(photo: seventh from left)

Biography

Alison Hawkes, 31, is the state government correspondent and bureau Chief for Calkins Media, a five-newspaper chain in Pennsylvania. Previously, she was the enterprise reporter for one of the chain’s newspapers. Alison became involved in journalism in the San Francisco Bay area at a small daily, and by interning at a public radio station. She attended the Poynter Institute’s summer journalism training program after obtaining an undergraduate degree in anthropology at Haverford College in 1999. Hawkes covers the governor’s administration, the full-time state legislature, and the legislative delegations for her member newspapers. She takes a particular interest in investigative reporting and environmental issues. The Burns fellowship is an opportunity for Hawkes to further understand and explore Germany, where she has strong personal and historical connections, and to bring her insights back to U.S. audiences.

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Final Report

Arriving in Germany again, I felt a sense of homecoming. I had been traveling all summer across Asia and, Germany, where I had lived before and visited many times, felt so familiar. But I soon realized I still had a lot to learn about Germany, especially working in the media here. Much of it was slice of life sort of stuff: the many forms and documents that need to be signed and faxed around to, say, check out audio equipment, the way a German office empties at 3 pm on Fridays, the comforting, filling size of a “home-cooked” German meal at the office cafeteria that costs only three euros.

I worked at Deutsche Welle Radio's English Program in Bonn, which meant for me, as a print reporter, learning an entirely new kind of media. Many of my early days in the fellowship were spent acclimatizing myself to the radio story format, and to using sound software and equipment. Fortunately, I was placed in the Features Department (as opposed to News) where I had a bit more time to develop stories, could futz around with the audio software as I was learning it, and was able to take on topics that were both centered in Germany and within my grasp.

The biggest daily struggle, of course, was the language barrier. Even though my daily office interactions were all in English, this didn't mean that I wasn't confronted with Deutsch every time I researched a story, or called to set up an interview appointment. Although Germans are very good in English, and generally love to “practice” it in everyday settings, they prefer to be on familiar ground when a microphone is stuck in their face. All in all, this was, of course, good for me. And perhaps what I am most proud of in my two months here are the interviews I conducted entirely in German. I derive a kind of perverse joy in listening to the audio of these interviews, where I am clearly making a million language mistakes (cringe!) but am soldiering on with dignity. That being said, I wish I had been able to take some brush-up German classes before I arrived (although I did take private tutoring classes while here).

Deutsche Welle Radio is a kind of institution. Located on the far edge of town (no easy downtown distractions!) in a sky rise office complex, which also includes a United Nation's development building and Deutsche Telecom, it's kind of a world onto itself. I was a couple thousand feet from the Rhine River, but never walked down there in the middle of the day. The most amazing fact about Deutsche Welle Radio is that from this one building, news and programming is produced in over 30 languages. That makes for quite a diverse environment and means there are enough resources floating around to contain an in-building travel office, a superb cafeteria, a library with an excellent music collection, and regular art installations. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an Olympic-sized swimming pool tucked away somewhere. Part of acclimating to Deutsche Welle is learning is how to make the services work for you, which mainly comes by word-of-mouth.

The English division is one of the largest, but that doesn't mean there doesn't seem to be a perpetual budget crunch in this government-financed institution. When I arrived in early August, half the features department was being run by freelancers since the full-time staff were on vacation. This meant for a bit of a slow beginning, and I was happy that I had arrived with a story to work on from the U.S. Almost immediately I saw myself as useful, since reporters were always hunting for someone to do voice overs and producers always wanted a native English speaker to voice stories for translated house scripts. This was good radio practice for me. For a little while, too, I got sucked into doing German translations of house scripts, which helped improve my German. But I started declining the offers after I realized the translations were taking so long they were interfering with my ability to develop my own stories.

Deutsche Welle has a well-trod tradition in using freelancers and interns. Although I suspect this practice does impact quality, it was mostly positive for me. It was easy to slip into a certain well-established role, the social life was pretty active, and I felt confident I would be able to continue working there after my fellowship ended, since I planned to stay in Germany for a year.

