newark happy to be alive and dispersed to our various international flights. Bring on the editors! Bring on the demands for wise commentary! We're ready to do some journalism!

Helen Fields is a freelance science writer based in Washington, D.C., who keeps up with the times by blogging at www.heyhelen.com. She previously worked for National Geographic and U.S. News & World Report. Her fellowship hosts are Bild and Welt/Welt am Sonntag in Berlin.

Alumnus Guy Raz Becomes Weekend Host of All Things Considered
By Steve Kettmann (Burns 1999)

Memo to all Burnsies who might be tempted to get in touch with Guy Raz (Burns 1999) to congratulate him on his well-earned success at National Public Radio: Don't try to reach him on the weekend!

Guy, who started as an intern at All Things Considered on NPR in 1997, two years before his Burns fellowship, has been serving as the temporary weekend host of the show, which even on weekends pulls in an audience of up to 3 million. In July, Guy was named permanent weekend host of All Things Considered, a plum job in any case, but particularly in an era of diminishing journalistic opportunity. And best of all, it's good news for those of us who are fans of the show.

As a fellow member of Guy's 1999 Burns class and as a former "Radio Waves" columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle (where critiquing NPR was one of my regular duties), I join many others in saying it's the perfect match of talent and platform. Even among his voluble peers in the Burns world, Guy quickly established himself as especially smart, selfless and engaging. He was always a Burnsie's Burnsie—someone who sought others out to pick their brains and act as if he was learning from them, when he was really doing at least as much teaching as learning. The second-best piece I did during my Burns Fellowship was a story that Guy gave me and that we collaborated on for Salon.com (my favorite was an interview I did with Condoleezza Rice for my host paper, the Berliner Zeitung, back before anyone in Germany knew who she was).

Guy, who is also a new father, loves the challenge of putting his stamp on a classic American radio program, which he's already done with his emphasis on music and on being provocative from time to time.

"I'm the only host on the show and it's four hours on the weekend we have to fill, so it's jam-packed for me from Wednesday morning to Sunday night," Guy said recently by phone. "The show is going really well. We're one of the anchor shows of NPR. It's been around a quarter century and has an established audience. We have to change it, and we will. We'll bring in different kinds of music. I love putting bands on. And I love having conversations with musicians, especially with musicians I would not normally go to, like for example, blue grass.

"We'll bring in more newsmakers and hopefully, more diverse voices. In twenty to twenty-five years, America is not going to be a predominately white country. We need to reflect that reality. We need to have voices on our program that are what America looks like and what it will look like.

"We had Kai Wright on and he had the argument that these town hall meetings against health care are really a reflection of a broader anxiety that exists among certain segments of the popular culture, what he calls a forgotten white working class. He's an African-American writer. He wrote this provocative essay and we put him on the show and it had a lot of traction.

"That's the kind of thing I think we need to put on the air. It's not our job necessarily always to be polite. You have to really respect your audience and know who they are. At the same time we know that our audience is really smart. They're grown-ups. They don't need us to spoon-feed them. We try not to have this sort of one-way monologue. We want the show to be more of a conversation, where they are engaged. They let us know what they think… It's really exciting to be part of a show that has such a long history. The audience really owns it. You're just sitting in the chair."

Steve Kettmann, a regular contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle and the Feuilleton section of the Berliner Zeitung, lives in Berlin. His most recent book is A Letter to a New President, co-written with Senator Robert Byrd, published by St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne Books. His next, Fish Where the Fish Are, written with branding guru Peter Arnell, will be published in April 2010 by Broadway Business.

The Arthur F. Burns Fellowship News is published four times a year by the International Center for Journalists.

Burns Program Staff:

Frank-Dieter Freiling, Director, IJP
Mario Scherhaufer, Program Director, ICFJ
Maia Curtis, ICFJ Consultant
Michelle Mathew, Program Officer, ICFJ

Named in honor of the late former U.S. ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany and former Federal Reserve Board chairman, the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Program fosters greater understanding of German–U.S. relations among future leaders of the news media.

