Vol. 20 No. 1
FEATURED STORIES
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Zakaria Tackles Middle East Uprisings: New York Alumni Dinner
By Sabra Ayres (Burns 2005)
The street protests in the Middle East over the past several weeks mark the first time in a millennium that the Arab people feel that they are in charge of their own destiny and fate, international journalist Fareed Zakaria told guests at this year’s annual Arthur F. Burns alumni dinner in New York City."
“What is striking about what we are seeing today is that it is clearly something systemic; that it is not limited to one country,” Zakaria said about the public protests in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and several other Middle Eastern nations. “This is something unique in Arab history.”
Zakaria
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| Fareed Zakaria at the annual Burns alumni dinner in New York City. Photo credit: Tom Weis |
is the host of CNN’s international affairs program “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” editor-at-large of TIME, a Washington Post columnist, and a New York Times bestselling author. His vast knowledge of the Middle East was the focus of this year’s annual Burns dinner, which was held at the Jumeirah Essex House on February 22. More than 90 alumni, guests and Burns board members attended this year’s dinner at the midtown Manhattan hotel.
For centuries, the Arab world has been under political control by foreign powers—the Ottomans, the British, Napoleon, and others, Zakaria said. And while there were always local leaders during these periods of control, “these local rulers were always supported, assisted and sometimes even picked by the foreign powers,” Zakaria explained.
The problem is that while the local rulers were always good at managing up, they were not skilled at managing down, or ruling their own people, he said. As a result, Arab nations were often ruled with a heavy hand that included brutality and corruption of power.
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| Trustee Neil Henry, Damaso Reyes (Burns 2007), Calvin Sims and Trustee Joyce Barnathan. Photo credit: Tom Weis |
“We’ve been told for many years about the Arab street—that it was anti-American, anti-Israeli, among other things. But when it finally opened up, what we discovered was that it was worse than that—they didn’t care about us. What they were mostly concerned about were the conditions and regimes in which they lived under,” he said.
In years past, the Burns dinners have had speakers who focused mainly on American and European issues. This year’s speaker explained that headline-grabbing news events had steered him to take a different course of action.
“Because this is an organization about German and American events, I wanted to talk about some of the issues related to Europe, the U.S., the euro crisis and globalization,” Zakaria said. “But as journalists often do, I took a look out the window and thought, ‘I think I am going to have to talk about the Middle East.’”
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| Sabine Muscat (Burns 2007) asks Zakaria a question following his speech. Photo credit: Tom Weis |
The topic change was well received by many alumni and board members attending the event.
“We’ve been holding these annual events for seven or eight years in New York,” said Frank Loy, the chairman of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, after thanking Zakaria for his speech. “But never have we heard one that was more thoughtful and more interesting than the one we heard tonight, I think.”
Jay Weinstein (Burns 1999) agreed, saying Zakaria’s speech was the most engaging that he’s seen. “And I remember when we had [Henry] Kissinger.”
Dalia Fahmy (Burns 2010) said she was inspired by Zakaria’s optimism about the future of Egypt and the Middle East. Fahmy’s family is Egyptian and her parents moved back to Cairo several years ago after living in the United States. They were in the city when the protests began in late January.
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| From left: Harvey Dickson (Burns 1990), John Turrettini (Burns 2002) and Amy Braunschweiger (Burns 2002). Photo credit: Tom Weis |
Even though the issue that draws Burns fellows together is trans-Atlantic relations, Fahmy said she was interested in Zakaria’s thoughts on the protests spreading around the Arab world.
“It’s nice to get a perspective from someone who is a person of color and who knows how life is in the developing world,” she said.
Sabra Ayres was a Burns fellow in Stuttgart in 2005. She is currently a freelance journalist based in New York.
Fareed Zakaria wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post the day after the Burns Dinner discussing some of the same topics. You can read the article
here.
Egyptian Uprising: An (Informal) Look at German and American Coverage
By Dalia Fahmy (Burns 2010)
The Middle East has had its share of big news over the past few thousand years. Reporting on this news impartially has always been difficult, and any reporter who has covered the region will tell you that no matter how hard they try to remain objective, they are routinely accused of taking sides.
