Germany

Germany: Final Information Network

As it currently stands, Germany is one of the most influential agents in Western Europe and the European Union. With its expand economy and agreement into political party convergence, Germany sits as one of many European epicenters for news. Naturally, news coverage of Germany and the events that occur in and with it is dense and plentiful. That is why this Information Network has been created.

 

The purpose of this Network is to give a comprehensive and condensed mapping of where to go for credible information on Germany. The Network can be broken down into multiple categories where each source will cover some type of German-related news. Within each category are sources that present different perspectives. These perspectives give different points of view to news as it happens in Germany through an unbiased and biased lens. It is important to note that Germany has upwards of six major political parties. Biased perspectives are used in this Network to gain an understanding of political standings after using unbiased sources to read of an event that occurs.

 

Genießen! (Enjoy!)

 

Data Sources:

Data sources are among the most unbiased and factual sources that can be found. The following databases provide statistical information about Germany. It is best to use these sources as a background knowledge or source to go to in order to verify information

 

Europa World Plus

Europa World Plus is an international reference series that provides key surveys for more than 250 countries around the world. The almanac is overseen through the worldwide publisher of Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group with data being provided from numerous sources that can be accessed through each country’s bibliography. For Germany, the main statistics appear to come from the 2015 census. You may choose a country such as Germany and view its history, demographics, and specific statistics such as population, external trade, and industry from the last updated period. This site is updated on an annual basis as censuses are created on this timeframe. This site can be accessed through OhioLink or any other library site that has authorization to use it on a subscription based fee. For Ohio State Students, search Europa through http://library.ohio-state.edu/record=e1000527.

 

Europa World Plus began in the United Kingdom and is written in the English language. This data source is based on statistical evidence so it takes an objective perspective. This source is vital in determining what information is true in a news post. It is a easy to follow fact checker. A downside of this source is that it takes longer to update data than news sources. However, this source is still valuable because it offers a basis to determine the validity of information online.

 

Deutsche Bundesbank Eurosystem

The Deutsche Bundesbank Eurosystem is a catalogued data source that lists statistics of a myriad of accounting systems, markets, finances, and sectors within Germany. The DBE lists graphs and stats about anything related to German economy within the respect of confidential information. The DBE is advised and processed through the European Central Bank in tandem with the German financial department. This source is another fact-based format that gives objective information about financial patterns in the German economy. The DBE updates quarterly as it tends to follow trends within the stock market. It can and does update sporadically with census business information. This source can be accessed through the DBE’s main website; https://www.bundesbank.de/Navigation/EN/Bundesbank/Eurosystem/eurosystem.html

 

Even though the DBE originated in Germany and is maintained there currently, the language that it is written in is English. It can be assumed that English is used to provide information to a universal audience rather than just the German state. As with Europa World Plus, DBE provides objective information. This information focuses solely on German economy. This source provides another fact checking link for someone who wants to look further into the validity of a news story. However, this source is not easy to navigate. If you are not familiar with economic lingo, finding your way to a specific data source will be a task. Overall, this source is valuable to have when pursuing background information on a news story.

 

Traditional Sources:

Traditional sources have a more familiar tone. Each source is related to a type of news broadcasting site that provides general stories of things happening either in a specific part of Germany or over the entirety of the country. Each one will have a different perspective. The main intention of each source is to provide an objective synopsis with a certain emphasis of political opinion depending on which source is used.

 

DeutscheWelle.com

DW.com is a German news site that provides newspaper articles on their website in over 30 languages including English. Similar to the layout of CNN.com, users can choose from categories to read on articles of news, sports, culture, and more. All articles are run through the Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster.  This source is updated hourly as it is one of Germany’s largest distributors of news. This source can easily be accessed through http://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097 or through their Twitter @DeutschWelle.

 

Naturally, Deutsche Welle is located in Bonn, Germany. Every post, as well as TV and videos, is written and presented in English. The aim of DW is to broadcast information for the world about Germany. With this being said, one should be weary of the information they receive through this source since it is directed at a foreign audience. More research into smaller or equally reputable German papers is advised since the full story may sometimes not be reached. This site is very good for non-German speakers and provides short synopsis of stories that are published in Germany. Overall, this source is valuable to a person that is new to German news. It is written in English and the website is easy to navigate.

