Close-Up 2009

How do journalists work in Germany, Israel and Ghana? What are they permitted to write? What are their readers interested in? The Goethe-Institut temporarily placed eight reporters from around the world in a different city. We asked three of them – Kenyan Munyao Mutinda, Ghanaian Zakaria Alhassan and German Knut Bauer – these questions afterwards, resulting in a conversation about differences and similarities.

Mr. Mutinda, when you arrive home in Nairobi, what’s the first thing you will tell your children about Germany?

Mutinda: Germany is cold. That’s the first thing I will tell them! I saw snow for the first time in my life in Frankfurt. But, there’s a second thing that really impressed me: the traffic system. Things move here, and not just in a literal sense, not just on the roads and rails. Germany is a country with functioning systems and structures.

Bauer: Haven’t you ever been in a traffic jam? Didn’t you ever have to wait on a cold platform for a train that wasn’t on time?

Mutinda: Where I come from, there is exactly one train. Sometimes you have to wait for it for 27 hours. That’s a difference. Here, everything is structured; even the people are very structured.

Before you came to Germany, what did you consider typically German?

Zakaria: I wasn’t very surprised. This is the way I imagined the country would be. The weather is very cold, but the people are warm-hearted.

Mutinda: The Germans are serious and work a lot, but they also have a human side. I experienced them as very human. Much is just stereotype. I didn’t know very much about Germany myself. I thought that Germany is rich. Which is true, of course, but in Africa we think that every single white person is rich – in a way by definition. But I saw that although perhaps no one goes hungry here in Germany, far from all are rich.

Mr. Bauer, what were your expectations before you travelled to Israel?

Bauer: The first thing you expect, naturally, is a high-risk country because of the Middle East conflict and your expectations are confirmed right at Ben Gurion Airport. I had to go through security there and knew: I’m in Israel now. But, Israel is a land full of contradictions. Once I went to a football match. There were 18,000 people in the stadium and – as far as I could see – three or four police officers. My colleague from Israeli radio said to me: “We hope nothing will happen. It’s part of our lives.” These contradictions run through all of everyday life in Israel.

Why did you want to participate in the Close-Up project?

Zakaria: I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn something. And I hoped that I could report about what we can learn from Germany.

For example?

Zakaria: For example, here there are rubbish bins on nearly every corner. We don’t have that; the people just throw their rubbish in the streets. And public toilets! At home, you just go behind the next bush. The mayor of Tamale already invited me to a meeting. When I get back home, I will report to him – and maybe we can adopt a few of the ideas.

Mutinda: I was especially interested to see how journalists work elsewhere. For example, our newsroom in Nairobi is mayhem. I asked myself how that would be in Germany.

And?

Mutinda: It’s the same mayhem here.

Zakaria: A newsroom is a newsroom.

Mutinda: I also wanted to know how the journalists here approach stories and how they layout their pages. I thought maybe I could learn something I could use at home in my work. Sadly, I don’t speak German, so I couldn’t read the articles that my colleagues at the Frankfurter Rundschau wrote, but I will be able to take some useful observations home concerning layout.

Bauer: I wanted to see how radio worked in a completely different country. And I hoped to understand the conflict that we hear so much about here.

What insights did you gain?

Bauer: I realized that no one on either side wants this conflict. Yet, they are just as little willing to move an inch. I think that even sixty years after the establishment of Israel, there is no end to the crisis in sight. The war has lasted far too long already, yet nonetheless neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are ready for peace.

So, it didn’t really make you an optimist.

Bauer: No.

It seems that 99 percent of the German media reports about Israel are about the Middle East conflict. What topics did you pursue while you were in Israel?

Bauer: I primarily worked on stories from Israeli everyday life. But, you encounter the conflict everywhere you go. For instance, I was doing some research for a report at the Dead Sea about different healing methods. There is even a German medical centre there. A nurse at the clinic showed me some children from the West Bank who were suffering from cystic fibrosis, and told me that she had to fight with red tape for a year and a half to finally get permission to bring these children here for treatment.

Is journalism journalism everywhere, or are there distinct differences?

Mutinda: It’s the same everywhere and yet different. The principles are the same, but they are applied differently.

Bauer: The topics are the same, but it depends on the government and public opinion how you deal with the topics. For me, for instance, it’s natural that you cannot write a story about the circumstances in the West Bank without hearing both sides first. But, I’m not so sure whether my Israeli colleagues see it that way. And not because of any political pressure, but simply because they wouldn’t find it necessary.

Is there political influence on the press is Kenya and Ghana?

Zakaria: Definitely. In Ghana especially when you work for a state medium. My newspaper for example is partly owned by the government. We are constantly getting calls from city hall telling us we should push certain stories and put them on the front page. Only private newspapers or broadcasters enjoy real freedom of the press.

Mutinda: We have freedom of the press in Kenya, as well, but there are always challenges. Recently for example, the government passed a law that would partially restrict freedom of the press. We’re fighting that now. Or freedom of information: the people in office often quote ostensible state secrets and withhold information from us. Right now, the press is relatively free, but we’ve gone through hard times. Just a few years ago newsroom raids were the order of the day.

You no longer have uninvited guests?

Mutinda: We do, but then it’s more humorous. A while ago we printed a critical report about the first lady. Then, she personally showed up in the newsroom with her bodyguards, kept us there for hours lecturing us about respect. She even slapped one of my colleagues. However, our media house also has a television station and we managed to smuggle in a cameraman. Suddenly the wife of the president was on live television. It surely did not enhance her image.

Bauer: When in Rome... What topics do your newspapers cover? News from the world or only African news?

Mutinda: News from the world, but African news is more important than news from other continents and Kenyan news even more so. The only exception is Barack Obama. He’s always of interest, but he has a Kenyan father.

Bauer: In Israel it’s far crasser. Pages one to seven of a normal daily paper contain only Israeli news. Then there’s a page of sport, then the classified ads and maybe you’ll find something from overseas in the back. Only news from America might make it to the front section. Here’s an example: While I was in Israel, Guido Westerwelle had his first state visit to Israel as the German foreign minister. It was top news in Germany. In Israel I scanned five different papers the following day and only one covered the topic – at the bottom of page eight. That says everything.

Zakaria: If your foreign minister had come to Ghana, he would have been on the front page – with a photograph.

Mutinda: To be honest, in Kenya, he wouldn’t have even made it to page eight.

Mr. Zakaria, Mr. Mutinda, you both came to work for local newspaper in Germany...

Mutinda: Yes, it was very interesting. I wish I could establish something like that back home. The Frankfurter Rundschau has a local section that only covers Frankfurt. That’s something that really interests the people there and binds them to the paper. I saw that in the positive response I got when I wrote about the Frankfurt Christmas market. Stories like that would not be possible in Kenya. Everything has to have national relevance. When the oldest chimpanzee in the Frankfurt Zoo died, it was a huge story. The people were very interested. In our paper there would be no place for such things.

Will you come back to Germany, will you return to Israel?

Bauer: If I am given the opportunity, anytime.

Zakaria: I’d like to come back to Germany.

Mutinda: Me, too – but in summer.

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