regionalised content ‐ including
talk shows co‐produced with DW’s
local partners. For example,
Shababtalk
on DW (Arabia) which
gives a voice to young Egyptians,
inviting them to debate political
and social issues on air, regularly
reaches up to 23% of Egyptʹs urban
population.
We also produce regionalised TV
magazines in languages that
include Hindi, Indonesian, Russian
and Portuguese for Brazil, as well
as several Southeast European
languages. These are broadcast by
DW’s premium partner stations in
Asia, Latin America and Europe.
How do you serve Africa?
Africa for us is a success story, and
will continue to be a key target
region. This year marks 50 years of
our popular Hausa and Kiswahili
programmes. 36% of Tanzaniaʹs
radio audience tunes in to the
Kiswahili programme every week,
and for Hausa there are similar
listener figures. We have hundreds
of local FM partners in Africa for
our radio content in six languages.
Our edutainment series
Learning by
Ear
reaches up to 20m people.
The English‐language TV
channel DW enjoys increasing
popularity among African viewers.
We plan to expand with regionalised
formats for Africa and web videos.
Itʹs important to us to be in
dialogue with our listeners and
users via social media and text
messaging, especially given the
dynamic growth of mobile phone
usage in Africa.
What support do you offer media in
emerging democracies?
DW has been supporting the
development of free and
transparent media systems around
the world for almost 50 years now.
When the Arab Spring began, our
colleagues from DWAkademie
were able to rely on their vast
experience and responded quickly.
For instance, in Tunisia, they
started operations in February 2011,
just after Ben Ali had fled.
Meanwhile, workshops for Libyan
radio journalists were being held in
October 2011 in Benghazi, as
fighting still raged in other parts of
the country.
We have been active also in
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Georgia,
Kyrgyzstan as well as in the
Balkans, Latin America and sub‐
Saharan Africa. Last year, DW
Akademie started a major project in
hen DW was
founded in
1953, its
mission was
to ease
wartime
tensions and
to accompany Germany on its path
back into the international
community. Today, DW has the
task of presenting Germany to the
world and communicating its
values, as well as promoting the
German language. We also see
ourselves as a voice of freedom and
human rights, a platform for
intercultural dialogue and for
diverse opinions. Modern
technology has made entering into
a dialogue with our audiences
around the world much easier than
it was sixty years ago. Our Arabic
editors host lively discussions with
users on Facebook, and DW
Kiswahili’s Facebook page averages
330 interactions per post.
Where is DW strong in TV?
We offer six satellite TV channels in
four languages: English, German,
Spanish and Arabic. Apart from
international news and information
on European affairs, these channels
address local issues and feature
W
2013 is a big year for
Deutsche Welle as it
celebrates 60 years on air.
It's also a significant date
for Erik Bettermann - the
end of his 12 year term as
Director General. DW
today is a multimedia
organisation producing TV,
online and radio content in
30 languages. Bettermann
says the overall motto is:
Plan Once, Publish
Everywhere (P.O.P.E.)
DW
Akademie
started a
major
project in
Myanmar
to support
the trans-
formation
process
there
“
”
52
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ISSUE 2 2013
|
THE CHANNEL
MILESTONES
