78 Country Report: Information Network

(4)“Traditional news” such as newspapers or magazines: pressreader

Business Traveller Germany: This source is a leading business magazine regarding travel in different countries including Germany published by Panacea Media. The online issues are originally published in German and it has a constant publishing cycle with new editions being put out very often with new information. It’s updated twice in the spring, once in the summer and once in the winter and in the back of each issue has the exact next release date. A con to the magazine is that it has not yet been updated for 2023 online and a pro is that it can be translated into many different languages.

It can be accessed for free at https://www-pressreader-com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/germany/business-traveller-germany and at https://www.businesstraveller.de/#slide-4

I chose this site because it is helpful to people looking to go and experience Germany. It has a large scale of topics that are discussed about the country itself as well.  The magazine also uses editors and writers from across the globe living in the areas that the issue will be about to ensure that it is more accurate.

Spiegel International: This website is an online version of the newspaper Der Spiegel, published by Spiegel-Verlag and is a highly influential magazine in western Europe. Based in Hamburg, Germany, It focuses a lot on politics and has a history of high quality investigative journalism. It is the international version for the magazine therefore it is written in English online, easy to access and updated on different topics frequently. It can be accessed for free at https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/

I chose this site because it updates a lot and is primarily written in English making it easy to navigate. There is a tab specifically for Germany making it very easy to find all of the German specific news that they publish. Given their history of good journalism I thought that this would be a good website to continue to look into as a German news source. While the website is primarily in english there are a lot of German words that makes it difficult to navigate occasionally.

Zeit Magazin Online: This magazine published by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and Dieter von Holtzbrinck Medien GmbH, is a more liberal magazine coming out of Germany with both international and national German news. It was originally published in German and can be translated with a computer. They pride themselves on being an independent and opinionated magazine. They are a weekly newspaper that publishes articles about sports, society, politics, economics, culture, etc.

It can be accessed at https://www.zeit.de/zustimmung?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2Findex

I chose this magazine because it is easily available and translated and has a wide variety of topics and subtopics. A pro about this magazine is that it is frequently published however a con is that the magazine has been described as having a more liberal outlook and voice when writing.

The Conversation:  The conversation in an online newsletter that Ohio State is actually a founding partner for. It is considered an almost completely transparent new outlet that provides its community standards, publishing guidelines, editorial processes, every organization that they partner with and who funds them. They have many different topics that they focus on from arts+culture, economy, politics, environment, ethics, science and education. It is updated frequently with new articles published by experts nearly every day.

It can be accessed at  https://theconversation.com/us/search?q=germany .

I chose The Conversation as a source because from their transparency they seem to be a very reliable organization to follow for global news. A pro for this magazine is that the people who are writing are highly qualified to publish analyses and articles on said topics.

(3)“New media” such as websites or blogs:

European Union: The European Union is a website that is a base for basic information about countries within the EU, including Germany. It covers the largest news stories that are coming out of the EU currently and has an overview page for each country with a lot of relevant information and data. The website is government run so the information *should be accurate and correct which is a pro. However, a con is that they have little links to some of the information and the basic information is just that, basic.

It can be accessed fully at  https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en

I chose to use this website because the information published is a lot of general, relevant information about the country that can lead to other questions and searches. It acts as a decent starting place for a lot of information when learning about a country and what to search for for information.

Deutschland.de: This website crowns itself as the “link to Germany”, published by  Fazit Communication GmbH, Frankfurt-am-Main and in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, it offers a wide variety of information all in English. An immediate con about this news site is that some of the articles cannot be read unless they are purchased or you are subscribed, with a fee, to the website. The website has all of the publisher information and often information on the journalists who write their stories. Something odd I noticed is that they have taken down some articles, such as the article that I found on the project to return stolen art back to Nigeria.

It can be accessed at https://www.deutschland.de/en .

I chose this website as I found my Global News Post presentation article from it and it offers a lot of relevant news coming out of Germany that otherwise larger organizations would not focus on. Not only does it have news in written form but also a lot of multimedia projects available as well.

Bundesregierung: This website is the website for the federal government of Germany mainly providing news of what is happening and what is coming out of the government right now. It has a section for each level of their government and focuses on international affairs, laws and finances the most. A con for this website is that a lot of the specific german news is in German, although that makes sense as it is for German’s to get information on what their government is doing. It has a data information cite for how they collect data, a contact page and is published by the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government.

It can be accessed for free at https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en

I chose this website for accurate and current news on national affairs and legislation happening in Germany now. The website provides a good amount of what the government is focusing on and what kind of laws are being proposed this year. Another con is that there is no feedback from German citizens and is obviously biased in what is published as it is a government run page.

(3)Social media sources:

Twitter: I chose to look at Twitter accounts for a different perspective on what German citizens and German media accounts talk about. I chose to follow @DFB_Team_EN which is similar to a news account for German sports such as soccer typed in English. The media team updates the account frequently with tweets and it is interesting to see the updates that are important that German people would keep up with. Some pros are that the account specifically looks at sports popular in Germany and they tweet nearly every day. A con is that many of the tweets and updates are retweets meaning that they aren’t making their own content or news a lot.

