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An Italian in Berlin: Tales of a political correspondent

Alessandro Alviani is an Italian freelance journalist working for La Stampa and other print media from his base in Berlin. He has covered politics in the German capital since 2006 and written about 20 years of German unification. He received an Igor Man Award for his investigation into Catholic sex abuse.

In this European Journalism Centre question and answer session, Alviani gives some insight into the differences between working as a journalist in Germany and his home country.

You have written about 20 years of German unification and visited several industrial towns in East Germany. What did you find out?

I didn’t just want to write another article about German history and the events 20 years ago. I rather wanted to focus on the state of play, the way things are today.

I could have talked to politicians, like a lot of other journalists, but I wanted to speak to ordinary people who had lived through the changes, for example the residents of Eisenhüttenstadt (a city near the Polish border).

A lot of young people in the city, which was supposed to be Germany’s first socialist city, have left to look for work elsewhere. The main reason is that many people lost their jobs in the steel industry after 1990. During the GDR regime there were 12,000 workers at the city’s state-owned EKO steelworks; now the world’s largest steel producer Arcelor Mittal manages the site and the work force has been cut to around 6,000.

I found it important to speak to the people affected the most by these changes, to find out what happened in German society after unification. Of course, being a freelance journalist, I was also thinking about how I could come up with something different. I spoke to a city planner and the mayor of Eisenhüttenstadt, and in the end the article was about the achievements as well as the problems of German unification.

What is it like being a political correspondent for Italian newspapers in Berlin?

German politics has got a bad reputation: many people outside of Germany find it boring but I certainly don’t. Take the federal government’s regular press conferences. The government in Berlin is doing something that I find quite incredible. Three times a week, all of the press officers are available to the media for a question-and-answer session.

Of course, it is the official line you’re getting, but it’s great to have such a platform to start establishing contact with press officers – that way you can find out what goes on in the various ministries.

In Italy it’s different. Journalists tend to find ministers’ speeches a lot more important and note-worthy, and press officers aren’t highly rated. For instance, in Berlin you would never see a cluster of journalists around a minister asking questions whereas in Italy that’s quite a common sight.

What other differences are there?

I think there’s a basic difference in attitude among journalists in the two countries. When I first came to Berlin in 2006, for example, chancellor Angela Merkel visited the city of Potsdam, just outside of Berlin. One of the big German news agencies sent out a memo announcing the visit. Then at around 5pm another message arrived, saying the date with Merkel was cancelled because of a lack of things to report on.

At first, I couldn’t believe that editors decide to ignore the head of government because there’s nothing decent to report. That would be unheard of in Italy because every major newspaper and media organisation will send a journalist to a media date with the head of government – even though they may not get a new story or new information.

Regardless of what the Italian head of government says, it will often be the first item on evening TV news or it will appear on the front page. Most Italian papers run with articles about statements from the head of government. There’s a different understanding of reporting on politics.

German media will cover a politician’s statement and show the opposition’s view on the topic in the same article. In Italy, there will be two separate articles, one about the politician’s comments and the other about the opposition’s view. It’s a different approach, but you’ll still find both views represented in the media.

In which country will you find more news about international politics – Italy or Germany?

There’s significantly more coverage of international affairs in German media, especially in newspapers. International events will make it to the front page, and you’ll find them on TV, the radio and online.

In Italy there is not this focus on international affairs and that’s been the case for several decades.

What about coverage of the European Union?

Actually, that’s one area that you will read a little more about in Italian papers. You’ll quite often find one page dedicated to a background piece about one specific topic in or debate in EU politics.

Does political debate also happen online in Italy?

Generally speaking, there’s more of a debate about the head of government rather than about specific issues. There is discussion taking place online, but not on media websites.

A German newspaper like Die Welt has a comment function enabled for each article, but you won’t find that on many Italian newspaper websites.

What about your average working day? What’s your schedule most days?

I look for topics to write about, scan the online editions of Italian and German papers. I know what Italian readers like to read. Then I pitch my stories to editors; I often end up writing a series of articles on one topic.

Our deadlines tend to be a lot later at night than that of my German colleagues. In Berlin, you’ll find the next day’s paper on news stands at around 8pm. In Italy, journalists are still working around that time and the final deadline very often is at 1am or 2am.

What has been one of your favourite topics?

I did a lot of research about the child abuse cases in the Catholic church, which of course was quite a sensitive issue for an Italian journalist working here. I had to be even more thorough and precise than with other stories.

The interests of Italy and Germany became very clear and always at the back of my mind when I wrote the story.

You also received an award for your coverage of this particular story?

It was La Stampa’s Igor Man Award, which I received for a series of articles on church abuse cases. I was working together with a colleague who covers the Vatican and we did an investigation into the transfer of a clergy who had been suspected of child abuse and transferred to Munich - allegedly with approval from the current pope, Benedict XVI.  My research took me to Bavaria and I’m very happy to have been given this award.

Who was Igor Man?

Igor Man was one of the best and most famous La Stampa journalists. He specialised in the Middle East and Arabic countries.

During his long career, he worked as a war reporter and interviewed John F. Kennedy, Khrushchev, Jassir Arafat, Shimon Peres, Che Guevara, Gadafi and Khomeni among others. He died in December 2009.

What traits do you find important to do the job of a political journalist?

Most of all you need honesty. If you’re working in a foreign country, it’s easy to fall back on prejudices and clichés. You should avoid portraying that kind of image of the country you’re working in.

Germany is often portrayed as this very boring country full of strict and up-tight people. But that’s not the case. You should be honest with yourself and with your readers and describe things the way they really are.

Tags: berlin, german, germany, italian, italy, journalism, journalist, political, reporter,

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