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Proclamations
August 2008
Friday August 29, 2008
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 6:36AM CST on August 29, 2008
It's not easy to straddle two languages, two continents and seven time zones. But somehow I've managed just that in my first week in Vienna, Austria.
Despite a language barrier that still seems daunting, the familiar routine of a newsroom has put me at ease at Der Standard. I arrive around 9 a.m. and the receptionist buzzes me in through the turnstile. I take the elevator to the top floor where the foreign desk is located, grab some coffee, and after a quick check of e-mail, join the morning department meeting.
 First difference: The coffee is much better. I can see why the Austrian fellows were somewhat horrified in D.C. by what Americans call coffee.
Second difference: Instead of one large newsroom, each section has its own office. There are about seven of us on the foreign desk.
Third difference: There's no air conditioning, just open windows and fans. That's fine, because it's in the 70s or lower-80s here. Also, the dress is much more casual. Jeans, sandals and tank tops or T-shirts are the norm for most reporters.
After our department discusses the stories we are working on for the day (I should say that THEY are working on - I'm still getting up to speed), I head down to the Konferenz, or the morning news meeting, where all the stories for tomorrow's paper are finalized. The meeting starts with a critique. Each day a different editor reviews the day's paper for content and presentation and the notes are then sent out to the entire staff.
The rest of the day passes much like in the newsroom at the Quad-City Times. Reporters make phone calls and work on stories until press time. But the way they work on them is slightly different. They write their stories directly on the page, which is already templated for stories, photos and ads. At the QCT, reporters write their stories in a word processor and copy editors flow them onto the page and decide where they go and what photo to put and where.
The other major difference is that, while we at the Times make it a priority to constantly update the Web site with breaking news, at Der Standard, the online department isn't even in the same building as the print newspaper. DerStandard.at contains completely different stories created by a different team of editors and reporters. There is even a Web site, DieStandard.at, specially designed for female readers with stories about women's issues and family.
Next week, I will spend three days at DieStandard.at and two at DerStandard.at. Both sites have a lot of discussion happening in the comments sections under their stories, so I'm eager to learn how they handle them.
The final difference I've noticed thus far is that smoking is still allowed in this building. The smoking ban debate in Austria has been fierce. Even though France, Germany and other European countries have passed bans, Austria is still clinging to its smokes. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, so I spend part of the day breathing through my shirt sleeve to try to filter it out. That's my least favorite part of my job.
On the bright side, though, everyone has been very friendly, helpful and patient. The access to high level sources is phenomenal. For example, I met Tuesday with Peter Filzmaier, head of the department for political communication at Danube University in Krems, Austria. He gave a very complete run-down of Austria's political system and their upcoming elections. And then he left to prepare for his appearance on Austrian public television as a political analyst. I watched him that night on the news. Thursday evening I went to the U.S. Embassy for a digital video conference from the convention in Denver with Democratic political consultant Faye Diamond.
This weekend, I plan to be more of a tourist. I might go on "The Third Man" tour, as suggested by reader Robert Eckerman. Or I could spend some time in the many museums and historic buildings that reader Karen McDonald remembers visiting on family vacations during her childhood in Austria.
Whatever I do, you'll be able to read about it here on Quadsville.com, where you can also see photos and videos of my adventures in Vienna and beyond. Drop me a line. Voices from home are appreciated.
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 6:23AM CST on August 29, 2008
As promised, here is my addendum to the final entry from D.C.
For Bill Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, the most interesting and powerful voters in the 2008 election are the Baby Boomers. Powerful, because the are the largest segment of the electorate. Interesting, because for the first time in two decades, they are not represented by either presidential candidate. Barack Obama identifies himself with Generation X, John McCain with the Greatest Generation. The Baby Boomers could be pulled in either direction.
The age gap between McCain and Obama - 25 years - is one of the largest ever between presidential candidates. This age difference, more than differences in race, background and issues, could be the deciding factor, Galston says.
"This will be an interesting test of the maturity of the American political system," Galston said, responding to fears that Obama could be a target of a racially motivated assassination attempt. Obama will need about 40 percent of the white vote to win. But young and first-time voters could alter that estimate if they turn out strongly for Obama.
"Whenever you have an expanded electorate, you have an unpredictable electorate," Galston said.
***
"You paid for a lot of Gulf I. You didn't bleed for a lot of Gulf I," said Ambassador Michael Polt to the Austrian journalists assembled at the International Center for Journalism in Washington D.C. The U.S. military forces, Polt said, have become the "world's mercenaries."