 

Der Tagesspiegel

Der Tagesspiegel is Berlin’s daily newspaper that covers stories and news events within the city and surrounding areas. It covers the northeast region in terms of German broadcasting and provides unbiased information to German citizens. Many articles fail to mention an author, so it is assumed that Der Tagesspiegel runs articles through its main distribution network under its own name. This source is updated hourly if not sooner and works similarly to a local online city newspaper with printed copies available daily in Berlin. This site can be accessed through https://www.tagesspiegel.de

 

Der Tagesspiegel is located within Berlin, Germany and is published in the German language. This website provides information in a similar way to The Columbus Dispatch. Anything local and nationally noteworthy is posted to the Berlin populace. It appears that Der Tagesspiegel takes an objective approach. Articles that I have read do not suggest political leaning. Since its first publishing in 1945, it seems that this company has stayed on track to providing just the facts. This is great if you are a German speaker. If you are not, then this source is not the best. Since it works similarly to a local American site, this source is valuable in finding news stories that Germans want to see. So long as you can understand some German, this source is a good fit in the Network!

 

Die Welt:

Die Welt is a similar news source to that of Der Tagesspiegel in the sense of its history and credibility. Die Welt provides German citizens with everyday news sources through articles, videos and interviews. Articles can be categorized between politics, live tv, sports, and economy.

The major difference between the two sources is that Die Welt is a known conservative news outlet. Many articles favor a right-wing perspective. Die Welt tends to provide more information about right leaning parties such as the SPD or Alternative für Deutschland. Die Welt is run by head publisher Thomas Schmid who oversees authors and their publications of German politics. This source is updated daily in accordance to political events that occur in Germany. This site can be accessed by monthly membership through the website https://www.welt.de.

 

Die Welt is located in Berlin, Germany and acts as a more personalized source to those that have conservative views. This site is published through Axel Springer SE, the largest news distributor in Europe. For Germany, Die Welt is the broadsheet newscast. This site is written completely in German and focuses mainly on political events that occur in Germany. A solid strength of this source would be its coverage on events. If there is a lack of knowledge about something going on in German parliament, Die Welt is thorough in describing the structure and how it is supposed to look. However, since Die Welt is a conservative leaning broadcastor, there tends to be a trickle of bias that occurs in its articles. Overall, this source is valuable in understanding political opinion. If you are used to getting your information mainly from a liberal source, check out Die Welt to see the other half of the coin.

 

Gruene.de

Gruene is a political party website that provides opinion based stories and motives for Die Grünen. This site is run by Die Grünen, a liberal political party within German parliament that focuses on nature conservatism and democratic practices. This source is set up in a newsletter format to try and persuade a reader to join Die Grünen. It has articles and announcements about things happening in and around Germany in conjunction with the political party. This site appears to be updated on a monthly basis as more events are created for the event. It can be accessed through https://www.gruene.de/startseite.html

 

This source is based in Berlin, Germany as Die Grünen’s headquarters are located there. The website is written in German as to entice the German citizen. The information that can mainly be found there is facts regarding the party and events occurring with them. Of course, the perspective of this website is liberal and based solely on Die Grünen. I chose this site due to the lack of knowledge of political parties. In order to understand German politics, one must first know of every political party. Die Grünen is a small party among six more. This site was provided to give context and background of political entities when reading about them in the paper. A major downside to this source is that it only provides information to one party. For this reason I will provide a wikipedia link below that points to other parties and their overviews. Overall, this source is valuable in understanding the motives and actions that political parties have. In turn, this will make reading news stories easier to understand since more background knowledge is present.

 

German Political Parties:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Germany

 

Visual & Audio Sources:

Visual and audio sources look to provide news and information in a new way. The following sources are easier to access because of the audiences they wish to reach. They are strong in their ability to reach a wider range of people and their free access. However, it would be ill-advised to use these as your only source. While these sources entertain, they do not cover stories as in depth as other sources. My advice is to play around with these sources and get a good idea about a topic. Then, do more research with the rest of the Network to find out more details within the story.

 

Ardmediathek.de

This site covers the broad category of German culture within entertainment, news, sports, and even the stock exchange. Ardmediathek is run by the ARD organization which stands for The Working Group of the Federal Republic of Germany’s Public Broadcasters (translated). This site is used primarily as a German media outlet for ease of access and information among German citizens, similar to a tv network such as ShowTime having an online site but for numerous networks piled into one . It is updated daily with new articles on German artists and political events. More importantly, this site offers live German TV at any time of the day. The directory of mediathek is set up similarly to any news station website within the United States with the intention of being free as well as an open source to the public. You can access this free to use site through http://www.ardmediathek.de

 

ARD is based in Berlin, Germany. The entire network is in the German language since the target audience are citizens of Germany. This source is unique because almost all information from other sources aside from data sources can be found on it. It is an expansive site that covers all things German. However, it is mostly an entertainment source. The source seems to not take a perspective at all and simply provides information, radio, and entertainment to its listeners. This source is a great place to find out about German culture. There are many satirical comedy shows that depict what’s going on in Germany as well as professional talk shows. Whatever form of media you prefer, ARD has it. A weakness however would be that it is a bit difficult to find specific things being a non-native German speaker. Since we are using this as a means to understand German culture, it is difficult to know where to go. Even with informative tabs to direct, many of the videos seem like small supplemental videos similar to YouTube. It’s almost as if you need a German to help you through the many videos and directories. Overall, if you are able to work your way into ARD, this source is valuable in adopting and learning about German culture and big news. It gives the user an easier way to take in information other than a traditional source.

