Our Fearless Leader

Rainer Hasters is the director of the RIAS program and he has been guiding American journalists through Germany since 1995. A little background: RIAS stands for "Radio in the American Sector" of the divided Berlin. The station was broadcasting western news and American music to the communist side of the wall, but when the wall came down, it was decided to reinvest the money in an exchange program for German and American broadcasters. I began hosting German visitors to the US when I was an assistant professor at USC and was invited to join the Germany program in 2001. After five years you are eligible to do it again! So here I am, with a brand new band of Americans. We'll get to now each other well over the next two weeks as we explore Berlin, Bonn and Brussels together. Through this blog, I can take you along for the ride!
Any broadcast journalists interested in applying for this FREE trip are encouraged to learn more on the RTDNF.org web site, click on fellowships for professionals.
Our days generally start with a breakfast talk in the "cooking school" where the hotel gives lessons in fine cuisine to visitors. The RIAS program cooks up a lot of food for thought. Our first guest was a longtime German broadcaster who filled us in on why Germans are disappointed with US President Obama: "He was overestimated." Germans don't agree that government spending is a good way to stimulate the economy; they prefer cuts to balance the budget. They are also convinced that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable and don't want to send any more NATO troops. Still, they prefer Obama to George W. Bush and they feel that Obama has done a lot to repair the damage done to America's image in Europe during the Bush administration.
This is a fascinating time to be in the German capital. We're told that Chancellor Angela Merkel is essentially functioning as the prime minister of Europe in the bailout of Greece and the continued financial crisis in the Euro Zone, which is the part of the EU that uses the euro. Germany has benefited greatly from the strong euro and ranked second only to China in exports.
Germany is determined to save the euro, but the government coalition is paying a high political price with voters, who oppose bailouts for free-spending countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy.