Vol. 20 No. 3
FEATURED STORIES
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Orientation 2011
By Catherine Cheney (Burns 2011)
The time had come for the USA versus Germany volleyball match at the Airlie conference center in Warrenton, VA. While we were all selected for our journalistic abilities, we were ready to put our athletic talents to the test.
The Germans won—twice—and broke out in a truly impressive rendition of their national anthem. Then we mixed things up in a combined match culminating in handshakes and high fives.
Just a few days earlier, wearing business attire and nametags, we had exchanged hellos and hallos in the hotel lobby. But by our final night together, we wore matching Arthur F. Burns polo shirts and laughed as we shared some of our favorite memories and made a few more.
All of us could relate to what Dan Boyce said at dinner earlier that night: that he could head back to Montana tomorrow, and already the fellowship would have changed his path and perspective.
A full orientation schedule in Washington, D.C., had us moving from the International Center for Journalists to the German Marshall Fund to the Senate Office Building for meetings on German-American relations, foreign and economic policy, and the state of the news media.
Many of our discussions centered on a question posed by Jackson Janes of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies: In the name of what does the transatlantic relationship proceed into the 21st century?
A session with ICFJ president Joyce Barnathan, Washington Post editor Marcus Brauchli, and journalist Elizabeth Becker led to continuing conversations on the similarities and differences between German and American journalism, as well as the future of foreign reporting.
I filled several notebooks, noting not only what the panelists had to say, but also the insights of the other fellows. As I review these pages filled with stars and heavy underlining from my apartment in Berlin, I remember just how much I learned in those few days together, not only around conference tables, but also on bus rides and over beers.
Pictures from the trip capture notebooks and pens, questions and aha moments. They capture wining and dining at receptions and catered lunches. They capture a morning of skeet shooting, an afternoon at the Airlie pool, and a night of drinking games.
Most importantly, they capture how 18 fellows became friends.
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Our first night together. Paul Ronzheimer raises his glass pre-shoulder injury. Prost!
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Tom Dreisbach asks a question in our meeting
at the GMF offices. |
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Dan Boyce poses with the German fellows in front
of the White House. |
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We observe the transatlantic relationship in the form
of a volleyball game. |
And our friendships continue as we share articles, experiences and insights from either side of the Atlantic.
Already, small reunions are taking place across America and Germany, and we look forward to sharing what we learned both inside and outside of the newsroom when we meet again.
To Frank Feiling, Emily Schult, Mario Scherhaufer, and everyone else who made our D.C. experience so wonderful, thank you and danke schön!
Catherine Cheney is a Web producer and staff writer at POLITICO in Washington, D.C. She is spending her Burns Fellowship at Spiegel Online in Berlin.
Reception at the Deputy Chief of Mission Residence, Washington, D.C.
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The 2011 Arthur F. Burns Fellows
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2011 Fellows Anton Troianovski, Anne Allmeling
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Krista Kapralos receives the Burns Award from
Deputy Chief of Mission Jens Hanefeld. |
United States and Germany ponder political trends
By Matt Johanson (Burns 1995)
Though separated by a language barrier and an ocean, Germany and the United States have common political ground as well as varying challenges in a time of great political change.
Such was the subject of “Round Table: Societies in Transition,” a German-American conference attended by alumni of trans-Atlantic partnership programs.
Approximately 75 participants with ties to programs like the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the Goethe Institute and the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship took part from July 14-16 in Washington, D.C.
“Both countries are leading regional powers that have increasingly struggled to balance their internal politics with their international responsibilities, particularly in the debate over the Libya war,” noted Aaron Wiener (Burns 2010), a journalist who represented the Arthur Burns Fellowship.
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| Round Table USA participants make their way to a meeting on Capitol Hill. Photo credit: Kaveh Sardari. |
Yet a shifting political landscape raises questions in both countries. For instance, how will the role of political parties change?
The rise of the conservative Tea Party movement in the United States and Germany’s Pirate Party, which opposes Internet regulation, raises the possibility that long-established parties may face increased competition.
Eike-Christian Hornig of the Technical University of Darmstadt sees “de-alignment from political parties and mistrust in representative organs” in both nations.
“There is genuine concern in Germany, as well as in the United States, on how to get more members of the public involved in politics and public policymaking. I think it is more of a concern in Germany, but many of the American attendees also expressed concerns about bringing more ‘regular folks’ into politics,” said David Rausch, professor of political science from West Texas A&M University.