 

Deutschlandfunk.de

Deutschlandfunk is a radio website that provides daily news and entertainment stories about events that are occurring both nationally and internationally. Spoken in German, the numerous hosts talk about topics ranging from Merkel to München. The entire operation is run by Deutschlandradio, a national German radio broadcaster. There are talk shows that go on to talk about German politics and others that dissent on the latest fashion trends. Deutschlandfunk acts similarly to a mini podcasts aggregate in its numerous audio shows and their short durations of less than 5 minutes. The site updates hourly as more mini-casts are added per category. This site can be accessed through http://www.deutschlandfunk.de

 

This source is made up of numerous radio stations located around Germany. All speakers are German native. On some occasion there are English episodes, but this is rare. The most popular sources of information are politics and daily news. Typically, the podcast speakers try and keep an unbiased perspective. They follow a similar pattern to NPR in America. However, like NPR, Deutschlandfunk has a hard time trying to hide its liberal roots. So, it is safe to assume that this source lies slightly on the left. This source is a refreshing alternative to receiving information. It is easy to put on a podcast and go about your day while listening to all things happening in Germany. However, as was noted, this source does lean liberal which adds a weakness in terms of wanting an unbiased perspective. Likewise, not knowing any German will in no way help if you’re listening to a German podcast! Overall, this source does well on adding a new type of source to information intake. It is easy to understand and can be accessed anywhere.

 

Euronews.de

Euronews is a multilingual news source that provides information about almost every country in Europe. Euronews is run by CEO Michael Peters and trickles down in command to distinct news stations within each country. These stations provide information to the main site that publishes stories for all of Europe. Each article provides an author’s name. This source is updated by the minute. The main website can be accessed through http://www.euronews.com. Germany is a subcategory among the main stories and can be reached by typing  ‘Germany’ into the search bar.

 

Euronews is based in Lyon, France. Depending on where you access the site, Euro News can be written in numerous languages. Assuming that you are from an English speaking country, using ‘.com’ as your end command will take you to the Euronews site that is written in English. The information that can be found here are major events that occur around the world. The source take an objective perspective since it is at an international scale. I find this source to be very strong by looking at Germany as a whole and covering what it does internationally with other countries. Some weaknesses of this site would include that it does not go extremely in depth with many of its stories and that you need to search deeper to find stories about Germany since it covers so many more countries. Overall, this site is a great source to start if you are looking for problems or events occurring with Germany and other countries or Germany itself. It gives an overview of an event and by using other sources in this network more information can easily be discovered.

 

New Media Sources:

New media sources get you as close to the action as you can get without being there. Primarily consisting of blog posts, these sources take accounts of citizen reporting within Germany and publish them to a large audience. To note, some sites and authors can pose biases based on political stances or affiliation to the state. The sources used in the Network are not biased, but it is still crucial to pay close attention to sources that may be and keep note.

 

Global Voices

Written by citizen reporters and bloggers, Global Voices depicts the people’s voice on what is going on in their region of the world. Global Voices is an international community and does not hold ownership over any authors or publications. The formatting would be to follow specific writers based on their appeal, country of interest, and credibility. This source does not update as frequently as traditional or media sources. Typically, it will update weekly or bi-weekly if you are following a specific country. To reach this source, visit https://globalvoices.org and find Germany under the ‘Europe’ tab.

 

Global Voices was originally founded at Harvard in the United States but holds no place of origin according to its motif of being a ‘global voice’. Most blog posts are written in English, but some can be in an author’s native language depending on the audience they are writing to. Typically, these sources will cover information ranging from citizen’s emotion towards a country’s decision or some type of new knowledge about a country that was not previously known. This can be a strength to the Network since we can learn about new information that wasn’t covered in previous publishing. Likewise, it gives new perspective of a person who is actually going though these events rather than a news site covering events. However, there can tend to be some bias. Global Voices tends to keep an objective stance, but with personal experience comes personal opinion. It is important to note emotion alongside these stories. Overall, this is a good source since it provides a new perspective that gives bias based on actual account (and in some cases not actual, so watch out!). It provides more information about what the public thinks about what’s going on in Germany.

