TV Stories from the Germany Trip

I reported and produced some TV stories upon returning from Germany.  They aired on WLWT in Cincinnati in August, 2008.  One is about Cincinnati Parks, one about Fairview German Language School and one is about University of Cincinnati's Summer in Munich Program.  Enjoy!

http://www.wlwt.com/specialreports/index.html?rss=cin&psp=news

Last Night in Berlin

Our last night in Berlin, RIAS treated us all to one more wonderful German meal. The highlight was giving our gift to our leader Rainer Hasters. Rachel Grygiel from Hoboken won a European Cup soccer ball in a kicking contest on the sidewalk near Brandenburg Gate...she won the ball to give to Rainer and we all signed it. Several people also brought small gifts from home...he got a Texas flag, Panamanian coffee and Cincinnati playing cards.

One of the best parts of this RIAS experience is making friends--some we will hopefully keep forever.

It's only been a month and I've already crashed at Hena's place in Los Angeles, with my whole family! (see photo by Hollywood sign) She took us Hollywood sightseeing and we saw Warren Beatty in a sushi restaurant and Doris Roberts (Raymond's mom) in the bathroom of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Oh yes, and George Clooney's hand and footprints in the walk of fame.

After the RIAS program I traveled for a week to produce and report three stories with a Cincinnati-Germany connection. They aired on WLWT-TV, the NBC station during Olympics and here's the link if you'd like to watch. http://www.wlwt.com/specialreports/index.html?rss=cin&psp=news
(photo of me and 3 University of Cincinnati students studying in Munich at Celtic Festival).

I also got to meet some more German journalists in Munich who work in radio and tv. (photo of Sandra (tv) and Uschi (radio). They took us to the Augustiner Beer Garden, the most fabulous beer garden in all the world (I bet).

Larkin's Birthday

Today is my little girl's birthday and I do miss her. Happy 14th. Love you Larkin Eve!  I bought you some nice presents in Berlin.  Take care of your baby brother and be nice to Greg...                           Love Mom

Last Day in Berlin, Goodbye RIAS

We rode bikes in Berlin today which is the fastest way to get around in this city.  They have fabulous paths. Ran into the gay parade, and took some photos. 

        Friday we visited the Reichstag, where German parliament does business.  Very impressive architecture with a "transparency" theme, and an environmentally progressive cone to suck up the politicians' hot air and recycle it.  They produce 14% of the electricity for the building that way.  It was designed by Lord Nelson Taylor, who designed the new Bejing airport.   The first politician who spoke to us was a Christian Democrat who told us he visited America, (Clinton, Iowa) on an exchange program when he was 17 years old and had a wonderful experience that shaped his life.  

      "You get to see your country through the eyes of others.  In politics, anyone who can not do that should not be in politics."  He still visits his "American brother" who now lives in Cleveland.

      Rainer took us to the most wonderful live performance last night in Berlin, at a theatre called "Chameleon."  It was a cross between a Cirque de Soleil and variety show, with 6 amazingly talented people.   One man did a very fast and dangerous dance inside a metal ring that was stunning.     

      We have our farewell dinner tonight and tomorrow everyone either goes home, or like me, gets on with their work project.  I'll be going to meet a videographer at the Munich airport, rent a car and drive to a little town called Donaueschingen, to catch up with some Cincinnati public school students on the last day of their exchange program.  I want to get there in time to see the big final soccer match between Germany and Spain.

Germany wins, back in Berlin

      We got back to Berlin in time for the big soccer match between Germany and Turkey.  Turkey is the largest immigrant population here, and it was almost like an in-country rivalry.  The girls of RIAS found a great location by Potsdamer Place, an outdoor cafe with bigscreen tv.  A few minutes into the soccer game, the line of people behind us watching and cheering was ten deep. Turkey fans got kind of rowdy, but they lost and there were no "incidents."   It was a great cultural experience.

     Thursday we went to Templehof Airport in Berlin, where American pilots known as the "Candybombers" helped save the lives of West Berliners in 1948.  After the Soviets blockaded the western part of the city and cut off power, people were starving.  American pilots flew in food and supplies and dropped candy to the German kids.  They became known as the Candybombers, and the Berlin Airlift ranks among America's great foreign relations achievements.  Our guys basically kept the West Berliners eating, allowing them to resist Communism and maintain their freedom.  Our airport tour guide was 10 years old when the Berlin Airlift began and recalls chasing after the candy.  "I had never tasted chocolate," he said. "It was exciting."

