media fellows
march 2008
L to R: Keun Young Lee, Kyung Yoon Bae, Simone Steffan, Meike Stein, Rachel Zoll, Leslie Yazel, Franci Henny and Oliver Schilling (Fall 2007 Fellows photo)
Vincent Hugeux - Senior Reporter, Foreign Desk, L'Express, Paris, France
Vincent worked at Le Monde and the Christian daily La Croix, before joining L’Express, the best-selling French newsmagazine, in 1990. At L’Express he has covered various armed conflicts and humanitarian crisis, mostly in Africa and the Muslim world. He has covered some of the worst conflicts in recent history: Iraq 1990/1991 and 2003 onward; Ethiopia 1991; Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo from 1991 to 1996; Chechnya and Somalia in 1993; Algeria, Uganda, Sudan (Southern Sudan and Darfur), and Rwanda 1994; Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Haïti, Cuba, Madagascar, Ivory Cost, Niger, Chad, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1990. Vincent received in 2005 the Prix Bayeux Des Correspondants De Guerre (war correspondents) for a story about the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda. At L’Express, Vincent served as the Head of the Society of Journalists, the elected body in charge of defending the editorial independence for the written press in France, since 1995. Hibook entitled Les Sorciers Blancs (The White Wizards), about “false friends of Africa: spin doctors, corrupted medias and dishonest legal advisors,” was published in 2007. Vincent also contributed to a collective book, forthcoming in 2008, with a profile the late Afghan figure Ahmad Shah Massood. Vincent is a regular contributor to TV talk-shows and radio programs, in French and in English. He also teaches in three schools of journalism, Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille, Ecole de Journalisme de Sciences-Po Paris, and, Vincent will also join the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) to co-teach a course, “International Realities”, with the former French minister of Foreign Affairs, Hubert Védrine. Apart from that, he is the father of five kids, from 1 to 16. He plays table tennis, tennis, soccer and golf. His favourite mottos: “Journalism is the art of telling true stories, and the art of making a complex world accessible to a large audience. To stay alive, journalism must remain an art of enlightened subversion: nothing anywhere should be taken for granted.” Last, but not least, he says, “I am not a war correspondent, but from time to time a correspondent inside war. The French novelist and philosopher André Malraux wrote once about his commitment to the Spanish civil war: “One should wage war without loving it”. From my point of view, journalists should cover wars while hating them. When it comes to analysing the roots of a conflict or describing the ordeal of civilians trapped in it, despising warlords and the power of weapons helps a lot. “ Vincent is a French Media Fellow and his email address is vmh5@duke.edu.
Ana Keshelashvili - Faculty, Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, Tbilisi, Georgia
With more than 10 years experience in print media, Ana teaches writing and reporting and arts review classes at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. She has mainly covered arts and culture and was a feature writer for a Georgian weekly newspaper. She also has experience in TV-reporting and online media. Her special interest is Internet technologies and the ways it transforms media and everyday life. At Duke she is planning to develop courses in magazine writing, opinion writing, online journalism, as well as work on her PhD research on political cartoons. She is open to creative mutual projects that will involve not only her time at Duke, but also could continue when she returns to Georgia.
Ana is a U.S. State Department Junior Faculty Development Program Fellow and her email address is ak130@duke.edu.
Stefanie Laaser - Editor/Reporter, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne, Germany
Stefanie has been working as an editor at the German national radio network station WDR since 2005. She covers cultural events in Germany from the fields of theatre, opera, literature, arts, music and cinema, which also happen to be personal interests. As a regular presenter of a radio talk show, she deals with a broad variety of today's cultural and social issues. In the past year, she covered the international book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig. Various renowned artists have been guests on her program such as Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who rarely talks to the media. Before she started her current job, Stefanie worked for several other departments of the German national radio network. She received her basic training in journalism through internships with several newspapers and magazines, e.g. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Geo, New York, and the German-Jewish bi-weekly "Aufbau". Stephanie studied cello in Freiburg (Germany) and Eugene, Oregon. In 1999 and 2000, she received her master degrees in music performance, musicology, and Spanish and German literature. Stephanie enjoys combining her professional interests with her passion for traveling and getting to know people and foreign cultures. In 2004, she traveled through Chile and did research on the Mapuche Indians in rural communities. After her stay in Durham, she will travel on to Boulder, CO, where she plans to do research on environmental projects at the University of Colorado.
Stefanie is a RIAS Media Fellow and her email address is srl12@duke.edu.