It can be accessed at https://twitter.com/DFB_Team_EN

Feedly: This website is not the social media site itself but instead offers all of the most popular blogs and sites in Germany currently and links to what is coming out of each site currently. It offers a lot of links to any social media site popular in Germany right now and is made to track insights from across the web with less effort. An interesting aspect is that they have their own slack page for community discussion. A fairly large concern is that a lot of the information and uses of the site need to be unlocked by subscribing therefore it is not free.

It can be accessed here at https://feedly.com/i/top/germany-blogs.

I think this could be a useful source as you can filter out what you see and organize all of the media sites or news outlets in one place. I wouldn’t say this is my favorite website however when filtering out what is happening on social media and with the public in Germany it seems like this could make going through each website easier.

DW (Deutsche Welle) News: While this is a news organization that publishes articles they are also very active on YoutTube, publishing a large amount of media content. Published by Deutsche Welle they are a large international channel, focusing on a wide variety of news from different countries. Much of what is uploaded to their media is breaking news and politically focused. The entire site is also completely in German without offering subtitles to all of their videos unfortunately. There is a main site for DW News that has a lot of international news in English as well.

The Youtube page can be accessed at  https://www.youtube.com/@dwdeutsch

I chose this website because a lot of the important discussion occurs in the comments section, where the public and people are engaged in discussions around the video published. I liked that they left the comments on so that people from all over can converse.

(3)Data sources:

Country Watch: Published by CountryWatch, Inc gives a complete overview of statistics and data coming out of Germany across multiple different topics. It provides demographic data, macroeconomic data, land data, etc. The website looks to be updated frequently as there is a global clock that tracks the exact date and time for Germany. It is all written in English and a strength is how much information is provided on the front page. The website is very easy to navigate. It also provides a calendar for upcoming data updates and source materials. A weakness is that the editor in chief said herself there may be some inconsistencies in the data and errors.

It can be accessed at http://www.countrywatch.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/intelligence/countryreviews?countryid=65

Statista: Owned by Stroer Media Statista is already known to be a good source of data presented already in graph form, easy to read. The Germany page in statista offers a lot of number data ranging from Covid-19, finances, quality of life, environment and even a section specifically comparing Germany to other countries. A pro is that all of this is in english and easy to find under the Germany page. A con is that some of the data is a little old, telling me that this page might not be updated as frequently as desirable.

It can be accessed at https://www.statista.com/topics/1903/germany/ .

I chose this site because I am familiar with Statista and know that it has a lot of information to give ranging in topics. While it seems like it is not completely up to date, up to date info is available and it is nice to have a long history of data for comparison.

De Statis: This website is specifically dedicated for access to data only pertaining to Germany. It is published by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, therefore it is run by the government with international cooperation. The website is quite transparent with their mission, peer review and methods of acquiring data. The site has a lot of information that seems to be updated frequently, is also in english and relatively easy to navigate.

It can be accessed at https://www.destatis.de/EN/Home/_node.html .

I chose this website because of how much data it provided straight from the government of Germany. It has categories so finding the type of data you wish to is simple. They also published some news headlines and the topics range from environment, economy, labor and international studies as well.

(3)“Visual or audio based” such as radio or tv:

Deutschland fm.: This radio website hosts a multitude of radio stations coming out of Germany in the German language. It cannot be translated, which is a weakness of this website along with the fact that there is no description of what each station is. You have to find out for yourself. Many of the stations go back and forth from talk shows and music stations, a lot of them being live stations. A pro for this website is the amount of stations it offers and the wide variety of music and talk shows. I think talk shows can be valuable for learning about the current society and conversations happening in the country.

It can be accessed at https://www.deutschland.fm

Radio Net: This is a German radio station website published by radio.net GmbH. It offers music, talk shows, and sports however from what I listened to, entirely in German. The stations also come from various different regions of Germany. They have drop downs to choose topics to listen to and it is relatively easy to navigate to each channel.

It can be accessed at https://www.radio.net/language/german.

Surf Music.de: This radio website has a much larger source list for radio stations and more talks shows and different styles of music. A pro about this page is that it gives what city it is being broadcasted out of and a con is that there are still no descriptions for what the station focuses on. Neither is there any way to translate. Almost everything is broadcasted live and out of Germany in German. Music is important for many cultures and each region has their own styles and what is popular at that point in time, making it important information to look at.

It can be accessed at https://www.surfmusic.de/country/germany.html

(3)Additional sources from a category of my choosing:

Facebook: Facebook is a good online forum to use to get more insight, information, and opinion from the public instead of journalists and the government. There is a lot of discussion allowing us to see what’s important to look into according to the German people.

It can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/deutschland.de/

TikTok: This would cater to a younger generation’s perspective and give a nice view into German culture. TikTok is also a place where memes, jokes and news are often seen. The comment section, like Facebook, is another good place for discussion, however as mentioned before this would focus more on younger people and what they are focusing on. It can be accessed at https://www.tiktok.com/tag/german?lang=en .

ITB Berlin: This website is a travel and trade website out of Germany written completely in English. It has a lot of current information about Germany as it needs to keep up the news for tourists. It very obviously has an agenda based around travel and appealing to tourists but it has a lot of photos and cultural insight which is why I chose this website.

I can be accessed at https://www.itb.com/en/ .