 

Spreeblick

Spreeblick is an open source German blogging aggregate that provides many news stories via free online access. This site is known in Germany and one of the most popular alternative information sources in the country. This site is also run by local bloggers that live in and around Germany. This source is updated on a daily to weekly basis, making it a bit more dependable. This site can be accessed through http://www.spreeblick.com

 

Spreeblick began in Berlin, Germany and has grown to become a nationally recognized blog aggregate network. The blog posts are primarily written in German with a small amount being written in English and neighboring country languages (Austrian, Polish, etc). Many bloggers post about entertainment topics within Germany while a great deal of many others talk politics and news. Spreeblick is of a younger generation of Germans, so the perspective seems to take a liberal tone. However, there are numerous articles that tend to lean left as well. With so many different political views, the perspective seems to balance itself out in terms of not taking a political stance. This source has a strength of playing both sides of the political field. However, since it is such a new network, a weakness is that this source is not as well known as other sources. As it grows in popularity it will surely gain more users and writers. This source is valuable in finding out more about events going on within Germany. It takes a deeper dive into the citizen’s views and provides further insight that one may not have gotten in a traditional source.

 

Social Media Sources:

Social media sources provide a real time look at what people think about what’s going on around the world. This is perhaps the most commonly used source since the stories and opinions that are collected are from citizens. In order to get the full effect of social media sources, it is crucial to understand the level of bias that will inevitably come into play. Many times you will be looking at someone’s opinion, not a news story. Social media is fast and large. Sifting through the data is taxing, but well worth finding popular opinion about what people think about certain topics in the world.

 

Twitter Filters

Twitter is a heavy source of opinion in the social network of apps. With the ‘advanced search’ option, you are able to filter through the tsunami of tweets to view topics that are tailored to your liking. The authors of this source are every user that posts a ‘tweet’. Using hashtags, one can search certain topics and see public opinion of matters occuring around the world. For instance, using the two keywords ‘Germany’ and ‘Immigration’, one can see public oponion about the political dilemma going on in Germany. This source is updated by the second as millions of users post at any given time. This source can be found in the ‘Advanced Search’ box on Twitter.com. You must have an account to access this feature.

 

Twitter headquarters is located in San Francisco, California. Twitter is posted in numerous languages and any can be found depending on who you follow and what you are looking for. Twitter is a source that provides both story and opinion. The users make up primarily the opinion side while other companies, business and news sites make profiles for the users. There is no clear perspective on this app since it is open to any and all users. Being an avid user, I have experienced every political stance and opinion. This source is great if you want to see what the world has to say about certain topics. It can provide the viewpoint of those that don’t often have a voice. However, many people base their posts only on opinion rather than any research. The extreme bias that comes into play can be due to lack of knowledge. Because of this Twitter can be damaging when trying to learn more about a topic. Overall, this source is beneficial when all information about a story is known and becomes useful to see popular opinion.

 

Tandem Language App

Tandem is a crowd-funded mobile device app that acts first and foremost as a language learning tool. Through registering and acceptance into the application, a user is able to pick languages that they want to learn and find matches to others that are trying to learn their native language (ie: English). Through this app, people are able to discuss anything and everything while learning new languages.  This source does not update as the previous sources do. The user is responsible for finding out information by talking with another person through language acquisition. This source can be accessed by downloading the Tandem app via mobile device. You must apply to be accepted into this application. This allows for more privacy and a more stable community. More information can be read on the apps website at Tandem.net.

 

There is no country of origin that is related to Tandem. By using English to help non-native speakers learn, Tandem uses any language that you want to learn when discussing topics about politics, business, or culture. There are many perspectives that can be found on Tandem. If you know of topics that have political ties to them you can search and find people that are interested in sharing that perspective. This source is a great way to get a one-on-on real time opinion on what’s going on in Germany. A weakness of this topic is that people may not want to talk about specific topics. If you push too hard, that may make some uncomfortable. A word of advice is to just allow conversation to flow and see what information you can get from it. At that, another weakness would be that you may not get all the information you’re seeking from the source as well as that person may not know anything about it! Overall, Tandem is a valuable way to get a one-on-one experience with someone who lives in the events that you’re interested in.

 

Global News Post #6 – Germany

Polizei verhindert Terroranschlag auf Berliner Halbmarathon

This article, translated as Police prevent terrorist attack on Berlin half marathon, covers the events that occurred at a Berlin half marathon this past Saturday April 7, 2018. According to Die Welt publishing organization, seven men were detained and arrested after police heard of their plans to attack runners and bystanders during the marathon. Police told the reporters that they believed these men were linked to Anis Amri, a Tunisian man that orchestrated the Berlin truck attack in December 19, 2016. After searching the houses of the men who attempted the attack, police found explosives and knives located in one man’s home.

The article talked a lot on one man in particular. Although he was not named, police saw that he had the most ties to Anis Amri. The assailant was thought to be seeking revenge for Amri’s death after he was shot to death in Milan following the terrorist attack in Berlin. Police found knives on person. The man admitted on planning an attack on the some 32,000 runners and bystanders on the day of the marathon.

