Vol. 19 No. 3
FEATURED STORIES
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WikiLeaks and the Afghanistan War Papers: Behind the Scenes with Der Spiegel’s Coverage
By Gregor Peter Schmitz (Burns 1997)
When people refer to the “WikiLeaks story”—the online publication of more than 90,000 secret U.S. government documents—they often lament the demise of “old media,” arguing that in the past such a scoop would have been handed on a silver platter to established media institutions, not an upstart online site. An anonymous source leaked the documents to WikiLeaks, which published them almost in full on July 25, 2010. Several months before their publication, though, WikiLeaks shared the documents with Der Spiegel, The New York Times, and the Guardian, under embargo until July.
As a reporter with an “established” media outlet and a member of the Spiegel task force that has dealt with the sensitive material over the past few months, I would argue the exact opposite. While certainly WikiLeaks deserves immense credit for bringing the material into the limelight, the cooperation between The New York Times, the Guardian and our Spiegel generated the background information and probing stories that an online posting of the material alone would not have guaranteed. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange acknowledged this aspect himself in an interview right after the documents were posted. He cited the strong investigative resources of the media outlets involved as his reason for joining forces with them.
After the media outlets were given access to the material, we all formed small research teams to comb through as many documents as possible. In Spiegel’s case, this consisted of a large team of approximately 20-25 people, including editors familiar with the war in Afghanistan and the region, experts from our fact-checking department, legal advisors, and information technology experts whose input was invaluable in narrowing down the search results of the huge database.
 The exchange between the Guardian, NYT and Spiegel has been ongoing from day one. While we did not swap detailed story ideas or assessments, we kept each other in the loop on our research focus and the angles we chose. Our British colleagues highlighted the loss of civilian lives, while the Times focused largely on Pakistan support for the Taliban and its strategic implications. We Germans took a great interest in the activities in north Afghanistan where the majority of German troops are deployed, and also on the underreported advanced weaponry hiccups, as in the case of U.S. drones.
We also coordinated when approaching U.S. authorities a few days before our scheduled—and simultaneous—publication on July 25. At a meeting at the White House with senior administration officials, colleagues from The New York Times asked for comments on our findings on behalf of the media outlets involved. While the administration at first promised a quick comment, it soon turned to stonewalling, which—given our tight print deadline for the Spiegel magazine—led to us finally handing in our own questionnaire. It took the White House days to issue an official comment though. We ultimately published their “no comment” statement in the hard copy, while constantly updating our online reports with the statements they later released. The White House has since tried to convey the impression that they were not contacted in time for comments by outlets like Spiegel or Guardian, which is simply untrue.
The debates fostered by the publication of the documents have been ongoing ever since—on the activities of the clandestine U.S. task force 373 which targets insurgent leaders, the number of civilian casualties or the dubious role played by the American ally Pakistan.
The U.S. administration’s response has largely been to lash out against WikiLeaks and anyone involved in the leak—while also portraying the publication of the secret documents as “old news,” given that most memos cover a period prior to the announcement of Obama’s strategy shift in the region.
This is misleading for a number of reasons. Nobody claims that the documents will have a similar impact as the Pentagon Papers. Their publication in the 1970s helped uncover a massive government effort to mislead the American public and the rest of the world about the progress of the war in Vietnam.
However, the newly released reports from people fighting the war on the ground provide the most comprehensive picture so far of a war effort that nine years in the making has failed to produce significant results.
In addition, the documents show that most of the controversial measures taken—such as targeted killings or drone attacks—have actually been expanded under Obama’s watch. In light of the bleak reports, the question remains whether any new strategy or military approach can tip the balance in Afghanistan.
It’s a story that needs to be told and a question that needs to be asked. Despite the uplifting statements from official sources, “victory in Afghanistan” (whatever that term might ultimately imply) seems further away than ever.
Gregor Peter Schmitz is a Washington correspondent for Der Spiegel. Previously he was the director of the Brussels office at the Bertelsmann Foundation. He spent his Burns fellowship in 1997 at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ambassador Scharioth's Reception, July 2010
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The 2010 Arthur F. Burns Fellows at the Washington, D.C., orientation reception at Ambassador Scharioth's residence.
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2010 Burns Fellow Aaron Wiener (right) with Burns alumnae
(from left) Helen Fessenden (2005), Megan Mulligan (2002), and Katharine Schmidt (1993).
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| Roger Cohen (left), winner of the 2009 George F. Kennan Commentary award, with German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth |
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Orientation 2010
By Aaron Wiener
In this age of budget cuts and understaffed newsrooms, journalists often don’t have the time or resources to delve as deeply into the back stories of their assignments as they should. Thus the 2010 class of Arthur F. Burns fellows let their orientation come and go without any knowledge of the tradition of throwing Mario Scherhaufer and assorted furniture into the pool at the Airlie retreat center.
