RIAS German Exchange Program Bloggers

The RTDNF and the RIAS Berlin Kommission actively support blogging by RIAS fellows throughout the program portion of their trip.  We encourage bloggers to reach out to their fellow program participants in advance of the start of the program, and to communicate with their audience during the core two week fellowship.

Over the past few years we have had a number of bloggers posting thoughts and perspectives from their meetings, visits, and travels.  These blogs run the gamut, and we welcome your feedback and comments.

The blogs are listed by fellowship period.  There are two RIAS fellowships a year to Germany, each June and September.  Deadlines for applying are March 1 and June 1, respectively.   The most recent fellowship ran in the fall of 2009, and postings from fellows in that group can be found right here.

Fall 2009


Abbie Swanson, freelance reporter/producer


Tom Hawley, Transportation Reporter, KVBC-TV

Washington, DC based AP Broadcast producer Lila Merideth is twittering (lila202) with the hash tag #RIAS09 

June 2009 Bloggers

John Schwada, FOX11 Los Angeles (Spring 2009)

Cameron Knowles, freelance multimedia producer (Spring 2009)


2008 Bloggers

Jill Konopka, Reporter, Hartford, CT


Laure Quinlivan, freelance reporter, Cincinnati, Ohio


2007 Bloggers

Petra Mayer, Associate Producer, National Public Radio, Washington, DC (Fall 2007)

2006 Bloggers

Chuck Carney, news director, WTIU-TV, Bloomington, IN (spring 2006)


2005 Bloggers

Rosemary Pennington, Birmingham, Alabama public radio reporter

2004 Bloggers

Dave Akerly, anchor, WLNS-TV, Lansing, MI (fall 2004)

2003 Bloggers

Tom Hawley, helicopter traffic reporter, KBVC-TV, Las Vegas, NV (spring 2003)