The Burns program was established in 1988 in Germany by the Internationale Journalisten-Programme (formerly the Initiative Jugendpresse) and was originally designed for young German journalists. In 1990, the fellowship expanded to include American journalists, making it a true exchange.

Each year 20 outstanding journalists from the United States and Germany are awarded an opportunity to report from and travel in each other’s countries. The program offers 10 young print and broadcast journalists from each country the opportunity to share professional expertise with their colleagues across the Atlantic while working as “foreign correspondents” for their hometown news organizations.

Fellows work as part-time staff members at host newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations. In addition to covering local news, fellows report on events for their employers back home, while learning more about
their host country and its media.

This competitive program is open to U.S. and German journalists who are employed by a newspaper, news magazine, broadcast station or news agency, and to freelancers. Applicants must have demonstrated journalistic talent and a strong interest in U.S.–European affairs. German language proficiency is not required, but is encouraged.

The Burns Fellowship program
is administered jointly by:

September 2009 | Vol. 18, No. 3

Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling

Dear Friends,

The summer is nearly over. Germany is looking toward national elections in a few weeks and the class of 2009 will return home at the end of the month, hopefully full of new impressions, story ideas and newfound friendships.

Unfortunately only a dozen alumni made it to the Ambassador’s reception in DC to meet the new fellows. The rest missed a lovely evening of good food and conversation, not only with the fellows, but also with many of the Burns trustees. But next year will be another chance in the last week of July to join us in Washington.

We have invested some energy in following up with many alumni on how best to establish contact with you by mail and email. Our conclusion is that in the future, in addition to four electronic newsletters like this one, we will send you the December issue also in print, along with a full alumni address booklet and further information about the Burns research grants. We hope this will encourage more of you to keep up with the latest Burns news. By now we are spending more money and energy on alumni activities than on the fellowships. More than 400 alumni worldwide is a powerful networking group, but it is only as good as your involvement and commitment. Therefore we cannot encourage you enough to stay in touch, register for the Burns online alumni portal, take advantage of the alumni travel grant opportunities and participate in the dinners and other functions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Wishing you a good start to the autumn and all the best,

Frank

1996
Michael Weißenborn will return from the U.S. to become director of the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum (German-American Center) in Stuttgart in September.

1998
Adrienne Woltersdorf, formerly the Washington correspondent for taz, has returned to Germany to become head of the Chinese language service for radio and internet at Deutsche Welle, based in Cologne.

1999
Guy Raz was recently named the regular weekend host for NPR's All Things Considered.

2002
Ann Baxter received a Loft Mentor Series fiction writing fellowship.

2003
Markus Verbeet welcomed a son, Jonathan, on July 21.

2004
Robin Mishra received the prestigious Roman Herzog Media Award for his article "Das Cappuccino-Syndrom." Former German President Herzog will present the award to Mishra in Berlin in October.

2005
Sabra Ayres is now teaching journalism at an institute in India.

2007
Lara Fritzsche's book Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof will be published on September 24 by Kiepenheuer & Witsch. Fritzsche will move from Paris to Munich in November to start working for NEON magazine.

2008
Deborah Kolben moved back to New York and is expecting her first child in the fall.
Crystal Reid, 29, passed away on July 17. She was a business reporter for The Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota and was married less than a week before her death. To read classmates' memories of Crystal, please click here or read her full obituary at The Bismarck Tribune.

2010 Application Deadlines
German Applicants: February 1
U.S. Applicants: March 1
Apply Now (U.S.)
Apply Now (German)

Click here to log into the Alumni Portal. To register, please fill out this short form.