How parties and politicians use media was another topic of discussion. Despite the success that social media brought the Democratic Party in 2008 and the Republican Party in 2010, “most politicians can’t tell the difference between a (computer) server and a waiter,” said Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Forum. Panelists seemed to agree that politicians in both countries are under-utilizing such resources as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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Beate Thewalt, a 1990 Burns alumna, during a session. Photo credit: Kaveh Sardari.
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“The Internet is allowing a wide range of interest groups to get involved in the political discussion and this is happening in both countries,” said Eckhart Gouras, director of Verquest International Limited. “Google and Facebook are examples of leading Internet players in both countries. Will this lead to even more similarities in how the political discourse occurs in Germany and the U.S.?”
New media will also help shape non-governmental groups such as civil societies, panelists noted.
“In each country, the rise of transnational civil society networks is especially relevant as younger generations identify the role of technology in their lives,” said Colette Mazzucelli, an associate professor from New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. She noted that resources such as Skype helped to organize volunteer relief efforts in humanitarian catastrophes in Haiti, Libya and Japan. “This trend of civic engagement is likely to increase in time with implications for German-American societal relations as well as broader transatlantic cooperation, notably at the popular level,” she said.
“It’s easy to talk about what’s necessary to change society, but it is a long and hard way to actually do it and get people to come along. New media can do a lot but talking to each other still seems to be the better way,” said Beate Thewalt (Burns 1990), another Burns alumna and a reporter and editor for the German news program “Heute.”
Direct democracy also sparked discussion. From California’s 1978 Proposition 13 to limit taxes to Berlin’s 2008 fight over closing its Tempelhof Airport, voters in both nations have increasingly made their voices heard directly, but panelists debated whether ordinary citizens make informed policy decisions.
“The discussion about direct democracy was interesting because the Germans thought it was a good idea to expand opportunities for direct democracy, but with some regulations,” said Rausch. “I’m not sure the forms of direct democracy used in various American states are good models for export because our direct democracy is much more free-wheeling.”
Other observations from attendees about the nations’ trends include:
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Bernd Neuendorf (Burns 1991) talks with fellow Round Table USA participants. Photo credit: Kaveh Sardari.
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“It could now be argued (somewhat sadly) that the United States and Germany are both performing at the equal low common denominator of political indecision, procrastination, paralysis and kicking the can down the road,” said Robert Devine, president of the CEISA Research Group.
“Differences between the countries remain stark. Nowhere is that clearer than in the fight over nuclear power. In the U.S., it’s almost universally agreed upon that the government should provide billions of dollars in loan guarantees to construct new nuclear plants, while Germans have moved so far in the other direction that they rejected as too nuclear-friendly a deal that would have forced the nuclear companies to pay the government in order to extend the operation of a few existing plants,” said Wiener.
“Each country has its pros and cons and the big benefit of the U.S. is the melting pot environment, where foreigners quickly feel at home and are mainly judged by their achievements and not where they’re from. Germany will have to go down this road to succeed given the aging of its population and the need to ‘import’ people who are not German,” said Gouras.
Ultimately, the conference was more about raising thoughtful questions than definitively answering them. “More questions than answers is, I think, a very good result,” said moderator Cornelius Adebahr.
Matt Johanson, a 1995 Burns Fellow, teaches social studies and advises an award-winning newspaper at Castro Valley High School in the San Francisco Bay Area. His books and other writings are found at www.mattjohanson.com.
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Washington, D.C., area alumni gathered at Cafe Berlin in the Capitol Hill neighborhood on June 28.
Holbrooke Research Grants -
Call for Applications
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| Matt Johanson reported on global warming with his travel and research grant in 2007. Here he interviewed Frank Huber, the chief architect of Zugspitze’s ski slopes. |
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.
The Holbrooke 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.
The grants were recently renamed to honor Richard Holbrooke and his outstanding service in the field of international relations and specifically the German-American relationship. Holbrooke was an American diplomat, magazine editor, author and investment banker. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 1993-1994 and the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs from 1994-1996. He also helped form the American Academy in Berlin and was its founding chairman. Most recently, he served as the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He died in December 2010. These travel and research grants honor his legacy of cross-cultural exchange and diplomacy.
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 Holbrooke 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).
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 Alumni,
Another summer is over and a new class of Burns Fellows has nearly completed their time overseas. We look forward to reading their final reports and hope that their experience was enriching and thought-provoking and will provide many positive and long-lasting memories.
But as we always say, the real task starts after completing the fellowship, because a lifetime of being an alumni is ahead. Ten of you attended the Round Table alumni conference in Washington in July (please read the enclosed story about it). Others met the new fellows at the embassy reception in Washington later that month. We have also started planning the New York Burns Dinner at the end of February and a second West Coast Dinner in the spring.
