Looking rather tense and bearing a serious expression, the man in a dark suit and tie sits down on one of the seats in the television studio during a live news broadcast. The two presenters who had just been reading the day’s news to viewers in front of a wall of screens make way for the head of the private Georgian television station Imedi TV. His voice sounds strained as he announces the latest unpleasant news: the police have stormed the offices and the station is going off the air.
After a minute the station head has finished his announcement – and with a click of the mouse Amalia Oganjanyan closes the YouTube video about Imedi TV that the student from Georgia has just shown other members of her course. The example of the temporary closure of the independent TV station in 2007 fits in well with the subject they are considering this morning: the seminar at the Deutsche Welle (DW) in Bonn is looking at freedom of the press and the role of the media in globalization. Global is also a word you could use to describe the programme’s students: the 22 young journalists, almost all in their mid-twenties with a university degree and media experience, come from 13 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America – and are pioneers. They are the first members of a new course that is unique in this form in Germany: international media studies. Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcasting organization, and its academy for further and advanced training in journalism launched the four-semester German- and English-language Master’s programme in September with support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Important academic partners are the University of Bonn and the Bonn Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences.
Programme director Dr. Christoph Schmidt of the DW-Akademie received some 700 enquiries about the course from all over the world. In addition to journalism, the main emphases of the programme include media management and business, media development as well as the media and education. Another important goal is to encourage an understanding of the links between the media, politics and society as well as the role of independent journalism in a democracy. In Germany, freedom of opinion is protected by the constitution and laid down in Article 5 of the Basic Law. Journalists can report freely without fear of censorship – and thus assume an important control function. Schmidt also emphasizes: “Our programme aims to contribute to training professional and impartial journalists who will promote democracy and social transparency in developing and emerging countries.”
Rodrigo Rodembusch has just left the seminar room. His head is still full of terms such as the broadcasting rules for television and radio and the freedom of opinion and information. He has just had a lecture on “Media Law”. The 34-year-old Brazilian who holds a diploma in journalism is already a seasoned media professional. Up to 2008 he had already worked for eight years in Brazilian television and radio, most recently as editor-in-chief of a radio station in Porto Alegre. He has also worked as a correspondent, reporting on the US presidential elections and the World Cup in Germany. Since he had already had journalistic experience with Deutsche Welle, he has now returned to Bonn. But why would an editor-in-chief want to start studying all over again? “I want to develop my career and eventually pass on the knowledge I have gained to other journalists in Brazil,” explains Rodrigo Rodembusch in almost perfect German. He could also very well imagine himself teaching student journalists as a university professor. The enthusiasm he exudes would undoubtedly make him a popular teacher – and the Master’s degree will also qualify him for the job.
The lunch break is now over and the next course begins: Journalism II. The subject this time is journalistic research and how to recognize whether content is credible and has been acquired from reliable sources. In the so-called “newsroom” students sit in front of computers with modern flat-screen monitors mounted on the wall while the teacher Almuth Schellpeper explains “guidelines for evaluating sources” in English. Chen-cheng Zhu from China is taking notes on a pad. The 23-year-old student graduated in German studies at China’s Communication University in 2008. She also got to know Germany during an exchange with the Ruhr University in Bochum. She says she still lacks theoretical knowledge about journalism, however, and that is what she wants to catch up on at the Deutsche Welle. She enthuses about the international study atmosphere in which she will be able to learn so much.
The theory is followed by practical research exercises. Almuth Schellpeper distributes copies of English-language articles to the students. Mantegaftot Sileshi Siyoum also takes one of the texts and discusses it with fellow students from Kenya, Jordan and Venezuela. The 29-year-old Ethiopian studied in Addis Ababa, has worked as a film director and founded an advertising agency. He came to the DW in 2007 for a work placement in the Amharic-language radio department, for which he continued to work following his foreign-language internship. Every week he produces a youth broadcast. When he heard about the Master’s programme, he knew it was just the thing for him. He is primarily interested in questions of media freedom – a particularly sensitive issue for journalists from East Africa.
It’s now 3:30 p.m. After one-and-a-half hours of theoretical and practical tips on research, Almuth Schellpeper gives her students a few more sheets to read for the next session. Then the 22 students have officially finished for the day. Rodrigo Rodembusch also packs his things together. He now wants to do some research for himself – in front of the television at home. It’s the ideal place for the up-and-coming journalist to further improve his German.
