PROGR AM INSIGHTS
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‘Our strength lies in our teams’
You started off as editor-in-chief at a time when the world was focused on just one topic: the coronavirus. Which three words best describe what you experienced as DW’s editor-in-chief in those first weeks? Teamwork, empathy, innovation. How is teamwork shown when people are working from home? Working from home doesn’t mean there isn’t communication. On the contrary! Since the coronavirus crisis began, I have been experiencing positive and intense communication among colleagues, with focus, flexibility and great understanding for the exceptional circumstances others are in. Right at the start, you made an important change by expanding the editorial board and making it more diverse. Why was that important to you? DW stands for cultural diversity. That is our strength, along with our very competent journalism. I wanted this to be reflected in the editorial board, so in consultation with management, I appointed five colleagues as members. These colleagues advise me, and we discuss content. Among other things, we are working on guidelines for how we use language and images. The debate surrounding the death of George Floyd has shown how important this is. What should we show and what shouldn’t we show? What terms are racist? This is a very important discussion.
Manuela Kasper-Claridge has been DW’s editor-in-chief since May 2020. She joined DW in 1992 as a news editor. In 1998, she took over DW’s Business department, responsible for its TV, online, radio and social media output. In 2014, she became senior head of Business, Science and Environment. Kasper-Claridge initiated partnerships with the World Economic Forum and the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. She is responsible for the introduction of several award-winning programs at DW such as Global 3000, Eco Africa, Eco India and Founders Valley.
30 Weltzeit 2 | 2020
DW’s new Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge speaks about the eventful and moving first weeks in her position. Interview conducted by Ivana Drmić, DW editor
DW has adjusted its programming very quickly to the new normal of the coronavirus crisis. What have been your priorities here? The most important thing was to make sure we kept supplying news and information across all our platforms and in all the languages. Our users were wanting independent and reliable information, and we did a lot of fact-checking. This is especially important in an era of disinformation where there are a lot of rumors and allegations. It was most helpful that our colleagues from the Science department delivered some very competent and levelheaded reporting, for example, about the R-factor, the effects of drugs or the relevance of blood groups.
Fact-checking is especially important in an era of disinformation. What are the main things people around the world expect from DW? First, I’d like to say that the wonderful way our departments work together and pool their strengths to make our reporting more exclusive is the right journalistic approach. To give just one example, the Romanian, German, Russian, China and Business departments have provided excellent background on the coronavirus outbreak at the Tönnies meat factory — background that you would not find anywhere else. This is a journalistic quality and diversity of which we can be proud. The same goes for the many exciting video, social media and online reports from our correspondents across the globe in Africa, Asia, Latin America and, of course, Europe. Stories from Germany, which we are, of course, especially well-qualified to tell, are also very much in demand. What must the content on all the platforms be like if DW is to keep many of the users it has won during the coronavirus crisis? Good storytelling is the key to success, in addition to fact-checking at all levels. We have to stay in close and put people at the center. And we have to make it clear, for example, what impact a political decision has on their lives.