So it was a welcome relief to see international opinion, and with it, international media coverage, brought together by the Egyptian uprising. In the United States and Germany, news and analysis of the events that followed the demonstrations of January 25 were generally optimistic, with journalists casting aside their cynicism to celebrate the rare triumph of citizens against dictatorship. As David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker writes: “The historic moments of peaceful popular demonstrations, of oppressed people emerging as one from their private realms of silence and fear, are thrilling.”
Of course, in both the United States and Germany there was an undercurrent of nervousness about whether the revolt might push Islamic fundamentalists into power. Still, the tone in the mainstream media on this front was moderate in both countries, with most publications preferring to wait for more evidence before reaching a verdict.
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Egyptians gathered to protest on Jan. 31 in Tahrir Square. Photo courtesy of darkroom productions via Flickr.
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The more interesting differences in coverage were seen in the smaller stories, the kind of articles that editors run not because they want to keep the best record of history, but because they know that these stories will generate sales and clicks.
Take Mubarak’s health, for example. As an American journalist, it was interesting to see how closely German media followed reports about Mubarak’s deteriorating health. “Wie krank ist der alte Pharao wirklich?” screamed a headline in Bild newspaper just before he resigned, quoting Egyptian newspaper reports that Mubarak had lost consciousness several times and was refusing medication. Even after his resignation, the concern over his health continues, with Die Welt repeating rumors that Mubarak is in a coma or has gone on a hunger strike. No doubt some of the interest is self-referential: Mubarak and his family members have often received medical treatment in Germany, with the “old pharaoh” having a gallbladder removed in Heidelberg last year. In the same vein, German media were very concerned with trying to track Mubarak’s whereabouts, speculating before and after his resignation whether he was in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Dubai or even Vienna. With so many Germans having visited these places themselves, it makes sense that this theme had such resonance with German readers.
Meanwhile in the United States, journalists were in full hand-wringing mode about their government’s role first in propping up Mubarak’s regime for more than thirty years, and then bungling his last days in office. “America has its hands all over this mess,” an editor friend told me just before the despot resigned, when everyone was worried about the potential of a violent crackdown.
There was also quite a bit of back-patting, with Fox News inviting Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush, to talk about whether the uprising could be credited to Bush’s “Freedom Agenda.” An op-ed in The Washington Post by a former Bush advisor argues that the Republican president has been vindicated for his famous speech in which he asked “Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty?” These weren’t the only former Bush officials willing to opine about events from the sidelines. Former Vice President Dick Cheney made headlines when he cautioned President Barack Obama to moderation in his dealings with Mubarak, pointing out that Mubarak had been America’s “good friend” and ally.
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Fred Pleitgen (Burns 2005), Berlin correspondent for CNN, in Cairo the night Mubarak fell.
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Another prominent theme in the United States was how Mubarak’s ouster would affect Egyptian and U.S. relationships with Israel. The concern is that without a U.S.-friendly ally in Cairo, simmering hostility to Israel might end up reflected in the country’s foreign policy. Israel in particular has been worried about political gains by Muslim fundamentalists in democratic elections. “… the new demand for sovereignty, accountability and dignity firing up the Arab world bodes ill for Washington’s ability to corral Arab backing for its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” writes Time magazine’s Tony Karon.
On the lighter side, American media wrote many articles about reactions of Egyptians across the country. With sizable populations of Egyptians living everywhere from Detroit to Los Angeles to New York, there was no shortage of memorable quotes reflecting the expatriates’ euphoria.
“The donkey is gone!” Farid El Baghdadi, a chef in the New York neighborhood of Little Egypt told The New York Times. “This is a new day for Egypt.”
Dalia Fahmy is a freelance journalist based in New York City. She spent her fellowship in 2010 at Die Welt in Berlin. Born in Cairo, she has lived in Egypt, Germany, Bulgaria, Spain and Belgium.
28th Annual German-American Conference
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On March 4 and 5, the 28 finalists for the 2011 Burns Fellowship met in Berlin at the 28th Annual German-American Conference. They discussed the state of the transatlantic relationship with guests including senior members of parliament, the Israeli Ambassador, and journalists and professors from both sides of the Atlantic. Since the Burns patron, Ambassador Phil Murphy, was out of town, Deputy Chief of the U.S. mission Greg Delawie hosted a reception at his Dahlem home on Saturday evening, attended by many local Burns alumni. In this photo, Frank-Dieter Freiling welcomes guests.