That’s not to say our week together in D.C. and Virginia wasn’t without its share of debauchery! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The ten German and ten American fellows met up in the U.S. capital to prepare for our two months working as journalists abroad. Some of us (read: me) entered our rooms at the, um, lovely Four Points Sheraton to find roommates with meticulously waxed handlebar mustaches. Others were not so fortunate.
The next two and a half days saw us bonding over gourmet and less-gourmet meals, plenty of open bars, and panels featuring the likes of Washington Post editor Marcus Brauchli and painstakingly moderate former Sen. Chuck Hagel. The American fellows learned valuable lessons about the economic and political debates in Germany. The German fellows learned valuable lessons about the economic and gustatory superiority of Yuengling to other (non-microbrew) American beers.
The jam-packed orientation itinerary provided us with plenty of insights into German and American media and the types of stories we would be covering. But our downtime in D.C. was arguably even more valuable in preparing us for the fellowship. Every bus ride, every late-night beer, every poolside conversation saw us discussing the differences between German and American journalism, good contacts in our soon-to-be host cities, or the proper way to address your editor in Berlin. Past Burns fellows have waxed rhapsodic on the long-term benefits of contact with fellow Burnsies, but I think we all started getting these benefits from day one.
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From Washington, we headed to Warrenton, Va., for a two-day retreat of minimal responsibility and maximum leisure. The Germany vs. U.S. basketball game never materialized, because only one American (read: me) showed up. The Germany vs. U.S. volleyball game wasn’t all that different. And yet, we managed to stay busy. Amid all the action, Steffi took some great photos to capture the spirit of the retreat:
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| Someone said something funny. Given how hard Christian is laughing, it was probably Christian. |
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Two fellows chat, probably about the declining advertising
revenues of German news weeklies. A third fellow sleeps. |
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| Dalia and Andreas provide the musical accompaniment. |
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The lovely Airlie pool. Note (sigh) the lack of furniture
and Mario in said pool. |
As I write this from my apartment in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, the other 19 Burns fellows are scattered across the United States and Germany, already racking up accomplishments as guest journalists at some of the finest publications in our two countries. We Burnsies set the bar high for each other. A two-month vacation this isn’t.
It’s only fitting to close with a word of thanks to Frank-Dieter Freiling, Mario Scherhaufer and the other ICFJ folks who made this happen. We’ll have plenty of stories of success, mishaps, and adventure when we next convene, and it’s thanks to you. So I raise my glass of Berliner Pilsner to you all. Prost!
Aaron Wiener is editor at The Washington Independent, in Washington, D.C. He is spending his fellowship at the Berlin bureau of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
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IJP RESEARCH GRANTS
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1997 American Fellow and first recipient of the Research Grant Sheryl Oring doing interviews in Germany (2005).
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Internationale Journalisten Programme (IJP) and the Arthur F. Burns Fellowships are providing a special opportunity for journalists with a passion for research and storytelling around the globe.
IJP’s Research Grants offer stipends of up to €4,000 to as many as 10-15 print, broadcast and new media journalists. Grantees will be selected by an advisory board, including professionals and trustees working in journalism.
Who: All IJP and Burns alumni are eligible—both newsroom staffers and freelancers.
What: The grants support ambitious journalism projects including, but not limited to, the global economic crisis. Joint projects between journalists from different countries are encouraged, but individual projects will also be considered. A transatlantic perspective should be part of the project.
When: The deadline is ongoing throughout 2010/2011 until funds are exhausted.
Selection Criteria: When choosing, we consider each candidate’s professional accomplishments and potential; his or her individual and organizational commitment, and the potential impact of the proposed journalistic project. For collaborative projects, each applicant should submit a separate application that incorporates the jointly developed project proposal. Click
here for details on what to submit.
Requirements: The program will only review completed applications endorsed by a news organization. Stories must be published or broadcast within four months of grant award date. Eighty percent of the amount of each grant will be paid at the outset of the project, with the remaining 20 percent to be paid upon publication or broadcast. Applicants are expected to join
ijpcommunity.org, a new web 2.0 Community for IJP alumni and the official web site for the grants.
Sponsored by: The IJP Research Grants are financed by contributions from Goldman Sachs and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding comes from the transatlantic program of the Federal Republic of Germany with funding from the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi).
Young Leaders Conference, Hamburg
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Fred Pleitgen (2005) and Manuel Hartung (2005) attended
the Atlantik Brücke's Young Leaders conference in Hamburg at the end of August.
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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
Leigh Burke, Burns Fundraising Consultant
Emily Schult, 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.
