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report: January 2009 |
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social issues & initiatives | Berlin | by Kathrin Lauer | 2008-09
Understanding the Eastn-ost, a flourishing network of journalists with its headquarters in Berlin, wants to awaken an interest in Eastern Europe by presenting it from an unprejudiced viewpoint and dispensing with established clichés. An interview with the journalist Matthias Echterhagen, managing director of n-ost.Kathrin Lauer: What is n-ost?Matthias Echterhagen: An international network that involves more than 20 countries. 250 journalists and other people working in media belong to it. Our aim is to provide careful and comprehensive reporting from Eastern, Central and South-eastern Europe, and also to promote the freedom of the press and media. To what extent have you achieved that? On the one hand, we report every day from the countries of Eastern Europe, on the other hand we are organising international media projects, training courses and workshops. The editors at the n-ost office in Berlin are linked to colleagues who are part of a specially organised network of correspondents. Every day, the latter deliver background information and analyses from the locations of Eastern Europe, most importantly including the more remote regions. The articles are discussed at the n-ost office, edited and sent to the print media, to subscribers and to publishers via a distributor. Newspaper editors then decide whether an n-ost article should be published or not. Otherwise, the article service can be subscribed to and is a service that can be used by media experts and Eastern Europe specialists alike – by all those who want to be kept informed by way of high-quality journalism. Our principle in all this is to serve up not the usual pictures and clichés, but rather the ‘story behind the story’: about progress and changes, presenting portraits. Furthermore, n-ost offers a service for radio, by means of which radio stations can also be supplied with information. One often hears stories from Eastern Europe about corruption and an apparent backwardness. Is the region better than its reputation? It is not a question of better or worse. Nor would I agree with this "always only" attitude, for there are many works of journalism that do uncover the background to the context of Eastern European affairs in greater depth. However, the reporting usually only takes the form of news from the capital cities, and in the final analysis the underlying tenor of reporting in German-language newspapers about what we generalise as ‘Eastern Europe’ is in actual fact rather negative. Between the East and the West there is still a curtain, a continuous misunderstanding, even among journalists. Here, n-ost plays an important role as a mediator – through its projects, but also through its network of correspondents, which comprises journalists from both Eastern and Western Europe, who are on-site and who really know the countries and the regions well. What is missing in reporting from Eastern Europe? Not infrequently it is the background. For us, it is a matter of explaining how certain events arise. For example, what was the deficient economic policy that lay behind the protests and street battles in Budapest in 2006? n-ost also had a series of articles that took a look at that. Or, for instance, the series of reports subsidised by Renovabis [an association of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to support the churches and societies of Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe – ed. note] and entitled "Poor. Old. Alone?". Articles were written by n-ost-correspondents on this topic of the year proposed by Renovabis. Without slipping into social romanticism, they created a sensitive picture of the difficult living conditions of people who do not have very much and who are still battling for their existence. Whether it was a former opera singer from Sofia or a glacier researcher from Almaty in Kazakhstan – such a series looks beyond the horizon and conveys something about the real conditions of life in Eastern Europe. What kinds of media projects do you have on an international level? Western journalists often talk in prefabricated categories and patterns. That is one of the reasons that the network also organises an annual international n-ost media conference. Colleagues who are learning or have learnt their trade in very different journalistic cultures sit down together at the same table. The events at the n-ost media conference range from panel discussions, training courses and workshops to research excursions. Journalistic standards are discussed and reports written for the media. This year the conference is taking place in Bucharest (1st to 5th October 2008). Furthermore, the project programme includes a prize for reporting, research scholarships, various series of articles and reports, as well as research trips. Since May 2008 n-ost has also been in charge of the online product euro|topics? Yes, it includes a daily press review and a weekly magazine. For the press review, correspondents in all the countries of the EU and in Switzerland sift through the most important online and printed media every morning. They evaluate the sections on politics, the media, society, the arts and contemporary history. The main focus lies on articles that express opinions. We are very glad to have been able to produce and further develop this project as a commission from the Federal Headquarters of Political Education. After all, the aims of euro|topics are very important for us: to illustrate ongoing debates and thereby create a view that is composed off many different perspectives and goes beyond the usual national perspective. Perhaps the goal of a European public is still something that belongs to the future. However, euro|topics is working to bring it ever closer. That sounds like a lot of work. How is n-ost financed? How big is your budget? n-ost is an association and a non-profit company that since it was founded in 2002 – at that time purely as a network for correspondents – has grown continuously. This has been made possible by the Robert-Bosch Foundation, which has sponsored the project as an institution since summer 2004. The sponsorship runs out this summer. In the meantime, n-ost has been working together with many partners and foundations and has elaborated a variety of financial perspectives. Significant income is generated by, among other things, services, projects and cooperative ventures. How did you personally come to this field? Breaking it down, I would say: through a vital interest in other cultures, in regions in transition and in foreign languages. Professional stays in Russia and a year in Kazakhstan as the chief editor of a German newspaper in Almaty certainly laid the foundations of my work with n-ost today. Kazakhstan? That sounds exotic. Kazakhstan was very instructive. It was exciting to see how this country, which is probably the most influential country in central Asia, deals with its own history, works with political symbolism and how in this way it is becoming increasingly self-confident. I have not been there for more than three years now. That is half a century in western European time, measured by how rapidly Kazakhstan is developing. Why should the West try to have more understanding for the East? Out of sympathy? Or in its own best interests? Sympathy does not advance anything. It would only reflect, yet again, the old position that we in the West are the ones who are better off and know everything better. That position has not been a true reflection for years now. Probably it never was. The West can learn just as much from Eastern Europe as Eastern Europe can learn from the West. This interview was conducted by Kathrin Lauer. She works as a freelance journalist for the German press in Romania and Hungary. External links: www.n-ost.de, N-Ost Media Conference
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