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Burns Chairman Awarded Commander's Cross
of the Order of Merit
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Frank Loy (left) with Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the United States.
Frank Loy, chairman of the Arthur Burns Fellowships and former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, recently won the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The award was presented by German President Christian Wulff on Nov. 2, 2010, at the German Ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC. The Order of Merit is awarded to Germans as well as foreigners for achievements in the political, economic, social or intellectual realm and for outstanding services to the nation in the field of social, charitable or philanthropic work. You can read his acceptance speech
here.
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IJP Research Grants - Call for Applications
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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 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).
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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,
As you read this newsletter, we are in the process of selecting the class of 2011. We received many applications, which shows how high the demand continues to be for this fellowship. The next newsletter will include the names of the new fellows who will start their fellowship on July 26 in Washington, DC.
More than 90 alumni, sponsors and trustees attended the New York dinner on February 22. Dr. Fareed Zakaria, editor-at-large at Time magazine and a host on CNN, gave his assessment of the most recent developments in the Middle East. A lively discussion followed. Please read Sabra Ayres’ story for more on the dinner.
More events are scheduled for the upcoming months. The first West Coast alumni dinner will be held on April 14 in San Francisco. In Germany, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis will be the guest of honor at our alumni dinner in Berlin on June 1. The reception at the German Ambassador’s residence in Washington on July 27 concludes the upcoming scheduled events.
I also would like to highlight two upcoming alumni conferences. USA Round Table will host a major alumni conference in Washington from July 14-16 that focuses on societies in transition—facing the reality of political participation. The IJP alumni conference, which covers all 11 fellowship programs organized by IJP (including Burns), will take place October 20-24 in Berlin and will celebrate the 30th anniversary of IJP’s founding. You will all receive invitations to both these conferences. In addition, our research grants will continue in 2011 and I strongly encourage you to apply.
There are many activities for alumni and I hope you will take advantage of them and participate whenever you can.
Finally, I’d like to use this opportunity to say farewell to German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth in Washington who will retire at the end of June. He has been a great and active patron of this program. We wish him all the best in his new life after the diplomatic service.
Enjoy the spring and I hope to see you very soon at one of the many Burns events coming up!
All the best,
Frank
1993
Nikolaus Blome, deputy editor-in-chief and chief capital correspondent for the daily Bild, is also host of a weekly talk show on TV channel Phoenix, called “Der Tag.” After 16 years in the United States, Marc Fest has become a dual U.S.-German citizen. He continues to serve as vice president of communications for the Knight Foundation in Miami.
1994
Brian Zumhagen is translating Benjamin Stein’s novel Die Leinwand, to be published as The Canvas next year by Open Letter Books.
1995
Matt Johanson has a new book coming out next month titled Yosemite Epics: Tales of Adventure from America’s Greatest Playground, released by Dreamcatcher Press.
1996
Dagmar Hovestaedt recently left California after 11 years there as a freelance TV and documentary producer. As of mid-March, she will be spokesperson and head of the press department at the German federal agency that handles the files of the secret service of the former DDR (Bundesbeauftragter für die Unterlagen der Staatssicherheitdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik). As she writes, “While I won’t be able to change the name of this agency, I am looking forward to returning to Berlin and digging into a fascinating chapter of German history.”
1997
Tobias Armbrüster welcomed a daughter, Martha, on February 1. Richard David Precht, a bestselling author, became the co-publisher of a philosophy magazine Agora 24.