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International Center
for Journalists
1616 H Street, NW, Third Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel: 1-202-737-3700
Fax:1-202-737-0530
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Internationale Journalisten-
Programme
Postfach 1565
D-61455
Königstein/Taunus
Tel: +49-6174-7707
Fax: +49-6174-4123
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The Burns Fellowship program is
administered jointly by:
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Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling
Dear Friends,
Another great summer has ended and this year’s Burns fellows will soon be wrapping up their time on the other side of the Atlantic. At the end of July, the Burns class of 2010 met in Washington with German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth and the U.S. board of trustees, including several new members. Quite a few Burns alumni from the East Coast attended the reception and helped make the start of the fellowship a remarkable event. After four days of meetings, conversations and debates, Airlie was once again a welcome refuge from the heat and hectic pace of the capital. The next newsletter will bring you some of the impressions and reactions from this year’s fellows after they return home in early October.
Frank Loy was re-elected as chairman of the U.S. board of trustees, which started a new three year term this summer. New additions to the board are: Rebecca Blumenstein, deputy managing editor and international editor, The Wall Street Journal; Neil Henry, professor and dean, School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley; Iain Holding, president, Beiersdorf North America; and John F. W. Rogers, managing director, Goldman, Sachs & Co. Earlier this year, former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmitt rejoined the board. He served previously as a trustee on the Burns board, as well as serving as patron during his term as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 1991-1993.
In this newsletter, you will find a revised application for research grants, which are still available. Funding for these grants has been provided by Goldman Sachs and the Ford Foundation. In a time of budget cuts and tight funding, these grants are a great opportunity for intensive journalistic research on a transatlantic topic that your home media is unable to finance. Give the criteria a careful look and consider applying. Please also consider which stories you produced during 2010 that might qualify for an Arthur F. Burns Award or George F. Kennan Commentary Award. The deadline for entries produced in 2010 is February 1, 2011.
Wishing you all the best for the autumn ahead and hope to see you again soon on either side of the Atlantic,
Frank
1991
Alan Scott Noblitt will finish a graphic design associate’s degree from Madison College in December 2010.
1994
Julia Naumann joined Amnesty International as press spokeswoman in Berlin in July.
1995
Stephan Millies now works in Berlin for Deutsche Telekom as product manager for products and innovation.
1996
Thomas Atkins has returned to Frankfurt as head of financial news training for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Reuters. After working as a communications consultant for leading higher education and non-profit organizations for 13 years, Peter Rooney recently joined Amherst College as its director of public affairs.
1997
In November, Andreas Wunn will start work in Brazil as the Rio de Janeiro bureau chief and South America correspondent for ZDF German television.
Marc Fischer published his new book Fragen, die wir unseren Eltern stellen sollten, and was interviewed about it in Der Spiegel. Michael Streck and his wife welcomed a baby boy, Arun Valentin Gutierrez Sahm, on June 29 in Washington, D.C.
1999
Steve Kettmann recently co-authored a book with Peter Arnell titled Shift that became a New York Times best-seller. Verena Schmitt-Roschmann is now Berlin correspondent for the news agency dapd. Previously she worked as a German correspondent for the international service of the Associated Press.
2000
Documentary film producer Oliver G. Becker directed and produced two documentaries about football in Africa for the German Foreign Ministry.
2001
Robert Jacobi published his new travel book Der wilde Kontinent about his trip along the Atlantic coast of South America. Allyson Vaughan-Williams, her husband Ted Williams and 18-month old daughter Ella recently moved to Frankfurt after five years in the Middle East.She will teach at the International School of Frankfurt.
2002
Annie Baxter and Curtis Gilbert (2007) are getting married on September 18. Annie is also being reassigned to cover Michele Bachmann’s congressional race.
2003
Thoralf Schwanitz has joined the legal department of Axel Springer AG, where he works as an in-house counsel. Steve Zeitchik moved to Los Angeles a year ago, where he works as an arts and entertainment writer concentrating on film stories for The Los Angeles Times.
2005
Manuel J. Hartung, currently a McCloy Scholar at Harvard, published his fourth book, Die netten Jahre sind vorbei. Schoener leben in der Dauerkrise. Co-authored with Die Zeit’s Cosima Schmitt, the book is a portrait of the generation of 20- to 35-year olds. Robert Kiendl returned from living in the United States and now works for the Berlin bureau of ARD Radio. Christian Meier works as Berlin correspondent for the trade magazine kressreport, specializing in coverage of the media industry. Christian Thiele welcomed a baby, Stella Thiele Lescop, on July 3. His
book about Argentina will be published in October.
Matt Hermann is the sports editor for Deutsche Welle’s English service. Rose Jacobs has changed positions at The Financial Times. She is now a corporate reporter covering pubs, restaurants and assorted other leisure industries.