     Our trip is nearly over and it's going to be sad to say goodbye to some of the journalists I've met from across the country.  You really get to know a person when you travel together.  

Frankfurt and Leipzig

We explored Bruges, Belgium on Saturday, a medieval town with lots of lace and chocolate. We took a boat tour, and the captain was rude to our fearless leader, Rainer Hasters, when he couldn't immediately produce his ticket to ride.  Rainer (top photo Rainer goofing around) is so funny and relaxed, though, and let it slide. I had imagined the German man in charge of us journalists on this RIAS trip would be strict and severe about punctuality (my German hubby insists on arriving everywhere early).   Rainer says his job is like "herding fleas", but he's cool in the way he leads us.   Whenever we ask Rainer's opinion on the chances of something happening, he responds "50-50."

     The big thing in Germany tonight is the soccer match between Germany and Turkey.  IT'S HUGE.  You see flags on lots of the cars here, and some cars have both flags since Turkey is the biggest immigrant population in Germany.  Germany won!  It was a wild night in Berlin, and we watched the match at "Andy's Cafe" near Potsdammer Platz with hundreds of other people.

      The highlights of Frankfurt for me -- the gorgeous riverfront lined with Sycamore trees and skyscrapers with windows that open. (Frankfurt riverfront 2nd photo)  That's right, windows open even on top floors.  Germany has discovered opening windows conserves energy. I wish we'd get on that particular environmental bandwagon.  I love throwing open the windows and balcony doors in all our German hotel rooms, too.

    We visited the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and talked about Euros (ECB bottom photo).  In the US, the penny costs more to make than it's worth and we may soon stop minting it. Europeans have one and two-cent coins and no intention of getting rid of either. 

    Leipzig was the most interesting place we went (2nd last photo). It's in formerly Communist East Germany, and it's the city where the Stasi (Communist police in the former GDR) had their headquarters.  A wonderful city tour by a woman who was one of the courageous demonstrators in the 1980's who helped bring down the Wall showed us around, with the help of an interpreter.  She ended our tour at former Stasi headquarters, now a museum.  East Germans took over the facility to save the documents the Stasi had compiled on neighbors for 40 years, and left the building exactly as they found it. It has musty air, brown linoleum and mustard yellow curtains, very depressing.  Displays show the "disguises" Stasi used to wear when monitoring people, little suitcases of fake mustaches, and toupees.   I recommend you rent the academy award-winning "The Lives of Others" to understand more.  Great film.

   Leipzig is filled with outdoor cafes.  I love that!  I wish we had tons more in Cincinnati, and all over the United States.  We had dinner with German journalists who've spent time in the US through the RIAS program.  I was talking to Karl Maurer, Hoerfunkjournalist (anchor), who works in public radio MDR Sputnik and he told me that in the 1970s Leipzig was polluted and ugly.  He said if you breathed in deeply, you'd feel the acid in the air.  They've now converted brownfields to lovely lakes and have new investment by BMW and DHL.  Still, unemployment is 16%.  

    We were told earlier in our trip the women of Leipzig are beautiful which appears to be true. (middle photo is Leipzig morning radio host "Freddy").  The pr guy told us Freddy is popular with young listeners but old people hate the way she talks fast in a high-pitched voice.

   The guys at private radio station PSR in Leipzig told us German stations basically copy American stations.  They admit their citizen-financed competition, public radio stations, force them to produce quality programs.         

    Hot tip - German group selling out concerts all over the country is a punk band "Die Arzt" or "The Doctors."  

EU and NATO, superwonkamania

    I got into trouble at NATO Headquarters in Brussels today,  as I did visiting the Sistine Chapel in Rome a couple years ago.  My faux pas -- Taking a photo.  Oh no! Das is verboten.  "No photo, no photo, no photo" the guards shouted.  We weren't even inside the gate yet, just waiting in the line to get our passports checked to enter the building. (Top photo).

