Rosemary Pennington | Oct. 12, 2007
 |
| Photo by Jonathan Hiskes |
| RIAS exchange journalists visited J520 Video Storytelling during their week-long stay in Bloomington. Third from left are Robert Ritzow, Barbara Schmidt-Mattern and Yuri Rescheto. |
RIAS participants Robert Ritzow of regional public broadcaster MDR, Yuri Rescheto of Deutsche Welle TV and WDR, and Barbara Schmidt-Mattern of Deutschlandfunk public radio have been visiting classes at the School of Journalism this week as part of their four-week tour to learn about broadcast journalism education in the United States.
Thursday afternoon, the three and a few students compared notes in Ernie Pyle Lounge. First, they found similarities.
More:
|
At about 55 or 65 years old, “the public TV audience in Germany is quite old,” said Yuri Rescheto, a freelancer who reports and hosts an intercultural magazine show. According to Nielsen Television Index, U.S. public TV and other news programming draw large audiences of 55 and older.
But while public TV audiences may be similar in the U.S. and Germany, the RIAS fellows said journalism education is different in the two nations.
“What I really like is you have a more personal relationship with teachers here,” said Schmidt-Mattern, a reporter, editor and program host for German’s nationwide public radio service devoted to news and information. “ It’s not like that in Germany.”
“In Germany, professors are very stern,” Ritzow agreed. “It is very laid back here.”
But the relationship between teacher and student isn’t the only difference. Length of time spent in school is as well.
“How old are you?” Rescheto asked Erich Reinhard, a sophomore journalism major.
“I’m 19,” Reinhard replied. “I have two more years of school and then I’m done.”
“So you’ll be 22 when you get your first job?” Reschetto asked.
“Yes.”
“Well,” Reschetto replied. “You would never see this in Germany. Most people who are getting their first job are between 27 and 30 years old.”
That’s largely because of the way higher education is set up in Germany. Schmidt-Mattern, who’s been out of university only six years, explained the process of testing German students undergo. It often takes six, seven or eight years to complete a degree because students aren’t rushed through their schooling. That is beginning to change, she said.
“You could take your time,” Mattern-Schmidt said of her journalism education in Germany. “Many people tell me it seems to be more career-oriented lately. It wasn’t quite like that when I was in school.”
Throughout their week in Bloomington, the RIAS fellows spent time in different journalism classes, observing and sometimes taking part in the discussion. When asked what they thought of IU, the three had only good things to say.
“You’ve got a real college life,” Ritzow said. “You don’t find that in Germany. And I’m really impressed with the journalism school as well.”
Mattern-Schmidt agreed.
“The level of discussion in all the classes was really high, I thought,” she said. “I was impressed as well.”
Hosting RIAS fellows is becoming a tradition for the School of Journalism.
“It’s our third year doing it,” said Kevin Grieves, Ph.D. student and former U.S. RIAS fellow. “We’re really happy to have these three journalists here.”
Next week, the three Germans go their separate ways to spend time in TV and radio newsrooms around the country. Their last week in the U.S., they’ll join the rest of the German fellows in New York for a week of meetings and sightseeing.
And at least one of them will take a little of Bloomington with her.
“I kept seeing all these Indiana shirts,” Mattern-Schmidt said of IU students. “Being here, on this lovely campus, I decided I wanted some of those shirts. So I went to the store and bought a lot to wear. I really like it here.”