Marissa Muller graduated from IESE Business School in Barcelona, where she focused her MBA on marketing and energy. After graduating in the spring, she traveled through California on a home-built,
solar charged bicycle. She rode 1,000 miles to promote 1,000 clean ideas, speaking at high schools along the way about solar and electric vehicles and energy efficiency.
Laura Santini has left The Wall Street Journal and journalism. She and her husband moved to Washington to join the foreign service. Along with their son, they will depart soon for a post in South Africa.
2008
After seven years in Berlin, Mario Kaiser is moving back to New York to report on North and South America, focusing on migration and social transformations. In May, Fabian Löhe started working for the news service dapd. Based in their Berlin office, he covers the Bundeswehr, the liberal Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP) and Homeland Security.
2009
Fredy Gareis moved to Jerusalem this summer to work as a freelance reporter in Israel and the Middle East. He has worked in both print and radio for German media outlets and hopes to acquire some English-language freelance assignments as well.
Roman Pletter joined the daily newspaper Handelsblatt in August as head of the “Report” section. In July, Stefan Tomik changed departments at Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
Click here to log into the Alumni Portal. To register, please fill out
this short form.
2011 Application Deadlines:
German Applicants: February 1, 2011
U.S. Applicants:
March 1, 2011
U.S. Trustees (2010-2013)
Patron: Dr. Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the United States
Joyce Barnathan, President, International Center for Journalists
Elizabeth Becker, Journalist and Author
J.D. Bindenagel, Vice President, Community, Government and International Affairs, DePaul University
Rebecca Blumenstein, Deputy Managing Editor and International Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Kurt Bock, Chairman and CEO, BASF
Marcus W. Brauchli, Executive Editor, The Washington Post
Richard Burt, Senior Advisor, McLarty Associates (Honorary Chairman)
Martin Bussmann, Mannheim LLC
Nikhil Deogun, Managing Editor, CNBC
David W. Detjen, Partner, Alston & Bird LLP
Frank-Dieter Freiling, Director, Internationale Journalisten Programme, e.V. (IJP)
Ronald Frohne, President and CEO, GWFF USA, Inc.
Rick Goings, Chairman and CEO, Tupperware Brands Corporation
Neil Henry, Professor and Dean, School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
James F. Hoge, Jr., Editor, Foreign Affairs Magazine (Honorary Chairman)
Iain Holding, President, Beiersdorf North America
Robert M. Kimmitt, Senior International Counsel, WilmerHale
Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates
Frank E. Loy, Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (Chairman)
Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator
Wolfgang Pordzik, Executive Vice President, Corporate Public Policy, DHL North America
John F. W. Rogers, Managing Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Garrick Utley, President, Levin Institute, SUNY
Stanford S. Warshawsky, Chairman, Bismarck Capital, LLC (Vice Chairman)
Legal Advisor: Phillip C. Zane, Attorney at Law, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz
German Trustees (2010-2013)
Patron: Philip D. Murphy
U.S. Ambassador to Germany
Erik Bettermann
Director-General, Deutsche Welle
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Bettzuege
German Ambassador to Brussels
Dr. Martin Blessing
CEO, Commerzbank AG
Prof. 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
Leonhard F. Fischer
Partner, RHJI Swiss Management
Dr. Rüdiger Frohn
Chairman, Stiftung Mercator
Emilio Galli-Zugaro
Head Group Communications, Allianz Group
Dr. Tessen von Heydebreck
Former Member of the Board, Deutsche Bank AG (Honorary Chairman)
Dr. Werner Hoyer
State Minister, Foreign Office, FDP
Dr. Luc Jochimsen
Member of Parliament, Die Linke
Hans-Werner Kilz
Editor-in-Chief, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Dr. Torsten-Jörn Klein
Board member, Gruner + Jahr AG
Rob Meines
Meines & Partners, The Hague
Kerstin Müller
Former State Minister, Member of Parliament, Buendnis 90/Die Grünen
Rainer Neske
Board Member, Deutsche Bank (Chairman)
Dagmar Reim
Director General, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
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
Dr. Frank Walter Steinmeier
Former Foreign Minister, Chair of the SPD Parliamentary Group
Tobias Trevisan
CEO, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Lord George Weidenfeld
Former CEO, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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 2010 Arthur F. Burns program possible.
Sponsors in the U.S.
Alston & Bird, LLP
BASF
Beiersdorf, NA
Robert Bosch Stiftung
The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation
Continental Airlines
DHL North America
Dow Jones & Company
The Ford Foundation
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
GWFF USA, Inc.
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 SE
Auswärtiges Amt.
Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend
Deutsche Bank AG
European Recovery Program (ERP), Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Siemens AG
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