There were plenty of opportunities for me to both pitch stories and to accept story assignments. Producers were generally grateful to get original pieces, especially since they didn't have to pay me. This meant, however, that I got varying degrees of editorial review. Deutsche Welle paid my expenses to go on assignments, including several trips within the region, to Hamburg, and to Dresden and Leipzig.

The last weeks of my fellowship I had a glut of stories piled up, and even though I extended my tour of duty at Deutsche Welle two weeks, by the end I still had not completed several. I think this is a fairly typical experience for Burns fellows on a two month program. It simply takes a little while to get the ball rolling and then it's rolling pretty fast towards the end.

Outside of my work travel, I did not stray far from home the entire stay because I would be here longer and was just enjoying my daily routine: biking to work along the Rhine, meeting people at cafes in town in the evenings, and falling in love in other ways with the (very livable) German lifestyle. I swear I never want to drive to work again.

A word on living in Bonn. As I was repeatedly told before I arrived, Bonn is not hip and pretty old-fashioned, from the standpoint of young people. No it's not Berlin, and you have to go to Cologne to get any real nightlife, but I found it to be a comfortable little city that suited all my daily purposes. It has a wonderful downtown, complete with a large pedestrian center, a lively outdoor cafe scene, and great hiking and biking opportunities.

One of the highlights was the mid-term Burns trip to Dresden and Leipzig. The program, which included a personal tour of the Green Vault by the museum director and a tour of the former Stazi headquarters in Leipzig, was exceptional. I even packed in a couple stories. The other Deutsche Welle fellow, Curtis Gilbert, and I, did a review of the Leipzig nightclub scene, and I took off after the program ended to report on right-wing extremism in one small East German town. From a purely informational standpoint, the mid term meeting was much more helpful than the orientation I received in Washington at the start of the fellowship which was much more geared towards the German fellows living in the U.S.

A couple guidelines for placement at Deutsche Welle Radio:

This is a great place to go if you want to try out radio for a while. There's a lot of freedom to develop pieces on your own time, although if you are new at this you will be primarily responsible for seeking out editorial and technical guidance. No hand holding here.

Even though Deutsche Welle is entirely government funded (or maybe because of this), this is not your prototypical German newsroom experience. This is a major international, expat scene targeted towards an international audience. It's akin to Voice of America ... Germans have not necessarily heard of Deutsche Welle and they certainly don't listen to it. But it nevertheless opens doors.

For people with little German language abilities, this is a good placement, since you will be able to get something done. But it's not good if you want to submerge yourself in a German language setting.

If you're looking to stay in Germany after the fellowship ends, this is the right spot. Work hard, play the game right, and get to know people and chance are you will  soon after be slotted among the dozens of freelancing staff.

A couple recommendations for the Burns fellowship:

Take German lessons before you come – and if possible, continue to take them once here.

Come with a story from the U.S. with some German connection or angle. I was very happy I did this in the early days of my fellowship, since it immediately gave me something to do and made the impression that I was hardworking. I think it also contributed nicely to the programming.

Although you have to adapt to the circumstances, be clear when you arrive what you want out of your fellowship and work towards that goal. It's so easy to get sidetracked by newsroom pressures and other people's expectations and goals.

Travel, but not too much. Take time to sink into your host community and get to know the German lifestyle. I thought this was one of the most enriching parts of the experience.

Start reading the German news months ahead of time, which will give you important context to

developing stories upon your arrival. Good English sources are Deutsche Welle's www.dw-world.de, Spiegel www.spiegel.de, and of course the International Herald Tribune.

All in all, I was very pleased with my experience at Deutsche Welle and the Burns Fellowship at large. In two short months, I have learned the basics of radio journalism, produced stories for an international audience, developed freelance opportunities, and still had time for fun and getting to know people.