U.S. Trustees

Patron: The Honorable Klaus Scharioth
German Ambassador to the United States
Joyce Barnathan
President, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
Elizabeth Becker
Contributor to the International Herald Tribune and German Marshall Fellow
The Honorable J.D. Bindenagel
Vice President, Community, Government & International Relations, DePaul University
Dr. Kurt Bock
Chairman and CEO, BASF USA
Marcus W. Brauchli
Executive Editor, The Washington Post
The Honorable Richard Burt
Senior Advisor, McLarty and Associates (Honorary Chairman)
Dr. Martin Bussmann
Mannheim LLC
Nikhil Deogun
International Editor and Deputy Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal
David W. Detjen
Partner, Alston & Bird, LLP
Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling
Director, Internationale Journalisten-Programme (IJP)
Prof. Dr. Ronald Frohne
President and CEO,
GWFF USA, Inc.
Rick Goings
Chairman and CEO, Tupperware Brands Corporation
James F. Hoge, Jr.
Editor, Foreign Affairs (Honorary Chairman)
Fred Kempe
President and CEO, The Atlantic Council of the United States
The Honorable Henry A. Kissinger
Chairman, Kissinger Associates
The Honorable Frank E. Loy
Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (Chairman)
Senator Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator (R-Ind.)
Wolfgang Pordzik
Executive Vice President, Corporate Public Policy, DHL North America
Garrick Utley
President, Levin Institute, SUNY
Stanford S. Warshawsky
Chairman, Bismarck Capital, LLC
Legal Advisor:
Phillip C. Zane
Attorney at Law, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz

German Trustees

Erik Bettermann
Director-General, Deutsche Welle
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Bettzuege
German Ambassador to Brussels
Dr. Martin Blessing
CEO, Commerzbank AG
Maria Böhmer
State Minister, Member of Parliament, CDU/CSU
Tom Buhrow
Anchorman, ARD
Sabine Christiansen
Journalist, TV21 Media
Dr. Mathias Döpfner
CEO, Axel-Springer AG
Thomas Ellerbeck
Chairman, Vodafone Foundation
Gernot Erler
State Minister, Foreign Office
Leonhard F. Fischer
Partner, RHJI Swiss Management
Rüdiger Frohn
Chairman, Stiftung Mercator
Emilio Galli-Zugaro
Head Group Communications, Allianz Group
Tessen von Heydebreck
Former Member of the Board, Deutsche Bank AG (Chairman)
Luc Jochimsen
Member of Parliament, Die Linke
Lars G. Josefsson
CEO, Vattenfall
Hans-Werner Kilz
Editor-in-Chief, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Dr. Torsten-Jörn Klein
Board member, Gruner + Jahr AG
Carsten Maschmeyer
Former Chairman, AWD Holding
Prof. Bascha Mika
Former Editor-in-Chief, Die Tageszeitung
Kerstin Müller
Former State Minister, Member of Parliament, Buendnis 90/Die Grünen
Prof. Markus Schächter
Director-General, ZDF German TV
Helmut Schäfer
Former State Minister, Foreign Office (Honorary Chairman)
Monika Schaller
Senior Vice President, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Friede Springer
Publisher, Axel Springer AG
Franz Thönnes
State Secretary and Member of Parliament, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD)
Tobias Trevisan
CEO, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Lord George Weidenfeld
Former CEO, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Dr. Guido Westerwelle
Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP)
Ulrich Wilhelm
Government Spokesman

The Arthur F. Burns Board of Trustees in the United States and Germany acknowledges with gratitude the support of the following organizations and individuals who have made the 2009 Arthur F. Burns program possible.

Sponsors in the U.S.
Alston & Bird, LLC
BASF
Robert Bosch Stiftung
The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation
Continental Airlines
DHL North America
The Dow Jones Foundation
The Ford Foundation
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
GWFF USA, Inc.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The Ladenburg Foundation
Mars Incorporated
Tupperware Brands Corporation

Individual Contributions
Elizabeth Becker
John and Gina Despres
David Detjen
Marc Fest
The Hon. Frank E. Loy
Stanford S. Warshawsky

Sponsors in Germany
Allianz AG
Auswärtiges Amt.
Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend
Deutsche Bank AG
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Siemens AG