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Mareike Aden, German journalist. |
German Journalist Learns About U.S. Politics, Security And Media
German journalist Mareike Aden spent three days at the University of Georgia in early March studying issues related to security and U.S. intelligence agencies, discussing the outcome of the November 2016 presidential elections, and examining how the media impacted and have been impacted by the elections.
Aden is a Hamburg-based television, radio, and online reporter for German public broadcasting (NDR/ARD), with a focus on national and international politics.
Her program in Athens, organized by the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, was part of a six-week Transatlantic Media Network fellowship, coordinated by the Atlantic Council in Washington.
While at the University of Georgia, Aden met with Dr. Loch Johnson, University of Georgia Regents Professor in the Department of International Affairs.
"It is always interesting to see and understand how intelligence agencies assess and prioritize danger,” Johnson told the German reporter. “Obviously, open conflicts where U.S. personnel and interests are directly involved are on the top of the list, but I think cyber security also is a high priority.”
Dr. Charles Bullock, Richard B. Russell Professor of political science, told Aden that, in their first two years of elected service, many politicians try to reach and attract groups that had not voted for them in prior elections, but that President Donald Trump seems not to use this tactics.
The German visitor met with Dr. Cas Mudde, associate professor in the Department of International Affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs and talked about populism in Europe and the U.S. and about elections in the Netherlands and France.
Aden also visited the Center for International Trade and Security and met with Dr. Michael Beck, senior research associate. Beck has over 20 years of experience working on nonproliferation and export control issues. He helped develop a methodology for assessing export controls and border security systems for the U.S. Department of State and has directed several projects assessing and responding to WMD proliferation threats.
In the Grady College, Aden had meetings with Dr. Charles Davis, dean of the Grady College, and Dr. Janice Hume, head of the Journalism Department, who talked about curricular changes designed to reflect the new developments in the media industry.
Drs. Lee Becker and Tudor Vlad, director and associate director of the Cox International Center, talked with the guest about the Center's international projects and about the impact of new communication technologies on the U.S. media.
While in the state of Georgia, Aden traveled to Atlanta to visit CNN and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
Prior to the visit to the University of Georgia, Aden spent a week in Washington D.C., and was to travel to Texas and to several states in the Midwest.
In 2016, Aden covered the Brexit referendum and its aftermath from ARD's London bureau and reported on the U.S. election campaign from Florida while on an Arthur F. Burns Fellowship.
From 2007 to 2014, Aden was a Moscow-based correspondent for German media, covering Russia and other former Soviet countries. She reported extensively from Ukraine, covering the Maidan Revolution and the annexation of Crimea.
The Cox International Center is a unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and partnered with the Atlantic Council for the visit.
“I was in Florida for two months during the presidential campaign, and I covered it for German audiences,” said Aden. “As a Transatlantic Media Fellow, I have now a great opportunity to research what happened and what are the short and long term consequences for the United States and for Europe.”
