By Noela EBOB BISONG
The Federal Republic of Germany in its diplomatic agenda, has empowered some African media women in their work of journalism/communication. The media women, 16 in number from 12 African countries were on a special visit to Germany from July 12 to 19, during which they engaged fruitful exchanges and got abreast with the European nation. The 16 came from
Cameroon, Côté d’Ivoire, Burundi (1), Niger (2), Tchad (2), Togo, Burkina Faso, Bénin, Congo, Mali (2), Guinea (2) and Senegal.
Purpose
The visit had as purpose to strengthen the resilience of the media women through exchanges with senior and other colleagues working in Germany. It also created an avenue for the media women to get first hand information about the Federal Republic of Germany, its people as well as tap from the organised system at work there.
Moreover, according to officials at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the august event was organised to push Germany’s bilateral relations with African countries but especially also to enforce its cooperation across the society of countries.
Activities
With four days in historic Berlin and the next three in Hamburg, the media women engaged various programmes and activities to maximise their stay in Germany.
Upon arrival in Berlin, Sunday, July 13, the journalists were warmly received by their guides, Vee Bozek and Irina Linke, of Goethe Institut, who during a welcome dinner presented the detailed programme of the event.
Monday, July 14, the group arrived the premises of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, where they officially introduced and familiarised themselves with each other. This was followed by a welcome session by representatives of the German General Directorate of Culture and that of Political Affairs. The six German officials (Christian Fritzemeier, Sophia Armanski, Sandra Sebastian, Guido Muntel, Axel Biallas and Raphael Fernandez), all took turns to welcome the journalists to Germany, while putting the visit in context. The officials observed during the session that, “We see a lot of images of crisis in Africa but for us, Africa presents a lot of opportunities”. The welcome session also focused on challenges of media resilience in Francophone Africa (especially for media women) and the engagement of Germany towards media resilience enforcement in the area. A question and answer session followed, after which, the journalists were taken on sightseeing to discover the city of Berlin, in its history and architecture.
Tuesday, July 15 saw the group visit Germany’s International Broadcaster – Deutsche Welle (DW), where they had a round table session with journalists on ground and online, during which experiences were shared, questions answered and networks made. Amongst the foreign journalists during the session were Jean-Michel Bos (Senior Editor, Programs for Africa), Tomi Oladipo (News Anchor/Editor, News and Current Affairs) as well as Julia Bayer (Investigative Journalist, Analysis and Reports), who did a presentation on women and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). A guided visit around the DW station followed, coordinated by Nadja Lindner. The later part of the day saw the group visit the German NGO Neue Deutsche Medienmacher, for a workshop on Hate speech and disinformation management on the internet and social media. This was coordinated by Jutta Brennauer. A cultural outing closed the day.
Day three of the visit, Wednesday, July 16 featured visit to taz – Die Tageszeitung, a German daily newspaper outfit, where a round table session was engaged with Teres Arilla and Editor – Christian Jakob, with discussion centering on Press Freedom, media financing and specific challenges of media women. The group later attended a Federal Press Conference and then a workshop at Deutscher Journalisten – Verband (DJV), which is the Federation of German Journalists. Here the African journalists got information on how the federation operates, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the work of journalists and resilience strategies for media women.
On Thursday, July 17, before leaving Berlin for Hamburg, the media women made a stop at Netzwerk Recherche, the Network of Investigative Journalists, where Sarah Ulrich schooled on investigative journalism and its challenges.
Arriving in Hamburg in the later part of the day, the journalists were taken on a boat cruise to discover the city.
A pretty much relaxed Friday, July 18 saw the group make a stop at Der Spiegel, a Hamburg-based German weekly news magazine, where exchanges were made with some of the staff. A reflection session also took place between the media women and their main guides, Vincent Vee and Irina Linke, same day.
Observations
During the reflection session, the journalists commended the exceptional organisation of the trip, both from the paper work period to bring them to Germany and the days spent there. They spoke about the coordination of activities, the hotels in which they were lodged, the meals and transportation, the numerous guides who stayed closed to clear every doubt, as well as the enriching exchanges with the experts they met. To many, it is a life-changing experience which will in no small way impact their work henceforth. Great gratitude was given to the Republic of Germany for the initiative, and all those who participated in bringing the visit to reality. Nonetheless, the journalists craved that in the future, more private time should be given so that they can relax more for personal discovery of the country. As a way forward, they pressed for a network to be created following the visit for more impact in their respective countries.
Clean, beautiful Germany
Berlin, like Hamburg, are two great German cities which presents the history, class and standard of the Republic of Germany. Berlin being the capital city with over 3.89 million inhabitants and Hamburg second to it, with over 1.85 million, these two cities are loaded with rich history and culture. Also, the architectural designs are mind blowing, the cleanliness impeccable and the serenity simply amazing!