   Oh well, they let me in anyway, after confiscating all the journalists' cameras.  

   We learned a lot about NATO. Its number one priority right now is Afghanistan. NATO used to be known as the "No Action Talk Only" organization, but now stands for "Needs America To Operate."  NATO has 70,000 troops from 40 countries deployed around the world, mostly in Afghanistan.  Of course, America is leading NATO's military effort there and provides nearly half the soldiers in theatre.  The US has 16,000, followed by the UK with 8500, Germany with 3325, Canada with 3297, Italy with 2500, France with 1136 and Poland with 1078.

    Some of the countries have negotiated caveats, or special conditions for their soldiers.  For example, German soldiers must be safely back at base by nightfall.  They don't fight at night!

    We had a full day the European Union yesterday.  No one seems to know much about the EU, and I think I found out why. 

    The day we were there, the EU had a very important press conference attended by dozens of journalists from around the world.  They set it up so that the politicians giving the press conference stood in a hole. Yes, a hole!  They can't be seen by most journalists.  They provide a too-small platform for broadcast cameras,  and everyone else is shoved behind them on a floor 3 feet below, trying to peer through the legs of videographers. It's the worst set up for a press conference I have ever seen!  (bottom two photos, last photo Don Heider, Loyola University Dean and me)

    The EU speakers we met with told us that their biggest problems are "communication" and "image."  Duh!  Learn how to hold a press conference.  Check out bottom two photos on blog.

    We're staying at the Sofitel Hotel in Brussels and it's really really cool.  Tres moderne.  I love the bathroom design, especially the square shape sink, and the comfy cozy bed with strange face pillows.

    The city is beautiful.  The Grand Platz where city hall is located is surrounded by gorgeous old  buildings, outdoor cafes and restaurants.  (Photo of me in Grand Platz). Young and old gather here every night.  One the way back home, many people buy a waffle, a Brussels specialty.  (Second photo).

   Tomorrow we get a break from wonkamania and will take a trip to Bruges, Belgium where we'll shop, eat and drink.

American Journalist Living in Germany

    

         First, let me tell you who these people are.  The darling baby is my little boy Quinn, 13 months.  The other photo is of my daughter Larkin who is 14 this month, with me.  And, the last photo is of the Berlin street just outside the ZDF studio.

    Reporter Erik Kirschbaum is a correspondent for Reuters living in Berlin now for many years.  He married a German woman, has two small children, and fully enjoys his life here.  He gave us some insights today into journalism and how Germans view Americans.

    He says Germans are much more interested in politics and news than Americans,  and the average German can name not only primary political leaders, but most of their cabinet members.  The most popular show in Germany is a 15-minute newscast at 8pm on the public station where the anchors read off a paper, no teleprompter, no glitz.  It's just the facts, Al Schottelkotte-style, (former famed Cincinnati anchor).  He thinks this interest is partly because of German history.  They really really want to know what's going on, in detail.

   Kirschbaum says when Germans visit the US they are shocked by our local tv news.  They can't believe it's so light.  

    "They think we're shallow, but they really like how friendly Americans are," says Kirschbaum.  He says Germans are very concerned about the country's image among foreigners, because of German history.  They have an underlying fear of being pariahs of the world because of the Nazi regime.

   He thinks the German work ethic is a bit of a joke.  He says they get lots of vacation, and it's nearly impossible to lose your job.  If a company does go through with firing a worker, the worker gets about 2 years severance pay.  The Germans admire Americans' entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that job loss is taken in stride in the US.  You lose a job, you find another.  In Germany, it's a big crisis.

    There is a strong tradition of German mothers staying home to take care of their children, and most schools let out mid-day.  It's beginning to change a bit to give working women more options.  For example,  the new family minister of Germany just got a law that entitles working women who get pregnant 14 months off with nearly full pay.

    I asked some questions about investigative journalism and he told us that "checkbook" journalism is considered ok in Germany.  For really big stories where a source is risking his/her career, it's accepted that the news organization will pay the source big money.  He gave an example of a German magazine that paid a bank worker 40,000 Euros for exposing insider trading.

