How do societies around the world develop into functioning democracies and what does it mean for a country to succeed? It is easy to get lost when trying to learn about these issues, either in the endless lists of numbers or in the complicated explanations of history and bureaucracy.  But behind the numbers and world news headlines are real people who face the consequences of governance and are striving to improve their lives and societies.

The Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) gauges the quality of a democracy by evaluating how developing and transition countries are transforming their societies towards democracies and market economies. The index measures both the status of political and economic transformation along with the management of economic and social growth by governments. The BTI is published every two years and covers 129 countries. You can learn more about how the BTI index works here.

In cooperation with the BTI, DW has created a new internet series called Secrets of Transformation comparing how eight transition countries have succeeded or failed in four categories across eight years of observation. The project introduces you to the ordinary people on the ground and takes you below the surface with personal stories and interviews with officials, journalists and social critics. Secrets of Transformation uses a unique multimedia format combining data journalism with visual effects and video reporting bringing the numbers to life.

The first segment, Separation of Powers, is already online and compares Indonesia and Hungary to see weather or not branches of government are being allowed to function independently or if power is being consolidated and controlled. Every two weeks two more countries will be featured. Issues still to be addressed are Fighting Corruption, Economic Growth and Freedom of Expression. Be sure to check in and get valuable insight on how the world is transforming. After exploring the issues you can share your reactions and thoughts in the feedback section and also learn more about what went into creating the project.

The series was introduced on January 22 by DW Director General, Peter Limbourg and Bertelsmann Foundation Chairman, Aart de Geus during a presentation and discussion session at DW Headquarters in Bonn.

In an interview with World Screen, DW’s Director General sheds some light on the organization’s goals for the future – including making a flagship channel in English and concentrating on the essentials for quality news reporting.

“My goal is to position DW where it should be, as a globally recognized source of information. By using our inherent German sensibilities to cover international news, we will offer new perspectives to world issues, as well as in-depth analysis and insights to help complete the picture. “

You can read the whole interview here. DW also recently announced the action plan for the next four years with details on the areas of focus. The press release is available at dw.de.

PopXport is now working with Spotify to provide a playlist for the online streaming service’s 24 million users worldwide. The playlist will be updated each week according to the latest episode of PopXport, giving users an interactive mix of the latest hits, new releases and classics. In addition, the show’s hosts will also be adding songs that are currently in rotation on their personal iPods. Users can find the playlist directly on Spotify, or just go to the PopXport website in English, German and Spanish.

Also in music news, listeners can now join Kate Müser and Natalie Muller in the Pulse studio for the latest on youth culture in Germany and across Europe by subscribing to a free podcast.

America

DW has a new, powerful programming partner in the United States: Univision. The most important Spanish-language media company in the USA will be including online content from DW in the future. Univision.com has more than 7 million visitors per month and is the most popular Spanish website. In addition, Univision Noticias is also the leading Spanish-language news feed, with 100,000 “regular” users and 200,000 mobile users daily. This new cooperation highlights DW’s importance among the Hispanic decision makers in the USA.

In Latin America, Multivision in Cuba has expanded its existing partnership with DW to include a total of eight DW programs.

 

Asia

China Education Television (CETV) will be including a selection of content from the DW Transtel catalog in its lineup for 2014. The station is responsible for supplying Chinese citizens with educational programming. CETV has selected a range of DW programming including everything from science, technology and the environment to arts and culture. The programming will be shown on television as well as two different online platforms.

 

Africa

DW and DW Akademie recently concluded a successful training course for journlists in Abuja, Nigeria. Select radio partners including Bauchi Radio Corporation, Freedom Radio, Radio Gotel, Royal FM and Voice of Nigeria were provided a course on “Gender sensitive reporting”.

 

Mobile

DW has relaunched its website for mobile users to provide users with more photo, video and audio content. In addition, the interactivity of the mobile platform has been expanded to include social media as well as automatic language recognition.

 

 

Classical music is one of the most coveted aspects of German culture and DW has always been in tune with this, taking global audiences behind the music with documentaries like Schumann at Pier 2 and the Beethoven Project.  DW’s latest classical music film production, The Highest Level, recently premiered to much acclaim in Berlin. The film was directed by DW’s prize winning director, Christian Berger. It follows the Chinese pianist Lang Lang and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle as they put together a stunning performance of Piano Concerto No. 2 by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók and Piano Concerto No. 3 by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. The two pieces are considered to be some of the most intricate and complicated for pianists.  A sneak preview is available now on Euromaxx on DW.  You can see the film on DW television in English, German, Spanish and Arabic from Saturday, November 30 to Monday, December 2 as part of the In Focus documentary series. On December 1 it will be available on-demand in DW’s media center. For those who can’t wait Sony Classical will release the film on October 25, 2013, on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. You can buy the audio CD now online.