Interview with Rüdiger Lentz, Washington Bureau Chief of Deutsche Welle, and Holger Hank, DW-World Editorial Director
Posted by Administrator on September 22nd, 2005
By Alice Marshall, Presto Vivace, Inc. | Presto Vivace Blog
EDITORS’ CHOICE | Mainstream media and citizens journalism
Holger Hank, DW-World Editorial Director, and Rüdiger Lentz, Bureau Chief for Deutche Welle Radio and Television in Washington DC, talks about Deutsche Welle’s mission, journalism, blogs, and life in Washington, DC.
ALICE MARSHALL: How did Deutsche Welle become aware of blogs?
HOLGER HANK: We took notice of blogs in 2002 when referrals from blogs suddenly popped up in our logfiles.
ALICE MARSHALL: How have blogs affected Deutsche Welle?
HOLGER HANK: They are an interesting competitor for “traditional” media like DW-WORLD-DE. We employ the format journalistically, e.g.:
We started to organize the first international weblog award in 2004.
ALICE MARSHALL: How have they affected news gathering?
HOLGER HANK: They are an additional source (for inspiration rather than news mostly)
ALICE MARSHALL: How have they affected the Deutsche Welle website?
HOLGER HANK: We use them as an additional format.
ALICE MARSHALL: Do viewers/listeners/readers send you links from blogs?
HOLGER HANK: Sometimes, but nor very often.
ALICE MARSHALL: Do either of you read blogs? Do you have any favorites? Either German or English language?
HOLGER HANK: Yup. A lot these days. e.g. Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, Andrew Sullivan. Der Schockwellenreiter is a good German one.
ALICE MARSHALL: How would you compare English and German blogosphere?
HOLGER HANK: Well. Have a look at:
http://thebobs.com/thebobs05/bob.php?site=bobsblog&bobsblog_id=15
ALICE MARSHALL: How much of the your website’s traffic comes from the United States? Did that increase after 9/11? Did it increase after the beginning of the Iraq war?
HOLGER HANK:
- 30 percent
- yes
- yes
ALICE MARSHALL: Marshall: Could you tell our readers a little about Deutsche Welle and how it compares to the BBC or PBS?
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: Deutsche Welle is the only multi-lingual, international German broadcaster, operating in 31 languages, presenting full-fledged TV programs in English, German, Spanish and Arabic as well as maintaining an online presence on the web. We see ourselves as a major competitor to BBC World and CNN but, compared to them, we are more focused on German/European affairs and giving our global audience a complementary view on politics.
Our mission is to inform the world about German politics, culture, economy and its place within Europe. Therefore, our claim reads: DW – at the heart of Europe.
ALICE MARSHALL: How does the Washington Bureau fit into the English language service? (I don’t speak German, so this will be mostly about your English language service.)
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: Our Washington Bureau is a bi-lingual office, meaning that our radio correspondent as well as the two TV correspondents are reporting and filling their stories both in German und English.
ALICE MARSHALL: Do American PR pros send you press releases?
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: Yes, American PR pros are sending their press releases to us, but only on a random basis. Because we have well-established contacts to all the Washington think-tanks, as well as major universities, media enterprises, etc., we prefer to have the daily information input channeled rather than be overwhelmed by it.
Most of the stories of interest to our global audience concern German-American relations, American global politics and their impact on the rest of the world as well as economic and cultural matters.
ALICE MARSHALL: To take up a very serious matter, how many Bundeswehr troops are in Afghanistan? What is their mission and where are they stationed? How many have been killed? How many wounded?
RÜDIGER LENTZ: Concerning Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan, the number is ca. 2,500 – 3,000. Most of them serve in and around Kabul plus one detachment in Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan. There have been some casualties but, to the best of my knowledge, they were killed or wounded in accidents and not during military operations.
ALICE MARSHALL: How much of the your website’s traffic comes from the United States? Did that increase after 9/11? Did it increase after the beginning of the Iraq war?
RÜDIGER LENTZ: Concerning DW’s TV-journal and its distribution post 9/11: We have experienced an increased demand for news from Europe and Germany concerning the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism. In this regard, we see ourselves as an independent news source for the American public in addition to US broadcasters.
ALICE MARSHALL: What kind of comments do you get from your American viewers/listeners/readers?
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: The comments from our American viewers and listeners are overwhelmingly positive. Thousands of letters and an increased demand are proof of that.
ALICE MARSHALL: What surprised you the most about the United States?
About the United States: It’s still an astonishing mix of ethnicities, an admirable desire for personal freedom and individuality, but at the same time there is an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, between high professionalism and mismanagement, etc.
ALICE MARSHALL: What do you think is the most common misconception Americans have of Germans?
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: The most common misconceptions Americans have about Germans are that Germans are all wimps and not capable of living up to the global challenges of a modern economy.
ALICE MARSHALL: What do you think is the most common misconception Germans have of Americans?
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: The most common misconceptions Germans have about Americans are that all Americans have gung-ho mentalities, always ready to take military action, and are increasingly right-wing fundamentalists.
ALICE MARSHALL: What is the most difficult part of working in the Washington Bureau of Deutsche Welle?
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: As to working in the DW Washington Bureau: There is no difficult part!
ALICE MARSHALL: What is the most gratifying part?
RÜDIGER LENTZ: The most gratifying part: Receiving a positive response from the public for our programming in the US, many amicable personal and professional relationships with Americans throughout the country and especially within “the beltway�.
ALICE MARSHALL: What is the most fun part of your work in Washington?
RÜDIGER LENTZ: The fun part: The intellectual stimulation and the challenging and changing paths of keeping up with the deluge of news and information generated by the “world’s capital�.
ALICE MARSHALL: What are your impressions of Washington, DC as a city? What do you think Americans should know about their capitol city? What should Europeans know about Washington as a city?
RÜDIGER LENTZ: Washington as a city: It has much improved over the last 20 years during which time I have either visited regularly or lived here for longish intermittent periods. It is a very colorful, diverse and interesting city which has – compared to other cities and world centers – a great quality of being able to live comfortably.
RÃœDIGER LENTZ: What should Europeans know about Washington: There are not only Bush followers and staunch Republicans in this city. And even they are human beings one can talk to and share a laugh with.
About the author
Alice Marshall, author of Presto Vivace Blog, is the founder of Presto Vivace, Inc., a public relations agency serving small- and medium-size technology firms. In February of 2004, she began to publish Presto Vivace Blog to chronicle Potomac area technology events as well as build a dialogue with public relations professionals, marketers, journalists, software developers, project managers, analysts, IT departments and end users.