#benjaminbathke

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ '16) -- When Danny Johnson left Germany in 2003, he had long been a die-hard Dolphins fan but had never attended a game. READ MORE.

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ ‘16) -- Germany’s indecision following the Russian invasion of Ukraine has tarnished its reputation. Centre – and Eastern European countries, in particular, have grown frustrated in view of the German government’s slow pace of delivering heavy arms and weaning itself off Russian energy imports. This is an attempt to explain German attitudes toward Russia by someone who grew up in Germany, Benjamin Bathke writes. READ MORE. 

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ ‘16) -- It’s a Friday evening in late April, and the auditorium of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga feels like a microcosm of Russia’s media scene. Around 50 journalists have gathered here for the first welcome and networking event put on specifically for them since many Russian reporters started arriving in the Latvian capital around two and a half months ago. READ MORE. 

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ ‘16) -- Perhaps no European politician (other than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky) has taken a more uncompromising stance on Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine than Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Her resolute attitude and clear convictions, including that Putin ought to be tried as a war criminal, as well as the unmatched per capita support of the Baltic nation for Ukraine have caused Kallas’s popularity to soar. READ MORE. 

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ ‘16) --  the recent Financial Times interview with Vladimir Putin was a reminder of how closely Russia has become tied with anti-liberal interests across Europe. Putin described liberalism as “obsolete,” denigrated sexual minorities, and praised closed borders and ethnonationalist policies. Putin’s ideological allies, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, have brought their countries geopolitically closer to Moscow in recent years. READ MORE. 

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ ‘16) - Slow but steady wins the race — but can that saying also work in the ad-driven digital media world, where “being first” is still a top priority for most publications? READ MORE

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ ‘16) - More than 750 senior news executives, journalists, media innovators and startups hailing from over 65 countries gathered in Vienna last week for the seventh Global Editors Network Summit to discuss trends and technologies shaping the media industry now and in the future. READ MORE

BY BENJAMIN BATHKE (FGJ ‘16) - Das ist Catherine, eine Grundschullehrerin aus Uganda. Sie nutzt ihre eigene Sendung auf Mega FM als Sprachrohr, um täglich über ländliche Regionen und Probleme zu berichten, die sonst wenig oder keine Beachtung finden. So ermöglicht sie ihren Mitbürgern, ihre Anliegen mit einer größeren Öffentlichkeit zu teilen, sagt Samuel Gummah, Leiter des Uganda Radio Networks, der größten Agentur für Radionachrichten des afrikanischen Binnenstaats. READ MORE