DW Akademie believes more should be done for local journalists and that thorough research needs to be recognized. With Investiga DW is introducing a journalism prize in Latin America that should highlight these issues and the journalists that work to ensure them. The competition is open to television, radio and online journalists and the deadline for submissions is April 30, 2012.

The focus will be on reports with a social and political weight – topics that Colombian journalists are sometimes hesitant to tackle. “We’re hoping for a courageous type of local journalism, one that shapes public opinion without being patronizing. This is incredibly important in Latin American countries where media systems are usually centralized,” says Petra Berner from DW Akademie.

DW Akademie will award the winner a ten-day trip to Germany. This will include participation in the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum and discussions with DW staff in Bonn and Berlin. The runner-up will receive a multimedia equipment set, funded by the Universidad del Norte.

In Spanish, “investigar” means to investigate, to research. “We want to motivate local journalists to dig deeper. We’re looking for stories that haven’t been told,” says DW Akademie Director Gerda Meuer.

 

Deutsche Welle (DW) will be expanding its Spanish television service for Latin America from two to 20 hours daily, starting February 6, 2012. The new lineup for viewers between Mexico and Tierra del Fuego is part of a comprehensive reform process designed to reposition DW in the international media landscape. The expansion of the program for Latin America will significantly increase DW’s presence there.

DW officially announced the changes at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 26. Mexican President Felipe Calderón said: “It is great to have a partner like Deutsche Welle broadcasting for 20 hours in Spanish. It opens up new opportunities in Latin America. The program will be a bridge to Europe, and Germany in particular. DW has seen success in the competitive television market in Latin America from day one. Around 850 partners throughout the region have included DW programming in their lineups so far – and negotiations with other partners are currently under way.

The new Spanish program required a lot of hard work and restructuring. A big change is in store for Gonzalo Cáceres, who has been a host for Journal and Cuadriga for years. His new job will be to manage and host Claves with partners on location. including ARTV in Chile, SJRTV in Mexico and RTVC in Colombia. The new show will focus on the latest issues in Latin America.

DW will also be welcoming several new faces – among them, Silvia Cabrera. She will be hosting Berlin poltico and Journal. According to Cabrera, DW has a lot to gain in Latin America by setting itself apart as a reliable, objective source of information.

Another addition is Paco Furio. Not only will he be the new producer and host for sports on Journal, but he will also help manage the magazines Reporteros en el mundo, PopXtra and Europa semanal.

“German punctuality and reliability is something that you can count on,” says Carolina Chimoy. The daughter of a Peruvian diplomat will be hosting Journal as well as Reporteros el mundo dazu.

The new Spanish program for Latin America will also receive support from a completely redesigned website for Spanish-speaking users. In the future, the editorial team will be made up of more than 130 employees.

Asia
DW has further developed its partnership with Ariana FM in Afghanistan and is now broadcasting its Dari service every evening. DW can now be heard in primetime in 33 of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan. The independent radio station is among the most successful in the country and is dedicated to the development of a civil society.

DW has once again added a new partner in Indonesia. DW-TV ASIA+ will now be broadcast by the DTH provider Yes TV, headquartered in Jakarta. Yes TV has a line-up that includes more than 50 international TV channels and has more than 300,000 subscribers.

In Australia, the community TV sender QCTV has included one of the Future Now webdocs on its website. Users can now watch “Methane – energy of the future” and learn about untapped resources.

Latin America
To ensure the quality of its live stream, DW has further developed its monitoring system in Latin America by installing StreamMon systems in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Toluca (Mexico). The new additions bring the worldwide total to 12 monitoring stations that are responsible for monitoring DW’s live streams around the clock.

A new partnership in Brazil is bringing Global Ideas to the classroom. Ninety of the short documentaries will be shown in Portuguese in more than 5,000 schools in Brazil starting this march.

Online
As part of an agreement with the second-largest TV manufacturer, LG Electronics will begin programming apps for DW that will be available on so-called smart TVs. These apps will make it possible for customers to access multilingual content from DW right from their living room.

Latin America
DW is now available GVT, a pay TV platform from Vivendi, dramatically increasing its presence in Brazil. On October 1, DW was made available on the pay TV platform, which makes use of a hybrid broadcast (DTH/IPTV). This is the first platform of its kind in Brazil. It makes it possible to receive programming via DRH and, at the same time, use interactive elements like video-on-demand via IPTV. GVT offers more than 140 channels in three different packages – and Vivendi is expecting a lot of growth in this sector in the next year.

Africa
DW has signed an agreement to work with DBS TV in Cameroon, a station that is based in Douala and available in Africa, Europe, North and South America. Along with taking on DW programming, DBS TV will work with Germany’s international broadcaster on a weekly coproduction in the future.

Asia
TempoTV in Indonesia has integrated several of DW’s television shows into its line-up, including In Focus, Bundesliga Kickoff, European Journal, Kino, Global 3000, in good shape and tomorrow today. TempoTV is available nationwide and specializes in educational programming. It is available on AORA – a DTH satellite platform – and reaches approximately 400,000 subscribers.

Also in Indonesia, IPTV provider Groovia has been broadcasting DW-TV ASIA+ since July after signing an agreement with DW. Groovia has more than 100 TV channels.

Europe
DW’s is now available on Crystal TV – an online provider. The platform makes it possible for customers with PCs, Macs, smartphones, tablets and iPods to access video DW’s video live stream.

 

DW Director General Erik Bettermann is currently in Latin America, presenting DW’s new television schedule for the region, with stops in Mexico, Chile Paraguay, Brazil, Panama and Colombia. Starting in February 2012, DW will expand its Spanish-language programming from two hours to 18 hours daily.

“Latin America is a continent with a lot of potential. Due to its political, economical and cultural relevance, it is one of our main target regions,” said Bettermann. “DW is already very important for information seekers and partners between Mexico and Argentina – and we want to expand this with more programming in Spanish.”

In Mexico, Bettermann and Germany’s Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, spent more than an hour with participants of the “Young Voices” Media Dialogue. They answered questions posed by up-and-coming journalists from Germany and Latin America. Participants included prominent young media workers who are bringing their ideas, stories and projects to the public forefront – often in unconventional ways. They posted their impressions, ideas and questions regarding the Media Dialogue on the event’s blog. “A positive culture shock”, “A successful exercise in collective intelligence”, “The beginning of a sustainable network,” was how they described the meeting.

In Guadalajara, Bettermann met with officials from La Red – the largest public broadcasting network in Spanish-speaking Latin America – to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement solidified the two broadcasters cooperation in the future, with La Red integrating audio, video and online content into its line-up.

In Chile, Bettermann met with the country’s President, Sebastian Pinera, who said that DW could fill an important gap with programming and information from Europe.

Alicia Barcena, General Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), also sees the potential of the expansion of programming in Latin America. She said that Germany and Latin America have a lot to offer each other – especially in the transfer of knowledge in the areas of technology and innovation. Barcena and Bettermann signed a Memorandum of Understanding for DW’s participation as media partner in next year’s Latin America-Europe Summit in Santiago de Chile.

Bettermann appeared on “Media and Human Rights” a DW coproduction with ARTV. Host Gonzalo Caceres led the discussion with human rights activists and prominent journalists, as the talked about the relationship between the media and the government in dictatorial countries.