Overall, this article is concise and to the point. Although I chose this traditional outlet (Die Welt) as one of my right leaning sources, it did well in only observing the facts and details about the arrest of several men and what the police force did to prevent the occurrence as well as why it was so successful. The police used search dogs and past information on possible attackers.

The story of the Berlin half marathon arrest is a pivotal event for Germany. With immigration a heated debate and security demanding to be bolstered, it will be interesting to see the civilian’s reactions to everything. Germany is a leading contributor to immigration. With polarizing opinion of the subject already at the forefront of German politics (see Germany’s Grand Coalition article via Financial Times),  more change is sure to come now that the Grand Coalition has been signed and ready to be put into work.

 

Works Cited:

Behrendt, Michael. “Festnahme: Polizei Verhindert Terroranschlag Auf Berliner Halbmarathon – WELT.” DIE WELT, WELT, 8 Apr. 2018, www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article175256562/Festnahme-Polizei-verhindert-Terroranschlag-auf-Berliner-Halbmarathon.html.

 

Chazan, Guy. “Subscribe to the FT to Read: Financial Times Germany’s Parties Reach Grand Coalition Deal.” Financial Times, www.ft.com/content/7469ad50-0be3-11e8-8eb7-42f857ea9f09.

 

Society, Run. “34th Berlin Half Marathon To Attract Over 30,000 Runners To Germany.” via RunSociety – Asia’s Leading Online Running Magazine, 28 Mar. 2018, www.runsociety.com/news/34th-berlin-half-marathon-to-attract-over-30000-runners-to-germany/.

 

 

Global News Post #4 – Germany

Wie das Kokain nach Berlin kommt – Where the Cocaine in Berlin Comes From

According to a new analysis done by the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), a German Federal Criminal Police unit located in Berlin, the use of cocaine and other narcotics has not only increased in the city of Berlin, it has found new ways of transport. This article written by Marie Rövekamp focuses on the hidden pathways drug dealers use in order to sneak drugs into Berlin, Germany.

Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel explains that although the police force in Germany has done a good job at catching criminals in the streets, even bigger problems in how drugs get to Berlin have yet to be solved. The main transaction for cocaine in Berlin and country-wide occurs with the DarkWeb. The DarkWeb allows users to obtain anonymous IP addresses that cannot be traced. Since there is no face to the name, those looking to score can easily purchase their goods. However, since police have a strong grip on the streets and city, dealers have come up with more intuitive ways at bringing drugs in.

Smuggling drugs into Berlin comes in many forms. The most popular form has been aptly named the “Coke-Taxi”. This is when a cab driver or dealer dressed as such driver around under the guise of a taxi only to be both dealing and transporting narcotics. Another way has been through body transport through which dealers or workers hide drugs inside their bodies in when traveling through checkpoints in order to conceal their product.

The BKA have been trying to find a way to figure out the patterns of cocaine sales. This is a difficult solution to find, especially since “24,000 lines of coke are exchange in Berlin a day” (translated from direct quote: “Berliner ziehen sich im Schnitt 24.000 Lines am Tag rein”. Since the DarkWeb encrypts the identity of dealers and buyers, it is up to police to simply catch a deal in the act and find information from there. This process will take time and diligence since their is no information to go off of in the first place.

This article takes a non-biased approach even when taking into account the pro-drug political view. The evidence being used was statistical information regarding the predicted amount of drugs influxed into Berlin as well as opinions and anecdotes from police on what to do with them. This article takes no point of view and more over analyzes the event of drug usage and transportation within Berlin. Some information may have been misconstrued since it was written in German and was at the fault of my translation.

 

Works Cited:

 

Rövekamp, Marie. “Wie Das Kokain Nach Berlin Kommt.” Der Schneesturm, 4 Mar. 2018, www.tagesspiegel.de/wirtschaft/der-schneesturm-wie-das-kokain-nach-berlin-kommt/21029078.html.

 

“DPA.” Russian ‘mastermind’ in Argentina cocaine plot arrested in Berlin. AFP, Version 1, The Local de, 2 March, 2018, 11:03 PM, https://www.thelocal.de/20180302/russian-mastermind-in-argentina-cocaine-plot-arrested-in-berlin

German Food Bank Slammed for Barring Foreigners From Registering- Global News Post 3: Germany

German Food Bank Slammed for Barring Foreigners From Registering

By: Carla Bleiker

This article shares concern of foreign immigrants and the barring of registration for free food within German food banks. Author Carla Bleiker of DW.com provides a synopsis of the problems that have risen after food bank organization Berliner Essen Tafel has prevented foreign residents of Germany from taking donations for the next 8 weeks.

