DW’s new English news channel was created for people all over the world who are looking for news and information that supports and inspires them to shape their communities. During the past few months, DW has searched for these local heroes, and at every point we have found and celebrated people who are doing remarkable things and making a difference.

Most recently in Ghana, DW and local broadcaster Joy News organized a “Heromobile”, which is travelling around the capital city Accra with local musicians and went looking for people who stand out, make a difference or work hard for change. DW and Joy News collected and shared their stories taking pictures of the participants and created an atmosphere of celebration.

Earlier this summer in Kenya, DW organized The Local Heroes Journalism Competition, which encouraged young journalists to create a journalism project profiling local heroes making a difference in their communities. The competition drew a lot of interest and promoted quality journalism while giving Kenyan local heroes the recognition they deserve.

In Pakistan last month, speaking engagements in cooperation with local broadcasting partners honored local heroes and let them tell their story. Highlights from Pakistan included Samar Minallah Khan, documentary filmmaker and women’s rights activist who helped make the practice of forced marriage in Pakistan illegal. In Bangladesh, DW has honored Infoladies, who bike hundreds of miles to bring advice and medicine to thousands in remote, impoverished villages. There are currently around 70 Infoladies working mainly with women and girls as well as with disabled and elderly people, connecting them to the rest of the community.

In an online call to action over the summer,  DW asked people from anywhere in the world to submit the story of their local hero. Facebook posts on both DW News and 12 websites from DW’s various Asia and Africa departments combined to help draw attention to the new channel and encouraged people to share interesting stories of their local heroes with DW. The campaign was received with a lot of enthusiasm by online users. The various local hero stories complied by the participating DW editorial departments generated over 1 million reactions. The language groups that showed the most interaction with online posts were Dari, English and Bengali.

DW has shown that local heroes come from everywhere and anyone who has a vision and passion can make a difference in their communities – and there are always more stories to tell.

Former pro athletes bring an unmatched perspective to sports news. With a combination of expertise and a trademark sense of humor, former World Cup champion Thomas Berthold has joined DW’s KickOff! and will host a weekly column, Berthold’s Bundesliga. As a new German Bundesliga season kicks off, Berthold will also break down the latest from the world of soccer every Monday on DW News.

Whether it is issues off the field like the Premier League buying up German players or Bundesliga team prospects for this season, DW’s new soccer expert brings a veteran’s perspective to the debate. Berthold played on the German national team when they won the World Cup in 1990. During his career he played central back for Eintracht Frankfurt, Hellas Verona, AS Rom, Bayern München and VfB Stuttgart. Berthold has played in a total of 332 Bundesliga games.

Berthold’s column is published online Mondays and is broadcast Thursdays on KickOff! Countdown.

 

DW was in Dhaka this week to provide journalists and media professionals a look at the the new 24/7 English news channel presented in cooperation with local partner Bangladesh Television (BTV). The flagship program, DW News, features a programming block that focuses on regional issues for Asia and content with regional significance in cooperation with local partners. These co-productions will maintain DW’s standards while allowing partners the flexibility to use their own graphics and on air personalities – a method that succeeds in combining international expertise with regional appeal.

In Bangladesh, DW reaches an audience of opinion leaders and people who are curious about learning and seeking information. Dorothee Ulrichs, DW’s Head of Asia Distribution said theses are people who aren’t satisfied with tag lines or headlines and want to “discover new places and understand the ‘why’ in the world around them”.

Part of the global launch of DW News last June was a promotional campaign that focused on the audience and highlighted local heroes in regions all over the world. Local heroes are people who make a difference in their communities by working, thinking, creating and innovating. Two Bangladeshi local heroes were guests at the launch in Dhaka. Their work sets an exceptional example.

Mahfuza Akter is an Infolady – volunteers who bike hundreds of miles a month to provide advice and medicine to thousands of people in remote, impoverished villages around the country. Using the Internet, they connect people with modernized methods and ideas that they cannot access elsewhere. Their work also earned them a 2013 DW Bobs online activism award. And Korvi Rakshand founded the JAAGO foundation in 2007, which provides education for disadvantaged children living in slums. The school also promotes volunteer action groups in Bangladesh through the initiative Volunteer for Bangladesh. The project has organized over 10,000 volunteers in Bangladesh who are working to enact positive social change.

 

 

To cover the entire story in today’s media landscape, journalists must reach out in many directions for both the collection and the distribution of information. Social media is becoming a standard in modern journalism and it is an integral part of the new DW News – providing a different angle to every story while giving the audience space to shape the debate and add depth and context to the issues.

DW’s social media service @dwnews is much more than a comment section for articles. On Live Blogs, users can are connected to a web of DW content and can follow of all the stories being covered during the live broadcast of DW News. DW’s social media team covers aspects of major stories posted on social media such as a tweeted photo from the negotiating table posted by American Secretary of State John Kerry or a YouTube video posted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Live Blogs also features stories from the world of social media such as a ban on “selfies” being proposed in Russia or a social media image campaign in Africa. These stories are tailored for discussion and they develop as users make their contributions. Another feature is the question of the day, a daily poll that allows users to share their opinions on stories covered by DW.

During broadcasts of DW News, the social media desk adds an important angle to stories and develops its own features, such as a profile of a Somali bloggers who are showing a different side to their country on social media than what the common news narrative would deliver. Careful verification and analysis is essential to using social media as a news source and DW applies the same journalistic standard as it would to any other source.

Moderated by experienced journalists Elizabeth Shoo and Carl Nasman, the social media desk and @dwnews represent a new direction for DW’s news broadcasting and both will play an essential part in the success of DW News and DW’s overall strategy for the future.

DW’s latest campaign puts the focus on people who are making a difference. People who rely on global insights and who think, reflect, reconsider and innovate. Who make rules, instead of playing by them and motivate instead of standing in the way. What DW refers to as “local heroes”.

Coinciding with the launch of its new television channel, flagship news show and app, DW is calling for viewers and users on social media to submit their own stories about people in their community who are making a difference. To submit their stories, users just need to fill out a form at dw.com/localheroes or join the discussion on Facebook.

The campaign also features DW’s stories about local heroes as a programming highlight. For example, the winners of this year’s The Bobs are being featured on Life Links. The show speaks with online activists like a refugee from Syria, a data protection activist from Bangladesh and a blogger from Mexico, who tell their stories about taking a stand and fighting for what they think is right.