Production Data

Shot in Kiev, November 6, 2015
Camera, Script and Production: Kyrylo Iesin
Used Video Gear: Samsung Mobile SIII
Edited with: Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015

Summary

• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• Belarus
• Georgia
• Moldova
• Ukraine

This web resource is a source of concentrated information on the events and processes taking place in the field of media freedom in the above-mentioned countries. It reacts quickly to often sensitive events such as the persecution of journalists during the EuroMaidan Revolution in Ukraine or the current hard times for the freedom of media in Azerbaijan. Highlighting and analyzing such events is one of the website’s priority tasks.

The Media Freedom Index, which is calculated every three months, is another fundamental aspect of the project. It demonstrates clearly both the current situation as well as the dynamics of media freedom in a certain country. The research methodology was developed within the project and based upon questionnaires completed by 60 experts (10 experts from each country) identifying the best approaches of the already existing international freedom of speech indices. The Media Freedom Index being focused on specific regions makes it possible to study the subject matter in greater detail and provide more accurate estimates.

About the Topic

Journalists’ working environment, violence against them, censorship, transparency of ownership in the media, relationships between journalists and politicians, quality of media legislation – all these and many other topics are issues that the project focusses on.

People

Natalia Sad, project coordinator for the non-governmental organization “Internews Ukraine”, has over seven years of experience coordinating internationally funded projects. During her two years working for “Internews Ukraine”, she has successfully led the ENP East Media Freedom Watch Project (2013-2015, funded by the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine). She is currently coordinating the initiative “Fellowship Program for Journalists from AR Crimea and occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts” (2015, funded by the International Renaissance Foundation).

Mykhailo Tkach, is a journalist for the investigative project Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Ukraine. He is one of the winners of the Annual US Embassy-Ukrainska Pravda Investigative Journalism Competition (2012, organized by online newspaper “Ukrainska Pravda” and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine). He also worked for the investigative program “Money” on the TV channel “1+1″.

Background Information

“Internews Ukraine” is one of the leading NGOs in media, working in the Ukrainian media and communications market since 1996. The mission of the organization is the promotion of European values in Ukraine through the development of successful media. It empowers independent and pluralistic media in Ukraine, improves journalistic standards and local media legislation and assists the development of full-fledged democracy and civil society in the country, while supporting journalism networking and communication and promoting new media and social journalism.

Internews Website (in Ukrainian)
Internews Facebook Page (in Ukrainian)

Interesting Links

General Information (in English):
Eastern Partnership Media Freedom Index 

Annual Report (in English):
“Eastern Partnership Media Freedom Landscape 2014“

Investigative Journalism by Mikhailo Tkach (in Ukrainian):
“Secret fleet prosecutors”

Сity views

 

Interesting fact: 80.5  percent of all women and men living in Hamburg regularly engage in at least one sport. Biking, sailing, hockey, football, running –  Hamburgers are more active than the citizens of any other German metropolis. Renowned sports events such as the marathon, the Cyclassics bike race, and the world’s biggest triathlon, attract international guests and sports stars.

 

WALK

Hamburg is located on the southern part of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the north-east. It lies on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster and Bille. The city centre is around the Inner Alster and Outer Alster, both formed by damming the River Alster to create lakes. The island of Neuwerk and two small neighboring islands, Scharhörn and Nigehörn, in the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of Hamburg.

Сity views. Spire of neo-Gothic church of St. Nicholas

Among the city-state’s main attractions are its neo-Renaissance Town Hall (constructed between 1886-1887, it houses City Hall and the Senate) on the famous Rathausplatz (Town Hall Square), the 17th and 18th-century houses onReimerstwiete, Cremona, Deichstrasse; Church of St. Catherine’s, neo-Gothic church of St. Nicholas, St. Michael’s Church, Jakobikirche, St. Paul’s Church, the Christuskirche, a monument to Bismarck on Helgoländer Allee, the historic “Chilehaus” mercantile building, and the new Philharmonic Concert Hall (to be opened in 2017).

Hamburg is a relatively compact city, so these points of interest are all within easy walking distance of each other.

RUN

The city has about 120 parks, including the world’s largest park-style cemetery, Ohlsdorfer Friedhof, a small park at Sternschanze, and Jenischpark. To the north of the old town is a manmade lake, the Alster, around which a “health trail” has been built .

Stadtpark

Finding a place to run is not a problem. I did some jogging myself and was very pleased.

For route planning I recommend the service at gpsies.com.

Route: Planten un Blomen park, Alsterpark. Distance: 11 km. Maximum elevation: 122 m.

–

Route: part of the promenade overlooking the Port. Distance: 8 km. Maximum height: 104 m.

–

Route: Wallringpark, Planten un Blomen park. Distance: 7 km. Maximum height: 38 m.

CYCLE

Hamburg is incredibly convenient for cyclists. The city’s infrastructure is ideal for meeting the needs of citizens as well as conducive to organizing large-scale sporting events. For example, every year since 1986, the city has hosted the Vattenfall Cyclassics. In 2015, the competition attracted more than 15 thousand athletes. And residents can visit the accompanying bike Expo. From August 21st to 23rd, 2015, 300,000 visitors came to check out around 5,000 products, 300 brands and new trends centered around cycling. The Vattenfall Cyclassics stage was the site of spectacular bike shows, enjoyable infotainment programs, and the ever-popular bike auction.