   Another surprise is that German politicians here all expect that the journalist will first show them the quotes from the politician that will be used in the story so the politician can "authorize" the quote.  Say basically, yes that's what I said and what I mean.  He said most news organizations accept this practice, and sometimes it really helps the journalist get better information.  If the politician knows he will be able to see the quotes first before their published he or she tends to tell you more.  They know they can always take it back....

    I am definitely missing my favorite people right now...Larkin, Quinn and Greg.  I am thinking about my sister-in-law Kathy Neff in San Diego who is battling back from pancreatic cancer, and I hope you will say a prayer for her as well.

    Now we are off to Brussels to visit the European Union headquarters and NATO.

2nd day in berlin

   Today we got our pictures taken in front of Berlin Wall remnants, (see me in photo) which are scattered all around the city.  Last night some of us RIAS girls joined the locals at a pub to watch the soccer match.  (2nd photo Frances Kuo, Charlotte, me and Veronica Villafance, Glendale, CA. last photo Rachel Grygiel,Hoboken and Hena Cueves, LA, watchting match). Germany won, and the natives went wild.  Tonight we go again to watch soccer.

   This morning the Minister of the Interior Peter Altmaier (top photo) talked about Germany's plan to fight terrorism.  He's also in charge of what is considered one of the country's biggest problems -- the failed integration of Turkish immigrants into society.  They are Germany's largest minority and immigrant population, but a third of them don't speak German, don't finish school and end up on welfare for life.  Germany's solution is to now provide intensive language study for all immigrants, host "Integration Summits" and a German/Islam Conference to try to get official dialogue going with the Turkish community on these issues.  

   In the afternoon we went to Germany's version of the National Association of Broadcasters, called the VPRT.   It is apparently very hard to get through all the laws and regulations Germany imposes on companies that wants to start tv channels.  The private operators resent that billions of Euros collected from German citizens go directly to support the two public tv stations, which only makes it harder for privately-owned media to compete.  Still, it's nice that public tv is thriving somewhere in the world.  

   Soccer matches air on public tv...only PBS can afford to pay for the rights to broadcast!

First day in Berlin

    The senior political editor of the German "Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg" had breakfast with our journalist group today and told us he did not find Hillary Clinton appealing after covering her primary campaign trip to San Francisco in March. "I had the impression she was a master of political techniques but in a very chilly way." he said.   

   He told us George Bush, Sr was actually the strongest supporter of German unification and helped convince Maggie Thatcher to stop fighting against it back in 1989-90.  Bush senior gets to open the new American embassy in Berlin on July 4 (his son must certainly be in America on that day) and it will be, for him, a kind of political triumph.

    Next we had lunch in Berlin's "Little Istanbul" with a Turkish female politician named Bilkay Oney from the Green Party. She's a former journalist and now a Senator in the Berlin parliament.  The Turks are the biggest minority group in Germany.  She thinks that Turkish immigrants must learn to speak the German language better.  She says they tend to live in all-Turkish neighborhoods where they go to a Turkish butcher, hairdresser, etc... which never forces them to learn English.  

   She thinks it's unfortunate many Turks follow Turkish politics back home, but don't involve themselves in the politics of their new country.  Needless to say, Turks don't have a strong lobby here in Germany and face an uphill battle to be admitted to the European Union, since Germany is opposed.

   On a lighter note she told us Turkish men who immigrated here years ago were at first very attracted to the blond German women.  But now she thinks Turkish men have grown more conservative and try to find their wives from Turkey.   Meanwhile, she says modern Turkish women want German husbands.

   We ended our day at one of Germany's two public tv stations, ZDF.  Every German household pays 17 Euros per month to support public television.  No pledge drives here.   German newscasts begin with serious political and economic news, and have very little fluff or crime stories.  The biggest privately-owned competitor is RTL, or Radio-Tele-Luxembourg, which throws in Angelina Jolie updates with sports coverage and brief nuggets of news.  RTL is the most popular station among young people.  

    Our German public tv reporter Thorsten Alsleben told us he makes 57,000 Euros a year and is basically assured of his job until retirement.  He says the normal news story "package" runs about 1:30, just like in the US, and longer stories may go 3 minutes.  Investigative reports run about once a week on the German public tv stations.

