5.16.13
On our last full day in Berlin we visited a very interesting company. A company comprised of floors of journalists, several newspapers, and many departments and of course a bar with one of the best views in Berlin. On this day we visited Axel Springer. We started the morning by meeting with Rudolph Porsche. He informed us with an overview of the company and described their Academy. I thought the academy structure and program was very interesting. 40 deserving journalists receive the opportunity to work and learn at Axel Springer. Here they learn more about the field they are perusing and have a great platform to achieve their goals. These students work together to build a masterpiece of journalistic work and produce it online with the hopes of having it printed. This year’s masterpiece revolves around the election because here in Germany this is a major election year.
Along with Mr. Porsche we met with the head of broadcasting at Axel Springer. This man informed us of the content and process of compiling video media for Bilt online and for television programs to pick up. I thought this part was very interesting because it had to deal with video but also because it showed how many different jobs there are for someone with a broadcasting or television background to explore. He had worked for many years in the television industry and is now working in the newspaper industry, though still producing videos. This experience also made me think of Wolf at ZDF and how he went from the print industry to the broadcasting industry. It seems that here in Germany the opportunity to switch between media platforms is not an uncommon thing.
After another confusing lunch in a canteen we met with Leeor Englaender. This was yet another very interesting lecture from a well-educated and passionate journalist. Mr. Englaender informed us of how Die Welt works from the broadsheet version, to the compact version and to the online version. What was cool to me is that though each of these platforms has the same information they are set up in different formats to appeal to different demographics. To me this is genius and is one reason the newspaper is so successful. Another thing that struck me about Die Welt is that they sell more online subscriptions than paper subscriptions which is kind of backwards for most German Newspapers.
Though he had many interesting things to say about Die Welt. What struck home the most for me was that he was a part of the “Jew in the Box” project. He informed us that before the World War II there was less that 500,000 Jews in Germany and today there are less than 200,000. He said that most Germans have never met a Jew because they are such a minority in this country.
To commence our last night in Berlin we ate a group dinner. Now we are packing and off to bed before another day of traveling and media visit.
Guten Nacht!
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