Tom Lachman - Assistant Editor, L.A. Times, Washington Post News Service, The Washington Post, Washington, DC
Tom decided at age 12 to become a reporter when he found that he loved the research and writing that a school project on Switzerland required. He began his career the next year as a reporter for the Laurel, MD., junior high newspaper and has continued in journalism for most of the past 40 years. Tom has worked principally for two newspapers: The Baltimore News American, where he was a feature writer/art critic from 1978 to 1985, and The Washington Post, where he has been a copy editor for the L.A. Times/Washington Post News Service since 1996. He mainly amends Washington Post stories to fit into newspapers in the U.S. and abroad (about 400 newspapers, usually including Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.), prepares photos and graphics, and trains colleagues in technology. Tom has been studying Spanish at The Washington Post since 2000, and in 2005, the Post sent him to Antigua, Guatemala for language immersion studies. He enjoys Latin American literature, which he hopes to read while at Duke. He sometimes write poems in English and translates them into Spanish, which he would also like to do at Duke. Currently, two of his poems appear in the Delaware Poetry Review (http://www.depoetry.com/index1.html). Tom was a poetry fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and looks forward to meeting Spanish and English poetry professors. He is also eager to work with future journalists, and hopes to hear their views on where our field is headed because, he says, “my generation has no idea.” Tom will be a Washington Post Media Fellow at Duke and his email address is tl56@duke.edu.
Tumaole Mohlaoli - Reporter, eTV, Johannesburg, South Africa
Tumaole is a reporter with the eNews Primetime bulletin at eTV, South Africa’s first independent national broadcaster. He started his career in 2003 at a regional radio station called Jacaranda FM as a news intern. After completing his internship, Tumaole was fortunate enough to be employed by Talk Radio 702, where he was a junior news reporter for two years. In 2005, he was recruited by eTV to join their vibrant news department. Tumaole's day-to-day responsibilities include researching, sourcing and packaging news stories for the daily news bulletins. He has always been passionate about community and civic journalism and he has covered a number of human interest stories including special reports on pirate miners and the impact of severe hospital staff shortages in Mpumalanga. In 2003 he reported on the World Summit on Information Society in Switzerland. In 2005, he reported on the impact of the Tsunami on the fishing communities of Somalia. In 2007, he reported live to New Zealand via New Zealand TV and to the USA via NBC's prime morning news show, covering the 3000 miners trapped underground. Tumaole was a CNN Fellow in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007. He will be a Menell Media Fellow at Duke until April 12. His email address is tem16@duke.edu.
Steffen Prell - Editor/Reporter, RBB Television, Berlin, Germany
Steffen is currently Editor and Reporter of a weekly cinema program, broadcast by RBB Television which is part of the German Network ARD. The program is designed to screen films and provide information and discussions about the film scene in Berlin, and elsewhere. Steffen Prell also works for the Berlin Film Festival Program of French-German ARTE Television. Prior to his post at RBB in Berlin, Steffen Prell worked at the feature department of SWR Radio as a news Editor. He studied communications and media science and political science at Leipzig University and at University Robert Schuman in Strasbourg. Steffen is a RIAS Media Fellow and his email address is sp113@duke.edu.
Clas Oliver Richter - Senior Editor/Reporter, ARD-German-TV, Hamburg, Germany
For more than ten years, Clas Oliver has been working for NDR German TV in Hamburg, which is part of the ARD network. He loves news and works mainly as Reporter for the "ARD-Tagesschau", Germany’s number one news show. He covers north Germany and especially Hamburg for the "Tagesschau", and has been reporting about the big post-9/11 terrorist trial in Hamburg for more than two years. Besides his news work, Clas Oliver has been working as special correspondent and correspondent’s holiday replacement in NDR’s foreign bureaus in Stockholm, London, Washington, Singapore and Tokyo. He has also made a number of TV documentaries on political topics. For Clas Oliver, working as a TV journalist has been an exciting job from the beginning, but it has now become a passion. He is a RIAS Media Fellow and his email address is cor2@duke.edu.
David Rowell - Articles Editor, Washington Post Magazine, The Washignton Post, Washington, DC
David has been working as an editor of literary journalism, memoir, and short stories for more than 10 years. He was the executive editor of DoubleTake Magazine, an award-winning magazine devoted to documentary photography, poetry, narrative nonfiction, fiction, and journalism. At the Washington Post Magazine, he has edited and published long-form stories on subjects ranging from speed-chess hustlers to former presidential
candidates, tent preachers to ping-pong champions, boxing hopefuls, boxing champions, mini-golf champions, jazz musicians, accordionists, telemarketers, Michael Jordan, military wives, chaplains, horse gamblers, lifeguards, mountain climbers, shuffle board players, marble collectors, and practically everyone in between. He studied Radio, Television, and
Motion Pictures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. David will be a Washington Post Media Fellow and his email address is drowell@duke.edu.
Thomas Siekmann - Reporter, Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt; Reporter, Editor and Host, ProSieben Television, Munchen, Germany
Thomas completed degrees in law and economics at the University of Cologne and at the University of Bielefeld and is a graduate of the Hamburg School of Journalism. He has worked at the German Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since Spring of 2003 he has been reporting for the daily television news program of the Hessische Rundfunk in Frankfurt. Since Spring 2007, he has also reported for a daily infotainment-magazine of the nationwide broadcaster ProSieben and hosted several rubrics. He reports on current events, researches background stories and presents the latest trends. Thomas is interested in society, politics and business administration. Thomas is a RIAS Media Fellow and his email address is ts71@duke.edu.