  Unlike in the US, where morning news is now considered very important, Germans don't care much about it. In fact the two public tv stations take turns producing the morning show a week at a time and they both air the same program.  When I asked what Germans are doing in the morning instead of watching tv, Alsleben told us "eating breakfast, listening to the radio and hopefully talking to their partner."

    After the days events I walked into a drugstore and noticed some baby bottles on a shelf, which nearly made me cry.  I do miss little Quinn, lovely Larkin, and my husband Greg Ruthman, a man with Germanic roots, called "Roots".

Mayor's Reception in Munich

  The most amazing thing happened at the reception at Munich City Hall for the sister city mayors tonight.  Everything was going along in predictable fashion with drinks and buffet stand-up dinner lots of polite conversation.  Then suddenly, the Lord Provost of Edinborough, wearing a 100 year-old gold and diamond encrusted necklace valued at a million pounds, announced that his City Officer Phillip Henderson wished to sing a Scottish song.  And he did!     An entire ballad, a capella, in beautiful tenor voice.

  That inspired the Mayor of Sopporo, Japan to sing and then the Mayor of Munich who also confessed he's crazy about Frank Zappa.  It was amazingly weird, and unthinkable for a reception at Cincinnati City Hall (unless of course Jim Tarbell was there with harmonica).

   The evening climaxed with the sister city mayors and their entourages standing in a circle holding hands and singing Auld Lang Syne.  I have video to prove it.

   A few more interesting tidbits I learned tonight;  Mayor Mallory refuses  to sing in public.  Parks Director Willie Carden has never in his life smoked a cigarette, sipped coffee or swigged an alcoholic beverage.  His Mother told him those things would ruin his pearly whites.  Is he missing out on the vice(s) of life?  Don't know, but check out his killer smile. 

   My feet are killing me.  Everybody walks in Munich.  I may have been the only female in the city today wearing sandals without socks.  It's more like Fall here.  Not only did I over pack, I brought summer clothes.  My kingdom for a trench coat like investigative reporters used to wear in the movies.

  Missing baby Q.

Mayor Mallory in Munich

   Mark Mallory is a mayor who believes in cultural exchange, and he enjoys hanging out with new people. A topic that comes up among the strangers he is meeting here in Munich is his now infamous "first pitch" at the Reds game last year.
   "It was my birthday and my brother had arranged for the Reds to sing Happy Birthday to me right after I threw the first pitch," he said. "Well after that throw of mine I saw him give the sign to cut the song he was so embarrassed. I went home and went to sleep but that didn't help. So later I went out to eat with my family and had a whole bunch of crab legs, but I still didn't feel any better, so I just went to bed again, feeling like crap."#
   He woke up at 5:30 am to Pete Scalia calling him from Channel 5 asking him to come on the morning show to talk about the pitch, and help him do traffic. Mallory says he thought what the heck. He did the show and had fun making up excuses as to why he sucked so bad throwing that ball. On the way out the door, he called his press guy and told him to make up a top ten list of reasons Mayor Mallory flubbed the pitch and send it out as a press release. Before you know it, his most embarrassing moment was the hit of UTube, morphing into a kind of media frenzy that resulted in appearances on ESPN, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and abuse from Jay Leno.
   "At least when people google Cincinnati they get that instead of the riots," says Mallory.
   And now, in the presence of mayors from around the world, also invited to Munich's 850th Birthday party because they too are sister cities, Mallory does not hesitate to recount the story of "the worst day of my life."
  Now this is a mayor who knows how to please a crowd of strangers. Ice broken, the sister city mayors are now willing to listen as he touts the wonders of Cincinnati.

Last day in Cinci and I'm going to miss these guys.

I'm getting excited to leave for the trip. The only downside is leaving my sweet little baby, Quinn. We tried pretty hard to get him to take his first step in these last two weeks, but he declines. Crawling is so much faster. I'm going to miss him so much and have resigned myself to the fact I'm probably going to miss his first step.

I've made a dvd that Greg is going to show him every night so he remembers his mom. I'll miss Larkin too, though she doubts it. She's 14 and she knows everything.

Greg is a great Dad and I'm sure he'll be fine on his own...he'll never have to complain about not having enough time to bond with Quinn.