Most importantly, we have expanded our program of research grants, which is only available to alumni for journalistic projects that cannot be financed by your employer. To honor one of the most active Americans in the field of German-American relations, the program will now carry the name The Holbrooke Research Grants, to honor the recently deceased Richard Holbrooke. His wife Kati Marton, a journalist and author, will help ensure that this program carries on the legacy of Richard Holbrooke in the field of media. You will find more details in this newsletter.
I wish you a great autumn and hope that you will stay in touch and participate in our alumni activities on both sides of the Atlantic.
All the best,
Frank
1992
On July 1, Tasso Enzweiler became managing director of the Düsseldorf office of Ketchum Pleon, a leading communications agency.
1993
After nine years in Japan, Michael Behrens has returned to Germany to work at Daimler AG headquarters in Stuttgart.
1994
Ulrike Langer moved from Cologne to Seattle to become a freelance correspondent focusing on digital media.
1995
Stephan Millies moved from Berlin to Austin, Texas, where he will be a product manager for social commerce at Bazaarvoice.
1997
Carsten Kühntopp, having worked for many years as a correspondent for ARD Radio in Tel Aviv, Amman and now Dubai, returns to Germany in September to work for Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich.
1998
Starting in September, Karen Kleinwort is working for the corporate social responsibility magazine CorporAid in Vienna, Austria. Adrienne Woltersdorf will leave Deutsche Welle to work as the representative of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Kabul, Afghanistan, starting January 2012.
1999
Elisabeth Pongratz returned to Munich where she still works for Bayerischer Rundfunk as a TV reporter. Margaret Rankin works as director of communications for LeashLocket, Ltd.,
www.leashlocket.com, based in Colorado. Following two years of development with pet-product experts, LeashLocket™ debuted at SuperZoo in Las Vegas Sept. 13-15. Margaret continues to work as the U.S. media & PR representative for Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary & Holistic Spa on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand, where she worked for two years before moving to the United States. Verena Schmitt-Roschmann left the news agency dapd on September 1 to head the political department of the weekly newspaper Der Freitag. Torsten Teichmann started his job as bureau chief of ARD Radio in Tel Aviv.
2001
Science journalist Stefanie Mahler has moved back to Berlin with her two daughters and is working at the Max Planck Science Gallery at the Gendarmenmarkt.
2003
Thoralf Schwanitz works as a lawyer for Axel Springer AG in Berlin.
2006
After returning from the United States, Nicole Markwald will start work as a presenter for HR-INFO in Frankfurt in October.
2007
Amanda (Bensen) Fiegl has moved from Smithsonian magazine to National Geographic, where she contributes to both the print and iPad editions as an assistant editor. She is still based in Washington, D.C.
2009
Fredy Gareis, who is now working out of Tel Aviv, and Christian Salewski (2010) co-wrote a major article for the weekly newspaper Die Zeit in June, about the transportation of a Picasso painting from Amsterdam to Ramallah.
2010
Steffi Dobmeier moved from Erfurt to Berlin and is now working for Die Tageszeitung. Henning Engelage met his future wife in Miami during his Burns Fellowship last year. They got married and are now expecting their first child. Henning spends the majority of his time as a freelance journalist in Miami. Shaun Halper has moved to California and now teaches classes, lectures and is finishing his dissertation at the University of Berkeley. In September, Stephen Lowman and Aaron Wiener are returning to Berlin on a Fulbright journalism grant. While there, Wiener will be writing for The Local, Spiegel International, and Die Tageszeitung (in succession) and freelancing for American papers and magazines. Ulrich Schulte, previously head of domestic news for the weekly newspaper Die Tageszeitung, is now bureau chief for the paper’s parliamentary bureau in Berlin.
2011
Dan Boyce has produced two stories so far during his fellowship at Deutsche Welle in Bonn. For one of the pieces, DW paid for him to travel to the Zugspitze, Germany’s tallest peak. He is already planning on when he can return to Germany once his fellowship is over.
Click here to log into the Alumni Portal. To register, please fill out
this short form.
2012 Application Deadlines:
German Applicants: February 1, 2012
U.S. Applicants:
March 1, 2012
U.S. Trustees (2010-2013)
Patron: The Honorable Dr. Peter Ammon, 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, Corporate Vice President, Global Sales Strategy, 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, former 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, Former 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 2011 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
DHL North America
The Ford Foundation
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The Ladenburg Foundation
Mars Incorporated
NBCUniversal
Individual Contributions
Dr. Martin Bussmann
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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