The Berliner Tafel provides soon-expired food to German families in need by way of food delivery volunteers. As a German citizen one is able to show proof of financial need for a membership into the German food bank. However, according to chairman of Essen Tafel Jörg Sartor, due to complications of “too much pushing and shoving”, there appears to be too much competition for access to food. Because of this reason, the Tafel has sought to barr foreigners from receiving food donations since not all German born citizens may not be receiving their share.

This decision has been met with both backlash and confirmation. While one citizen believes it is the right thing to do to fix chaotic grabbing of resources, other citizens think differently. Carole, a French mother of two and citizen of Germany who has no membership since she is not native born, cannot support her family in trying times and thinks that this decision only hinders those in need.

The major concern of this decision is whether the Essen Tafel performed a xenophobic act. Jörf Sartor does not think that this decision is xenophobic for two reasons. He thinks that the temporary ban is exactly that; temporary. Likewise, German citizens in his opinions should take precedence due to their citizenship being held longer.

A quick search through Twitter’s advanced search of ‘Essen Tafel’  shows that opinions support a xenophobic or ignorant decision on the organizations part. A majority argues that the government improperly invested in the Tafel, not supporting further in the group while knowing the rate of immigration would go up. Some have gone so far as to graffiti the word ‘Nazis’ on Tafel trucks in opposition to the decision. Like the DW article, citizens appear to push for a quick solution and not an 8 week barring of citizens that need food now.

The overall perspective of this article looks at the Berliner Essen Tafel’s opinion on their decision and why they’ve decided to barr foreign membership in tandem with the public’s opinion. While it is a brash action, it is supported by the lack of resources. However, Response of discernment by the public argues that resources should have never been scarce to begin with.

 

Citations:

Bleiker, Carla. “German Food Bank Slammed for barring Foreigners from Registering.” Top Stories/ Germany, Dw.com, 23 Feb. 2018, www.dw.com/en/german-food-bank-slammed-for-barring-foreigners-from-registering/a-42719963.

Bleiker, Carla. “Help us help! Against hunger in our city’ — it seems the Essen Tafel’s motto currently doesn’t apply to foreigners”. DW.com, Bleiker, Carla. via Flicker, 23 Feb. 2018, http://www.dw.com/en/german-food-bank-slammed-for-barring-foreigners-from-registering/a-42719963.

Pbrowning02(Pbrowning02). “The volunteer Tafel group in Essen is clearly overwhelmed by growing demand, but you can’t solve that by discriminating along ethnic lines.” 23 Feb. 2018, 1:21 PM. Tweet.

 

 

Global News Post #2- Germany

German police are now looking into riots that occurred at the G20 Summit last year.The riots, focused on disrupting the international policymaking meeting known as the G20 Summit, were dismantled after three days of activity in Hamburg, Germany. According to the article written by German national news source DW.com, more than $15 million in damage was done unto the city of Hamburg. Now that German officials are looking to catch those taking part in the riots, opposition to the investigation seems to be rising within the German state.

The article puts blame and pride onto the radical left. German officials attribute many of the rioters to citizens of Spain and Italy. These countries are important regarding the G20 Summit since their economies rely heavily on the jurisdiction and policies created within the convention. The assumption within the article leads readers to believe that citizens of both countries were looking to disrupt policy making in hopes to urge policymakers to think for the people of Italy, Spain, and Germany instead of their governments. With photos and CCTV of rioters already published, the leftist party began its retaliation by releasing documents of German police officers that suggested police brutality.

Evidence of leftist opposition can be found here in another DW article summarizing leftist outcry. Interior minister Andy Grote argues against the leftist response by suggesting that the violence in Hamburg should not be “downplayed”. This evidence supports German police action as Grote goes on to say that “for the first time in months, the rioters have a reason to be worried,” pointing at the crime of the riots and the fact that nothing has been done nor has anyone been reprimanded for the events that occurred last July.

The perspective of this article attempts to be as non-biased as possible, but suggests a critical mentality based on the deep analysis of the extreme left side. The second article by DW draws on the emotions of those effected by the riots with a perspective of those in the events and those that had something to say. Overall, the article harks on the concerns of the German government with what to do about the G20 Summit riots as well as the reactions of the national public both supporting and against Germany’s decision.

 

Works Cited:

Deutsche Welle. “Hamburg G20 Riots: German Police Look to Spain, Italy to Find Perpetrators | News | DW | 02.02.2018.” DW.COM, 2018, www.dw.com/en/hamburg-g20-riots-german-police-look-to-spain-italy-to-find-perpetrators/a-42422614.

