current fellows

Eva Maria Kaiser - Editor, Current Affairs, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Vienna, Austria
Eva Maria works as journalist for the weekly TV-magazine Report, where she covers Austrian politics and EU affairs. Eva Maria studied Theology at the University of Vienna and the Institut Catholique in Paris, graduating in 1994. In 1996 she completed a post-graduate diploma at the Katholische Medien Akademie and subsequently began her television journalism career in the ORF Department of Religion. Before she became a TV journalist she freelanced at various media agencies such as Austria Presse Agentur, Katholische Presseagentur, the daily newspaper Der Standard, and RadioVatican in Rome. Her journalistic masterpiece is a book about The Jehovah's Witnesses, which deals with the dubious machinations of this religious organization. It was first published in 1996 and has gone through several printings. Eva Maria Kaiser will be a Milton Wolf Fellow and her email address will be hoope9@duke.edu.

Anja Kretschmer - Journalist, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg RBB, Berlin, Germany
Anja has always been most interested in documentaries, in researching and revealing the stories of common people. After completing a master's degree at The Free University of Berlin in 1982, she became a trainee at Berlin's public broadcast station SFB, Sender Freies Berlin. For the past 15 years she has researched, edited and produced radio reports and TV documentaries. She has pursued stories from a wide range of topics including the first people crossing from the GDR to West Berlin, migrants without jobs, prisoners, adopted children, the modern relationship to God, and the philosophy of anthroposophics. In all her work, her focus lies on the changing structures of society, exploring how people manage to live their lives in post-industrial times. The professional platform of her work is the Berliner Journalistenbüro, which she founded in 1991 and which today includes seven colleagues. In 2002 she won the well-known Robert Geisendörfer Preis, a media award sponsored by the Protestant church of Germany. Anja Kretschmer will be a RIAS Berlin Kommission Fellow and her email will be anja9@duke.edu.

Dominik Lessmeister - Freelancer, Reporter, SR German Radio and TV, Saarbrücken, Germany
Dominik freelances for SR German Radio and TV in Saarbrücken. He is a reporter for SRR Radio World News where he covers political stories and presents the radio news. Dominik began his journalism career during his military service by working at Radio Andernach, the German military radio station. A student at the University of Mainz since 2000, he won a scholarship from the European Union last year that enabled him to study for six months at the University of Nottingham in England. His focus was on Political Science and International Relations, and, in particular, the integration processes of the European Union. During his time in London, he worked for the London office of ZDF German Television and has continued to freelance for ZDF since his return to Germany. While at Duke, Dominik plans to pursue his interests in Political Science and International Relations. Dominik Lessmeister will be a RIAS Berlin Kommission Fellow and his email will be dl9@duke.edu.

Nils Rode - Reporter, Current Affairs, German Public TV, Channel WDR, Duesseldorf, Germany
Nils' interest is always the stories behind the news. His pieces are centered around people and how they are influenced and affected by political, social and economic changes. Before coming to his current job at German Public Television, he worked for various private and public radio stations focusing on sports and travel. He completed his degree at the University of Cologne. Nils Rode will be a RIAS Berlin Kommission Fellow and his email will be rode9@duke.edu.

Sonja Sagmeister - TV- journalist, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Television, Vienna, Austria
Sonja started as newspaper and radio journalist and seven years ago moved to television where she is now a reporter for ORF, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. In her career as journalist she has worked in many different countries, including Namibia, China, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and also for some time as a correspondent in Rome. Sonja has covered topics like post-war problems in former Yugoslavia or environmental problems in Ukraine. Her most exciting and challenging experience so far was in Iran where she reported about the problems of the minority Kurdish population, Christians in Iran, women`s rights issues, and also covered presidential elections. Sonja has studied English, Italian and Spanish and also has a working knowledge of French and Slovene. She completed her schooling, which included a year at Eau Claire University in the United States, with a masters degree. Her interests are mainly focused on globalization and on the economical development in Eastern Europe as well as other emerging markets like China. Sonja Sagmeister will be a Milton Wolf Media Fellow and her email will be sonja9@duke.edu.

Jeffrey Smith - National Investigative Correspondent, The Washington Post
Jeff's first job after graduating from Duke University's School of Public Policy in 1976 and Columbia University's Journalism School in 1977 was at Science Magazine in Washington, where he wrote for a time about regulatory affairs, science, defense, and the space program. Then The Washington Post hired him to be their National Security Correspondent, a job he held from 1986 to 1997. There, he covered policymaking at the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House, and the intelligence community. After a decade in that job, he became, in 1998, the newspaper's Rome bureau chief, covering southern Europe. Over the next three years, he spent most of his time in the Balkans, writing about two wars in Kosovo, a revolution in Serbia, and a rebellion in Macedonia. Witnessing organized mayhem close up was a disturbing experience and it prompted him to take a year long sabbatical to write a book about the troubles of the Balkans and the failures of Western peacekeeping (still in progress). He returned to The Post full-time in January 2003 as its new National Investigative Correspondent; now he rakes muck and writes features on a broad range of topics, often related to corruption, while continuing to work on the book in his spare time. Jeff Smith will be a Washington Post Media Fellow and his email will be smith9@duke.edu.

Long Term Media Fellows

Choonho Lee - Political Correspondent, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), Seoul, South Korea.
Since Spring of 1999, Choonho Lee has been the Korean Political Affairs Reporter for a daily television news program where he covers both the ruling party and the opposition party of Korea. His coverage has included the eventful North-South Korean summit talks of 2000, the presidential election of 2002, and the Korean general election of 1999. The KBS, where he has worked since 1992, just after his graduation from the Seoul National University, is the largest nationwide broadcast station in Korea. Choonho is very much interested in political and social events in the U.S. such as next year's U.S. presidential election. His interests also extend TV coverage of the election campaign and the role of media in politics. Aside from work, he enjoys playing soccer, travel and road trips. Choonho Lee is currently the visiting scholar at the John Hope Franklin Center and a Duke Media Fellow for a whole academic year. His email address is psh@kbs.co.kr.

Ana Mukoska - Macedonian State University, Skopje, Macedonia
Ana Mukoska currently teaches in the Department for Journalism Studies at the State University in Skopje, Macedonia. She also works in Euro-Balkan Institute, a think-tank in Macedonia, in the department of research and analyses, where she prepares news and analyses covering foreign affairs and security issues that may have reflections on the region of Southeast Europe. The news and analyses are designed to suit the needs of the senior governmental officials, business professionals, and the civil sector. Her work is focused on transatlantic relations (US-EU), the role of US in the process of enlargement and transformation of NATO, the function of UN (Security Council) in the era of war against the global terrorism. Mukoska has her Master's degree in Communications Studies and the title of her thesis work is "Analyses of the EU model about the information society". Her interests while at Duke include the role of media and the process of cultural globalization and revival of ethic, religion and national extremism, and the role of the media in promoting of the emergence of the information/ networked society. Ana will be a JFDP Fellow for the entire academic year and her email address will be mukoska9@duke.edu.