1998
Nikolai A. Behr has published a new bilingual book titled München: 50 Jahre in Bildern - Munich: 50 years in pictures (Brain Script 2010). The first edition was sold out within weeks; the second will be published in mid-2011. Since October 2010, Nikolai has been a professor of media management at the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Munich. He is still managing director of Brain Script GmbH, a Munich-based consulting and TV production company. He and his wife Katharina welcomed a baby boy, Benedikt Georg, on January 20. Carter Dougherty left the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times in Frankfurt and is now covering Wall Street reform legislation in Washington for Bloomberg. Drew Leifheit continues to cover numerous facets of European energy security—business, technology, geopolitics, etc.—for his website,
Oil & Gas Watch Europe. Based in Budapest, Drew also continues to do public relations work for KPMG in Central and Eastern Europe. He recently got married to a woman he described as “a loveable lunatic from Transylvania.” Volker Weidermann, literary editor for Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, published a biography on the German writer Max Frisch (Kiepenheuer & Witsch).
2000
Oliver Becker, a freelance documentary producer in Frankfurt, will cover Sub-Saharan Africa and especially the formation of the new state of South Sudan in the run up to independence.
2001
Sabine am Orde was promoted to deputy editor-in-chief of the Berlin daily Tageszeitung (taz).
2003
2004
Andrew Wallmeyer will receive his MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in May. After graduation, he will take a management consulting position in the Minneapolis, MN, office of McKinsey & Co.
2005
Fred Pleitgen, Berlin correspondent for CNN, spent most of February in Cairo, becoming the face of CNN’s coverage from Tahir Square.
2007
Philipp Abresch is now East Asia bureau chief for ARD in Tokyo.
2008
Mario Kaiser received the Deutscher Reporterpreis for his story “Herrn Inces Lohn.” The story, a profile of a Turkish day laborer in Berlin, was published in Brand Eins magazine.
2009
Roman Kessler left Frankfurt and moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to work as a full time content producer for the World Economic Forum. Gregor Waschinski will move to Washington on April 1 as the U.S. correspondent for the German news agency AFP.
2010
Stephen Lowman received a Fulbright Young American Journalist Award for 2011-2012. He will be in Berlin from August 2011 to July 2012 studying gentrification issues in the city. Christian Salewski joined the editor pool for the economic publications of Gruner+Jahr in Hamburg for the spring. He will still cover developments in Israel and the Middle East, primarily for the weekly paper Die Zeit. Aaron Wiener was the editor of The Washington Independent until it closed down in November. The site was both a journalistic and business experiment. It was successful in the former, producing award-winning journalism and gaining national recognition. However, as a business experiment, it did not succeed. Aaron is now working as a politics producer at The Washington Post and looking to get back into reporting and/or editing in the near future.
Click here to log into the Alumni Portal. To register, please fill out
this short form.
US Alumni Dinner
in San Francisco:
April 14, 2011
German Alumni Dinner
in Berlin:
June 1, 2011
Deutsche Bank
Speaker: Admiral James Stavridis, NATO Supreme Allied Commander
Washington Reception:
July 27, 2011
German Ambassador's Residence
2011 Fellowships:
July 26 - Sept. 30, 2011
U.S. Trustees (2010-2013)
Patron: The Honorable Dr. Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the United States
Joyce Barnathan, President, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
Elizabeth Becker, Journalist and Author
Amb. J.D. Bindenagel, Vice President, Community, Government and International Affairs, DePaul University
Rebecca Blumenstein, Deputy Managing Editor and International Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman and CEO, BASF
Marcus W. Brauchli, Executive Editor, The Washington Post
Amb. Richard Burt, Senior Advisor, McLarty Associates (Honorary Chairman)
Dr. Martin Bussmann, Mannheim LLC
Nikhil Deogun, Managing Editor, CNBC
David W. Detjen, Partner, Alston & Bird LLP
Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling, Director, Internationale Journalisten Programme, e.V. (IJP)
Prof. Dr. Ronald Frohne, President and CEO, GWFF USA, Inc.
Neil Henry, Professor and Dean, School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
James F. Hoge, Jr., Director, Human Rights Watch (Honorary Chairman)
Iain Holding, President, Beiersdorf North America
Robert M. Kimmitt, Senior International Counsel, WilmerHale
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates
Frank E. Loy, Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (Chairman)
Sen. 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: The Honorable 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.
Steffen Seibert
Government Spokesman
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
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
The Ford Foundation
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The Ladenburg Foundation
Mars Incorporated
Tupperware Brands Corporation
Individual Contributions
John and Gina Despres
David Detjen
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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