Deutsche Welle. “Leftists Release German Police Photos in G20 Retaliation, Sparking Anger | Germany| News and in-Depth Reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 19.12.2017.” DW.COM, 2018, www.dw.com/en/leftists-release-german-police-photos-in-g20-retaliation-sparking-anger/a-41863966.

Deutsche Welle. “Hamburg G20 Riot Damages Run into Millions | News | DW | 19.07.2017.” DW.COM, Anonymous, 8 July 2017, www.dw.com/en/hamburg-g20-riot-damages-run-into-millions/a-39745157.

Germany- Information Network Draft #1

Ardmediathek: Although it is in the German language, this site covers the broad category of German culture within entertainment, news, sports, and even the stock exchange. Ardmediathek is run by the ARD organization which stands for The Working Group of the Federal Republic of Germany’s Public Broadcasters (translated). This site is used primarily as a German media outlet for ease of access and information among German citizens. It is updated daily with new articles on German artists and political events. More importantly, this site offers live German TV at any time of the day. The directory of mediathek is set up similarly to any news station website within the United States with the intention of being free as well as an open source to the public.

You can access this site at ardmediathek.de and on Twitter @ARDde.

I chose this site because it shows the modern cultural expanse of Germany. I was directed towards it by my German professor as a means of practice for my German language. Since then, I’ve found that it helps not only my German proficiency, but also my knowledge on German events and practices as they happen daily. I will stay up to date with this site by habitually checking on it to improve my German as well as check on German events. Likewise, I followed mediathek on Twitter to get more snapshots on major articles that are posted daily.

Europa World Plus:Europa World Plus is an international reference series that provides key surveys for more than 250 countries around the world. The almanac is overseen through the worldwide publisher of Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group with data being provided from numerous sources that can be accessed through each country’s bibliography. This series keeps up to date with current nation’s elections and statistics and updates periodically to ensure concise depictions of country’s numbers. For Germany, the main statistics appear to come from the 2015 census. You may choose a country such as Germany and view its history, demographics, and specific statistics such as population, external trade, and industry from the last updated period.

This site can be accessed through OhioLink or any other library site that has authorization to use it on a subscription based fee. For Ohio State Students, search Europa through http://library.ohio-state.edu/screens/databases.html . You can also follow Europa @EuropaWorld on Twitter.

I hope to use this site as a reference page when doing research with other sources. Europa provides great overviews of countries that I am able to fact-check as I observe the credibility of articles and if their ‘facts’ hold up to the data. I selected this site because it is the most credible and unbiased source of information I can start with as I continue to dog deeper into German media and news sources. It will act as a screening source that either supports or refutes future articles and their credibility.

 

Global Voices: Articles such as Netizen Report: Germany’s New Social Media Law Puts a Price on Hate Speech on globalvoices.org are unbiased accounts of local or national events occuring in the world. Written by citizen reporters and bloggers, Global Voices depicts the people’s voice on what is going on in their region of the world. This article in particular was by the Netizen Report Team, a team of researchers and writers that work on Global Voices Advocacy. Plainly, it puts the news in the hands of everyday citizen reporters. The article focuses on a new law set forth by the German government in hopes to mitigate hate speech online. This law would charge private companies a fee if they do not take down content that is flagged as hate speech or derogatory.

This source can be accessed through globalvoices.org. It is updated on a weekly to monthly basis as large stories come out in the world. The site seems to focus on bigger events that affect the populace of a nation or nations that deserve public weigh in.

I chose this source because of its credibility with citizen reporters. It is difficult to find a source such as this that isn’t biased. Global Voices gives thorough and factual information while not swaying towards either side of the isle. I plan to use Global Voices mainly to keep up to date with major events that occur with my state locally, nationally, and internationally. The scope of Global Voices will be beneficial in observing the range of news coming from Germany and what the people have to say about it.

 

DW.com: DW.com is a German newsite that provides newspaper articles on their website in over 30 languages including English. Similar to the layout of CNN.com, users can choose from categories to read on articles of news, sports, culture, and more. New German Disaster App: Getting Help Without Cell Service, written by journalist Carla Bleiker, focuses on a new app in development that would help individuals affected by natural disasters. The app, called Smarter, would use local wifi or phone cloud services to allow users to call or located others without the use of cell phone towers or cell service. The article brings up skepticisms of the app and the hurdles that would need to jumped in order for this service to become a household name.

All articles are run through the Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster. This source can easily be accessed through dw.com or through their Twitter @DeutschWelle. This source is updated hourly as it is one of Germany’s largest distributors of news.

I plan on looking at this source on a weekly basis. It looks to be a great source of German information as to what’s happening all of the nation. I likewise will test my German by attempting to read the articles in the German language and then rereading it in English to see what I can get out of it! This will be a good source to use in tandem with Europa World Plus so I can see what the numbers (statistics) actually mean as I read them. I chose this source because it broadens the newspan of Germany to an even larger degree from previous sources. I would like to see expansive coverage of the country as a whole so the moving parts within it end up making sense as a whole.

