Interview: DW’s new Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge

‘Our strength lies in our teams’

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: 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?

Manuela Kasper-Claridge: Teamwork, empathy, innovation.

DW: How is teamwork shown when people are working from home?

Kasper-Claridge: 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.

DW: 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?

Kasper-Claridge: 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.

DW: DW has adjusted its programming very quickly to the new normal of the coronavirus crisis. What have been your priorities here?

Kasper-Claridge: 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.

DW: What are the main things people around the world expect from DW?

Kasper-Claridge: 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.

DW: 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?

Kasper-Claridge: 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.

DW: What has been your biggest journalistic success so far?

Kasper-Claridge: I would definitely include the development of the multimedia platform “Global Ideas”, which has a strong emphasis on climate protection. When we started this in 2009, it was uncharted territory. DW was among the first to present constructive, solution-oriented journalism on the impact of climate change in many different languages and across many different platforms.

DW: And do you remember one special journalistic experience?

Kasper-Claridge: I very much like thinking back to an assignment involving an overnight stay in Lindau on Lake Constance, where a conference of Nobel laureates was taking place. I had three interviews with Nobel laureates from the fields of economics, biology and chemistry. But the nicest thing was the breakfast: I sat in this old hotel with a magnificent view over Lake Constance, and in the same room, there were 20 elderly men and two women having breakfast with me — all of them Nobel laureates. The vibrations from the “big brains” in that room were something pretty special.

DW: What are the challenges for journalism?

Kasper-Claridge: Independence, due diligence, transparency, respect, plurality of opinion and diversity are the basis of our journalistic work and we all commit to that basis. We have to preserve this, especially at a time when in countries in Europe and around the world there are attempts to restrict press freedom. Autocratic states don’t respect press freedom and take actions against their own media or against international media providers. We therefore continue to strive for the best journalistic quality and to be innovative and courageous in our content. We promote plurality and a culture of debate with experts of different origins and ideologies. I think the role of independent media is very important and as editor-in-chief I am very happy that our journalistic strength lies in our teamwork throughout DW.

Twitter: @ManuelaKC

Manuela Kasper-Claridge

© DW

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.

Diversity—The editor-in-chief’s team

On an almost-daily basis, reporting on diversity has been part of DW’s programming, which is committed to a pluralistic and tolerant society worldwide. As an employer, DW aims to strengthen the same pluralistic views that the editors carry to the outside world within the company as well. Manuela Kasper-Claridge appointed five new members to the editorial board to make sure every important topic is being dealt with from different perspectives. Meet the team:

Chiponda Chimbelu grew up in Zambia and joined DW in 2009 as an intern before starting a journalistic traineeship in 2011. Today, he works mainly with the DW business desk. He produces a news show and reports on how Europe’s and China’s foreign policies affect African countries, in addition to diversity and inclusion in Germany.

Chiponda Chimbelu

© DW/U. Beck

Sandra Petersmann heads the Research and Investigation unit. Following her DW traineeship in the late 1990s, she focused on hostile environment reporting and most of her travels took her to African and Asian countries. Petersmann also spent five years in India working for German public broadcaster ARD.

Sandra Petersmann

© DW/B. Geilert

Erkan Arikan has been leading DW’s Turkish editorial department since November 2018. He was instrumental in the launch of the successful YouTube format +90 and news service DW Haber. Arikan previously worked as an editor and presenter at news channel n-tv before moving to Westdeutscher Rundfunk where he was responsible for the Turkish-language service of the international and inter­cultural radio channel Cosmo.

Erkan Arikan

© DW/B. Scheid

Kristin Zeier heads DW’s Channel Management team and is responsible for the German and English news homepages. Born in the U. S., Zeier has worked for DW for nearly 20 years, much of that time in digital media. She remains a strong advocate for embracing the opportunities of the shifting media landscape, moving across jobs in radio to social media, TV and videos.

Kristin Zeier

© DW

Jaafar Abdul Karim, born in Liberia and raised in Switzerland and Lebanon, has been the host of the interactive personalized talk show JaafarTalk since July 2019. In addition to his work as a DW reporter and presenter, Abdul Karim is also a columnist for Zeit Online and has a VLog on Spiegel Online. As a multilingual expert, he is a sought-after interview partner in Germany and other countries. Until June 2019 Abdul Karim hosted the award-winning youth show Shababtalk.

Jaafar Abdul Karim

© DW