Markus Spieker - Correspondent, ARD, Berlin, Germany
Markus covers domestic affairs for German public television, ARD, Channel 1, with a focus on economics and "homeland security" issues. Born in 1970 in the industrial town Duisburg he went on to study History, Journalism and American Literature in Giessen, where he completed his Ph.D. He was awarded a scholarship for USC Film School in Los Angeles where he attended the "Graduate Screenwriting Program". As a writer he has published several books on film history and on religious issues, including, Hollywood Cinema in Nazi Germany, Faith in the 21st Century, The Best Christian Novels of All Times, ...Movies of all Times, and ...Records of All Times. With support from the U. S. State Department and the American Jewish Committee he wrote a series of articles on "Religion in the USA". He is a Fellow of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation. Markus will be a RIAS Media Fellow at Duke and his email address is ms250@duke.edu.
Jochen Thies - Special Correspondent, DeutschlandRadio Kultur, Berlin, Germany
Jochen completed his Ph.D. in Modern History and spent some years as a professor and academic historian and served as a speech writer for Chancellor Helmut Schmidt before being drawn into journalism. His journalistic experience covers the gamut: radio, TV, newspaper and political magazine journalism. He has made many trips round the world including several lecture tours to the US where he spoke at universities and think-tanks on Germany, German foreign politics, German political culture, modern German history and German mass media. He is the author of several books on German history, and has a special interest is biography. He is a regular contributor to German and international foreign policy magazines and is particularly interested in current trends of American society, the election year and the future of the transatlantic relationship. Jochen is a RIAS Media Fellow and his email address is jht8@duke.edu.
Academic Year Media Fellows
Kyung Yoon Bae - Deputy Director, Broadcasting Promotion Division, Korean Broadcasting Commission, Seoul, South Korea
Kyung Yoon Bae started her professional career in the Korean Broadcasting Commission(KBC) in 1991 after graduating from Sung Kyun Kwan University with a major in English Language and Literature. The KBC is the independent regulatory authority for the Korean broadcasting industry, like the FCC in the United States. Kyung Yoon’s past responsibilities include the evaluation of regulation broadcasting content to ensure the public interest, the administration of terrestrial broadcasters and cable operators, and policy-making for the cable television industry. In 1997 she completed a Master’s Degree in Mass Media. Currently the Deputy Director of the Broadcasting Promotion Division, Kyung Yoon now works to promote Korean broadcasters and content abroad, in places such as China, Russia, the CIS countries and so on. In recent years, radical developments in technologies and changes in the media environment have brought new challenges to Korea as well as many other countries. Korea's cable television industry, for example, has positioned itself as the leading systems operator out of many kinds of new media, and Kyung Yoon and her colleagues at the KBC are facing new issues such as promoting fair competition between terrestrial broadcasting and cable operators. Korea is also in the process of merging two organizations that govern the broadcasting and telecommunication industries, organizations that in the past have occupied two separate realms. Kyung Yoon is hoping that her experiences at Duke and in the United States will give her new perspective and insight when she returns to address these changes, developments, and reformations of the broadcasting structures in Korea. While at Duke, therefore, Kyung Yoon is interested in studying the American media system, paying special attention to convergence issues, the U.S. administrative system, and related communications policies. Kyung Yoon Bae will be a Duke Media Fellow for the 2007-2008 academic year and her email will be kyb3@duke.edu.
Keun Young Lee - Staff Writer, The Hankyoreh, Seoul, South Korea
Keun Young Lee has been a reporter at The Hankyoreh Newspaper, one of the major daily papers in Korea, for eighteen years. For the last six years, he has specialed in science and technology reporting. He has traveled to the US, the UK, France and Switzerland, covering many scientific institutions and organizations. In 2001, he reported on the Genome Project, during which he visited the NIH. Perhaps most unforgettable was the experience of covering Dr. Hwang Woosuk’s scandal. Of special interest to Keun Young is the challenge of communicating complicated scientific ideas to the general public. As the social dependence on science and technology becomes greater, meaningful communication between the public and scientists is becoming ever more important. The media plays an essential role in facilitating this dialogue. The Dr. Hwang Woosuk scandal illustrates just what is at stake. Keun Young Lee graduated from Seoul National University with a BA in Korean Language and Literature and from Sogang University with a Master’s Degree in Science Communication. While at Duke, Keun Young is looking forward to meeting journalists and scholars who have an interest in the communication of Science and Technology issues. Keun Young will be a Duke Media Fellow for the 2007-2008 academic year and his email address will be kyl6@duke.edu.