 

Der Tagesspiegel: Belin ist wie New York – nur in die Waagerechte gekippt is an article on Der Tagesspiegel website that harks on Berlin’s architecture and its likeness to the United State’s New York City. Since no author is published on this work, it is assumed that it comes from Der Tagesspiegel’s reporting office. Der Tagesspiegel is Berlin’s daily newspaper that covers stories and news events within the city. This article focuses on Berlin being a ‘horizontal’ New York since the hustle and bustle and size are comparative to the big apple, but not the vertical size of building. This article continues discussing the premier architect Walter Benjamin and his likeliness to Berlin’s original builders.

This article was found through the online german newspapers directory via wikipedia. It updates daily and can be accessed online at tagesspiegel.de.

I became interested in this source while trying to find local newspapers. I chose Berlin since it is a large and expanding city that carries not only history but ongoing change. This source is great for a variety of topics within a specific location in Germany. I will use this source to get a focused view on Berlin. I can see what happens with policies and events in Germany in accordance to specific regions such as Berlin.

 

Twitter Filters: Twitter is a heavy source of opinion in the social network of apps. With the ‘advanced search’ option, you are able to filter through the tsunami of tweets to view topics that are tailored to your liking. I used the ‘advanced search’ to view German citizen’s thoughts and feeling on immigration. With Twitter, I will get opinions of natives in the regions of Berlin, Dusseldorf, and Munich and what they feel about the massive immigration numbers coming into Germany, as well as the policies beginning to be put into place because of it. The authors being observed are all users of the Twitter app, concretley in specific regions of Germany. This can range from teenagers to politicians, so a number of opinions can and will be noted.

This source can be accessed through the ‘advanced search’ option on the desktop of Twitter.com. With this feature, the source will update by the minute. However, this brings heavy bias into play as the tweets I will be observing will be opinions on immigration rather than an analysis of what’s going on.

I selected this source because it is important to keep up to date with what the populace if feeling about trending matters. With the public opinion, I can see what splits parties and what they stand for (or at least some of their members). I believe that I will use this source the most as I am an avid Twitter user. It will be fun to see what stories and tweets I can find in different areas of the world. I know that since I have a tailored feed, it will be refreshing and surprising to see what other corners of the world have to say about matters important to their country.

Global News Post #1 – Germany

https://globalvoices.org/2017/09/20/netizen-report-germanys-new-social-media-law-puts-a-price-on-hate-speech/

The posted article focuses on a new cultural wave of diplomacy in Germany and its surveillance of hate speech. A new law set forth to fine and prosecute hate speech mandates that private sites must get ride of any posts that are deemed hate speech or are overly offensive to specific users. If not, these sites will be fined heavily for allowing hate speech to remain on their platform. Furthermore, the article discusses the implications that may arise due to the new law since it is very new in the international scale. This law is in its infancy as it has only been active since 1 January.

Although it is difficult to define what hate speech can be, the power of mitigating hate speech is transferred from public agencies to the private agencies that have control of each website and its content. This is addressed as a double-edged sword in the sense that although hate speech is being mitigated, a new ideology of ‘what-can-I-post-anymore?’ may rise based on the fact that citizens may not have as free of a range to say what they want online. Further evidence focused on Rohingya citizens being driven out of the nation of Myanmar through loss of access to their Facebook accounts. Without a voice, anti-Rohingya propaganda can be shown without opposition in the nation of Myanmar. Likewise, more evidence of Iranian developers petitioning for Apple Inc. to stop banning Iranian apps as well as Rohingya’s censorship shows that censorship can be taken too far and limit the human rights of individuals.

The perspective in this article seems to take a non-biased perspective of simply reporting the new law. However, with only evidence showing the possible downside of this law can suggest that the author may lean towards a more ‘free speech’ type of expression. Further research on opinions in a BBC article titled Germany Starts Enforcing Hate Speech Law illicits public concern that free speech may be minimized due to this new law.

The BBC article can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42510868

 

Works Cited:

BBC. “Germany starts enforcing hate speech law.” BBC News, BBC, 1 Jan. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/technology-42510868.

Doctorow, Cory. “The Problem With Censorship is XXXXXXXXX.” 15 Jan. 2015, via Flicker, Budapest, Hungary, 28 Jan, 2018.

Report, Netizen. “Netizen Report: Germanys New Social Media Law Puts a Price on Hate Speech · Global Voices.” Global Voices, 10 Oct. 2017, globalvoices.org/2017/09/20/netizen-report-germanys-new-social-media-law-puts-a-price-on-hate-speech/.