Polt's 31 years in diplomatic service have left him critical of what he see as Europe's fondness for process over action, financial support over human capital. He views the United States as the "default nation" when it comes to international leadership and intervention.
He drove home his point that the European Union was capable of being a super power, or at the very least, individual member countries should step up to the plate on issues like terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan even if a unified foreign policy was not possible. He called the United States "the most benign and most benevolent super power" in history, a "reluctant ... not aggressive super power."
"What bothers us the most," Polt said, "is when our motivations are questioned."
Many questions have been asked about the motivations for going to war in Iraq. Polt says tougher questions should have been asked in the lead-up to the invasion - by the media, by Congress, and by career professionals like himself in the State Department.
"Where was I? I supported going into Iraq on what I believed were honorable means and intentions. I was wrong," Polt said.
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 5:45AM CST on August 29, 2008
Wednesday August 27, 2008
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 9:03AM CST on August 27, 2008
I am here in Vienna! I arrived at my hotel, Pension Atrium, around noon on Sunday, exhausted, hungry and a bit disheveled after 15 hours in airports or airplanes. After unpacking, I hit the street to seek out some lunch. Not much is open on Sunday, so after wandering up and down Burggasse for awhile, I ended up just getting a wrap from the kebab stand next to the U-Bahn stop. I’m living in the seventh district, Neubau, which is home to a lot of young people and artists. MuseumsQuartier is ¾-1 mile down the street. It’s a collection of museums, including the Leopold Museum and Modern Art Museum, along with restaurants, theaters, bars, etc. Florian Danner, one of the Austrian fellows who lives in this district, told me it’s a great place to hang out, read and drink a cup of coffee. There are lots of ethnic restaurants in my neighborhood, which is great for me as a vegetarian. On my street alone are at least three Indian restaurants, three Japanese restaurants or sushi bars, a Thai restaurant, a Chinese restaurant and a few kebab stands. There’s also a couple Irish pubs and, of course, traditional Viennese cafes and bakeries. I certainly won’t starve. Interestingly, there are also a lot of sex shops and peep shows in this neighborhood. I have to admit, the place looked a little dubious on Sunday with graffiti scrawled on many walls and windows and all the businesses closed. On Monday, however, the neighborhood looked alive and friendly. I found a park for children and noticed many non-sex-themed stores that hadn’t been so apparent the day before. I think this will be a fine place to live. After lunch, I spent the rest of Sunday catching up on sleep. Monday morning started with breakfast delivered to my room. This is included at Pension Atrium. Every evening, I write on a sheet at the front desk what hot and cold drink I would like and if I would like a soft boiled egg. The tray full of bread, rolls, jams, cheeses, Nutella, orange juice and coffee arrived promptly at 9:30 a.m. There’s no way I’ll ever be able to drink newsroom coffee again when I return. The coffee here is rich and dark and delicious. Not bitter at all. After breakfast, I made my way down to St. Stephan's Cathedral (Steffl), the great cathedral at the heart of the city. Noon Mass was starting as I entered, so I stayed for that. I’m not Catholic, but more than ¾ of Austrians are. When in Rome…. I had lunch at a café in MuseumsQuartier, picked up a few items at the dm (it’s like a Walgreens) across the street from the hotel, and now I’m typing up this blog entry, which I can't send until Wednesday, because there is no Internet at Pension Atrium. More soon, including a video tour of my new digs. Saturday August 23, 2008
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 11:54AM CST on August 23, 2008
The candor I wanted from the State Department arrived in the form of Ambassador Michael Polt on Friday. He is the former U.S. ambassador to Serbia and has held many other positions in his 25 years in diplomacy.
He provoked a heated discussion on the role and image of the U.S. in the world, chiding the Austrian fellows for the EU's lack of action in the War on Terror. He did, however, say that in the time leading up to the war in Iraq, there were a lot of people - including him and his boss at the time, Colin Powell - who had misgivings about going to war. He regrets that more people in the media, in the administration and in the intelligence and diplomacy communities did not speak out or resign to signal strong opposition to going to war.
Ambassador Polt encouraged us to argue with him about foreign policy, and then was kind enough to pose for photos. I'll follow up this post with one containing direct quotes (there are some good ones). My notebook is locked up in my suitcase in hotel storage (doh!), but I wanted to write something about the last 36 hours here in D.C. before I get on the plane to Vienna. We also met with Bill Galston yesterday, who worked on several presidential campaigns and served in the Clinton administration. He works with the Brookings Institute now, and has done a lot of research on the political polarization of the nation.
