The Channel | 2008 | Issue 1

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NAME: Uta Thofern
JOB TITLE: Editor in Chief
COMPANY:
FACT
FILE
THE CHANNEL | FACTFILE
Russian, Arabic and Farsi. Additionally,
I am heading DW´s multimedia
restructuring process which started
last September. In my view, being a
journalist means offering a service
to the general public, providing them
with authentic information and
always looking at an issue from all
sides. Only well informed people are
able to decide freely.
ON DEUTSCHE WELLE
Germany’s international
broadcaster has headquarters in
Bonn and Berlin. Since DW first
went on air on 3 May 1953, it has
undergone a huge transformation
from broadcasting one radio
programme in German via short
wave to becoming a multilingual
and multimedia key player among
international public broadcasters.
'Promoting understanding and
dialogue' is at the heart of DW
programming and services. DW’s
mission is to convey “German and
other positions on important
issues” to people abroad as well as
“to provide a forum aimed at
promoting understanding and dialogue
between cultures and peoples”. DW
also promotes the German
language with language courses as
part of its output. Today, Deutsche
Welle comprises DW-TV, DW-
RADIO, the online service DW-
and the international
training centre for journalism and
intercultural media training, DW-
AKADEMIE.
The broadcaster’s multicultural
team of some 1,500 employees
includes journalists from more than
60 countries. With their expertise
and the latest technology for
production and broadcasting, DW
provides globally accessible news
and information in more than 30
languages. DW reports about events
in Germany, Europe and around the
world, most importantly about what
is happening in regions torn by
crisis and conflict, or where there is
no freedom of speech.
WHAT’S NEW
Among the reforms implemented
this year was the regionalisation of
DW-TV's programmes. DW-TV
MY CAREER
I have worked in both public and
private media, and in all types of
media: print, news agency, radio, TV
and last but not least online, which
offers the advantages of all in one.
After training at the Munich school
of journalism I first gained experience
as a reporter for print media and
radio, and as editor and presenter in
news and magazine programmes.
In 1992 I was entrusted with setting
up and running the radio news
department of the new public
broadcaster MDR in the East
German state of Thüringen. For me
it was a unique opportunity to take
part in establishing democratic
media structures in that part of the
former GDR and to experience the
change in Eastern Germany at first
hand. I later switched to the TV
news department and left MDR in
2002 to work at Germany’s
international public broadcaster
Deutsche Welle. As editor-in-chief
at DW-RADIO for German, English
and EU Programmes/Projects, I was
in charge of global programmes for
our German and English-speaking
listeners. I then moved to my
current position as editor-in-chief of
Deutsche Welle’s online service,
. I am responsible
for eight regional language
programmes, supported by teams of
native speakers of German, English,
Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese,
Arabia offers more Arabic content
than before, DW-TV USA and DW-TV
Latinoamérica now include popular
shows of Germany's national
broadcasters ARD and ZDF. Also,
launched its
extended Farsi service DW-WORLD.
DE/persian with additional online
staff and a new multimedia design
of the site. The flexibility to act and
react quickly is key to DW and its
staff in responding to the
listeners'/users' needs for
independent information. DW-
RADIO demonstrated this by
reacting swiftly to the escalation of
the Burma crisis and immediately
making their existing English
programme available to the
Burmese population. From summer
2009 onwards, Deutsche Welle’s
international training centre, DW-
AKADEMIE, will offer a 2-year
Master’s degree in “International
Media Studies” to media experts
from developing and transitioning
countries. DW is cooperating closely
with universities from Germany and
abroad to establish the programme.
MERGING TOMULTIMEDIA
In 2007 we embarked on a large-
scale reform process of our
organisational structures, which will
transform the traditional media
division. Our multilingual radio and
online departments, DW-RADIO and
, will be merged into
new multimedia services; every
language department will have the
tools to produce services for any
media platform needed in their
respective target areas.
My task in this project is to set up
the necessary working structures
for our journalists to enable them to
respond flexibly to the media usage
of our audience(s) in the respective
language regions. Our aim is to
create organisational structures
that can cope with new develop-
ments in media technology and
provide the best possible conditions
for producing high-quality content.
In combining our multilingual radio
and online expertise we can reach
our audiences irrespective of the
media used to convey news and
information. ■
WWW.DW-WORLD.DE
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