Vattenfall Cyclassics

Tourists are invited to explore the city in a more leisurely manner than the race participants. The site english.hamburg.de  helps you find popular city routes, as well as a bicycle to rent.

“I did a little online research and found Hamburg City Cycles, which offers bikes for 24 hours for 13 euros. This was the most convenient option I could find,” says Hrant Galstian, a program participant from Armenia. First I rode to the city center where I explored several streets I wasn’t yet familiar with. Then I came back to St.Pauli district, rode here for 1-2 hours and went to Mundsburg after that, crossing the bridge betweenHamburg’s inner and upper lakes. I returned at 10 pm after having ridden around the city all day.

Hrant Galstian

Hrant says it was very comfortable to explore the city on bike. There are paths integrated into nearly every sidewalk, and in some narrow streets where there is no path for a bike, the traffic is not heavy and one may ride there too. Another advantage of Hamburg is that it has almost no hills, so it doesn’t take much energy to cross large distances.

“Overall, I really liked the experience of riding a bike in Hamburg. Cycling is a tradition here and you almost never find yourself alone on the bike paths,” concludes Hrant.

It’s difficult to argue with that. Hamburg not only opens up new experiences for you, it also encourages you to fall in love with a healthy lifestyle and friendly dialogue.

Germany’s most widely read newspaper had a weekly print run of 500,000 copies in 2015, but its estimated circulation, i.e. number of readers, is considerably higher – up to 2 million – because the issue is often passed from hand to hand.

Die Zeit‘s main product is a weekly newspaper that covers politics and economics, including investigative reports, social issues, science, literature and culture, travel, and education. It concentrates mostly on features, not news stories, because in a weekly newspaper in this digital age, the news would already be old by the time it was published .

The Lifestyle desk publishes its stories in form of a magazine that comes with the weekly paper. A cover page is chosen from among the best features, and in Issue no. 34, this was a story about women in Nigeria who had been kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist organization.

Interlinkers walk down the hallway of the ‘Die Zeit’ offices in downtown Hamburg

Die Zeit, German for ‘The Times’, has two offices – one in Berlin and the other in the port city of Hamburg. Its print publishing offices are located in downtown Hamburg, are cozy and modern, because Die Zeit only moved here a few years ago, after previously sharing a building with other media. The publishing house looks as modern as an IT company, with private rooms for investigative and political journalists, small open spaces, lounges, and kitchens.

In 1990, the publishing house faced a crisis: subscriptions were down, and many local newspapers were forced to close. One important chapter in the paper’s history ended with the death of its longest-serving editor-in-chief, Marion Dönhoff. For more than 55 years she worked as an editor and later publisher, increasing the newspaper’s popularity and circulation. Dönhoff’s ancestral roots were in Königsberg, present-day Kaliningrad in Russia, causing her to have a deep interest in Eastern Europe topics.

Die Zeit is making every effort to keep pace with the digital era and move with the times. But the team notes that even now, the printed issues of its German national newspaper are what brings in the money:  The online subscription is cheaper than the print version.

Martin Klingst, a senior political correspondent for Die Zeit, is among those who work for both the Hamburg publishing house and the one in Berlin, writing for both the online and print versions. On Tuesday and Wednesday, when the print version of the newspaper is produced, he comes to the port city.

He explains that the online and print content is not as similar as one might think. “What you read online is not the same as the print version,” he says. He emphasizes that more stories are always needed for online, but print journalists are against simply duplicating their stories in digital. Klingst says that while online is the future, publishers still have to invest in a print as well. “Print is a declining, and online a growing business,” he says.

Martin Klingst shows the lifestyle magazine enclosed with ‘Die Zeit’ newspaper

“Die Zeit is a brand, and a paper that appeals to the more highly educated sector of the population,” he adds. Accordingly, the publisher produces a lot of science magazines, as well as publishing a travel magazine and operating a travel agency. Another branch of Die Zeit‘s business involves lectures on specific topics given at universities by famous lawyers, scientists, politicians.

Die Zeit publishes two separate issues of its paper for Germany’s Western and Eastern federal states, and has developed special sections for Austria, Switzerland, and – most recently – for the city of Hamburg.

Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at juliana.romanyshyn@gmail.com

Suitcases greet visitors in almost every room

For centuries, refugees and migrants have played an important role in history of  Europe and America.

Outside the museum

The museum is full of interactive elements including video chronicles, audio stories and rare photos of the emigrants. Each of them recalls a unique life story.

An Armenian visitor listens to the story of young German emigrant

Some emigrants left German cities in search of a better life in a New World before World War I; some Germans left to escape Nazi persecution; entire families fled from the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire of the 1880s; others left Germany for the U.S. because of political persecution in the wake of the 1848 revolution.

“Please show your ticket and visa”

Another amazing aspect highlighted in the museum are the conditions of their voyage. For example, in the 1870s most migrants travelled in tweendecks that were less than 1.8 meters in height. Each adult was given just 47 cm of space to sleep in, children about 25 cm. Often between 150 and 900 people slept in one big room. In addition, there were serious problems with food and drinking water.

To make matters worse, in the mid-19th century crew had no experience in dealing with passengers, so emigrants were often mixed in with cargo like cotton or tar.

Horrible conditions in the ships

But perhaps the most important room in the museum is the last one, containing Apple computers. A user-friendly program helps people to find the personal story of relatives who might have been emigrants. If you not sure about your family’s past movements, Ballinstadt is a good place to start your research.

Interlinker Hrant Galstyan is trying to find any relatives that may have emigrated