That's Galston in the center with the curly white hair. I asked him a question on behalf of my colleague Mark Feeney: Is it possible to have something other than a two-party system in the U.S.? Galston says, no. Because our constitution does not allow for proportional representation, like in the parliamentary system, it encourages a system with two strong parties. And, he says, when a third party starts to gain popularity, that is a signal to the two main parties that they need to change. From time to time, a major party may be replaced by another party, but there will always be two major parties. It's a bit of a nebulous response, but hopefully that makes sense (again, I'll give quotes on this in a follow-up post). I almost met Washington Post columnist David Broder yesterday evening when we toured the newspaper. We walked by his office, which looks more like a closet it is so stacked with boxes of files. Photos are not allowed in their newsroom, unfortunately, but I took a mental picture. When I mentioned to Kate Carlisle, the editor giving us the tour, that we carry his column in our paper, she told me he was walking out of the building the same time we were going through security clearance, but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to disturb him, as he's a "very old man." I came thisclose!
This is us in the lobby of the Washington Post not meeting David Broder. ;-) We ended Friday with a dinner party at the home of Patrick Butler, vice president of ICFJ. Mario Scherhaufer, the director of the U.S.-Austrian program, made goulash (which I didn't eat, since I'm a vegetarian, but I heard it was excellent). I had a great time visiting with the other fellows and program supporters. Florian lives in Vienna in the 7th District, where I will be living, so he gave me some tips on where to hang out, and also an idea for a column.
We had a big breakfast this morning and said goodbye to the Austrian fellows. I've enjoyed meeting them so much and am looking forward to reuniting with everyone in Vienna in October. But now, Chris and I are off to Vienna on the next leg of our adventure. Thursday August 21, 2008
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 9:39PM CST on August 21, 2008
I've just returned from a lovely evening
at the Austrian Embassy. Ambassador Dr. Eva Nowotny is
retiring this month, so she just packed up "her entire existence" and it is in a huge container en route to Baltimore to be shipped home to Vienna. So, instead of a dinner at her home, we had a reception at the embassy. Still, we ate some of her homegrown vegetables. One of the appetizers included grape tomatoes grown in her garden patch.
Her Excellency Dr. Eva Nowotny (in pink) speaks with Austrian fellow Florian Danner, left, a TV reporter, and Elisabeth Wasserbauer with KfJ, the Austrian sponsor of the fellowship. Ambassador Nowotny told me her son-in-law is an editor at Der Standard and that she had already given him my name and told him to take care of me while I'm there. I am unbelievable honored. Her daughter is also a journalist and reports sometimes for CNN.Tonight was the first time I used my German extensively since studying in Passau, Germany, nine years ago. After a few hours (and a few glasses of wine, I admit) it seemed to flow a little better. There are various dialects spoken among our Austrian fellows, so that makes it a little hard to understand sometimes. That and they speak, of course, faster than my brain works auf Deutsch. But, I got about 50 percent of the conversation I listened to, and when they actually spoke slower and in textbook German, then I got about 90 percent. This definitely broke the ice on speaking in German for me. Working backward through the day, we visited the State Department in the afternoon. There we met with Judy Garber (whose husband is from Davenport - small world), who is the deputy assistant secretary for Central and North European affairs. She explained how her department works when a crisis, like the one in Georgia, comes up. She also talked about the common challenges Austria/Europe and the U.S. face. That, and shared values, she said, are the things on which she builds these international relationships. I felt like the discussion had just gotten going when we had to leave. She was very diplomatic (naturally) in what she said about US-Austrian/EU relations, and I would have a liked a little more candor. But perhaps that is not possible in such a closely guarded profession. Our first appointment today was at The Politico where we discussed the U.S. presidential elections with Senior Editor David Mark. The Politico, which launched January 2007, has about an 80-person staff, including 15 on the business/sales side, 7-8 editors, 20-25 reporters and 10 Web producers. It was a fun and lively discussion, probably more informative for our Austrian counterparts, but I did take note when Mark said editorial page endorsements, like celebrity endorsements, didn't really matter much in an election. Tomorrow is a very busy day, starting at 9 a.m. at the Brookings Institute.
Wednesday August 20, 2008
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 8:00PM CST on August 20, 2008
I made it to Washington, D.C., on the first flight I've been on in nine years (have I really stayed in the greater Midwest for that long?). Although I had prepared myself for the new security regulations at the
airport, I was totally
unprepared for the check-in process. Last time I flew, you checked in
with an actual person. Now you check yourself in on a computer screen. That's fast and efficient, I guess. It was the same at my hotel -
touch screen express check-in and check-out. But I almost felt I needed a little more hand-holding than that, especially at 5 a.m.
The fog delayed me in the Quad-Cities for more than an hour, but I caught the next flight to D.C. when I reached Chicago and was in my hotel room a little after noon. My hotel is downtown, just two blocks from the White House. After lunch, I walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Newseum and was greeted by ... The Quad-City Times! That's right. In front of the Newseum on the sidewalk is an exhibit called "Today's Front Page." It features the day's front page of a newspaper from every U.S. state and a few foreign countries. And Iowa's front page today was my newspaper. It made me feel at home. At the Newseum, I was in the live studio audience for the second hour of "Talk of the Nation" with Neil Conan on NPR (who does not look like his voice sounds, IMO). The studio has an awesome view of the Capitol Building from the wall of windows behind the news desk. Alyson Wright, the ICFJ intern working on the fellowship program, had gotten us tickets to the broadcast and Newseum. We introduced ourselves to Neil after the show and chatted a bit. We stepped outside the studio and as he left, he thanked us again for coming. AND THEN he came back and gave us his card and said to call if we ever wanted to tour the NPR studios (sweet!). The 4-D film on great moments in journalism was another highlight of the Newseum. As I took in the first several minutes through my 3-D glasses, I was wondering what the 4th "D" was going to be when - foomp! - a musket was fired at me and my seat slammed back with the force. There were also lots of breezes, some water sprays and more tilting and jerking. It was a fun ride, though the recreated scenes of Edward R. Murrow and Nellie Bly were a tad melodramatic. I'm looking forward to meeting the Austrians tomorrow. Our day starts at 9 a.m. when we go to The Politico.Monday August 18, 2008
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 10:57AM CST on August 18, 2008
I spent a good part of yesterday evening packing for my trip as a U.S.-Austria Journalism Exchange fellow. I surprised myself with my efficiency. I really don't need the second, smaller suitcase, but I'm going to take it for weekend travel (and carting things home from Vienna!).
I will spend almost four days in Washington D.C. for orientation, and I'm excited about all the opportunities I'm going to have while there. Here is a rundown of my schedule in D.C. I will have a decent amount of down time, so let me know if there are cool spots I should check out. I've been to D.C. about 3 or 4 times, so I've done most of the monuments and a good chunk of the Smithsonian, as well as FBI and Holocaust museums. Wednesday I'm the first to arrive, around 11 a.m. From 2-4 p.m., I'll attend NPR Talk of the Nation programs at the Newseum. That evening, the other American fellow, Chris Bagley, and I will have dinner with the fellowship director Mario Scherhaufer and the program assistant Alyson Wright from the International Center for Journalism. The Austrians' flight doesn't come in until 8 p.m. We are free the rest of the evening. Thursday In the morning we tour The Politico and meet with Senior Editor David Mark. We spend the afternoon at the State Department learning about U.S. foreign policy as relates to Austria and the EU. Then we meet with Dr. Wolfgang Renezeder at the Austrian Embassy to discuss Austrian politics, economy and culture. In the evening, we will attend a reception with Dr. Eva Nowotny, the Austrian ambassador. Friday
Long day. In the morning, we meet with William Galston at the Brookings Institute to discuss the U.S. elections, and with Ambassador Michael Polt on public diplomacy and the U.S. image in the world. We will have lunch with Kate Carlisle from the Washington Post and then will tour the Post. In the afternoon, we have individual appointments. Mine is with Patrick Thornton who is in charge of NewAssignment.net's Beat Blogging project. After that, the whole group meets with Alec Phillips of Goldman, Sachs, & Co. to talk about U.S. economic policy challenges, and then we have a panel discussion with Austrian and U.S. journalists on how to get the most out of our fellowship. We have dinner that evening at the home of the vice president of ICFJ. Saturday I'm free until 2 p.m. when I head to the airport for my flight to Vienna! Tuesday August 5, 2008
Posted by: Mayor Melissa at 4:46PM CST on August 5, 2008
Today has been chock full of weird stories. Here is the latest from The Associated Press:
South Korean firm delivers dog clones to U.S. woman
Then there's this case which sets a huge precedent. A woman was awarded $1.5 million after her former lover from Muscatine, Iowa, infected her with HPV. (Not HIV, HPV - the virus that causes genital warts and cervical cancer) And then there's this story about a fence built out of unusual materials in Utah. You can see photos here.What other strange news have you seen today? (Going straight to Reuters' Oddly Enough is cheating) |
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Back from Austria. Writing about America again. Some international tidbits thrown in for good measure.
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