Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The WikiLeaks story has been grabbing headlines – nationally and internationally – this week. So has Arizona’s controversial immigration law after a federal judge put key parts of the measure on ice. For more on how these stories are being covered beyond US borders we turn to Stephan Bachenheimer, US correspondent for Germany’s Deutsche Welle, and to Angela Kocherga, who covers Mexico and the border for KHOU TV in Texas. Download MP3
Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.
MARCO WERMAN: The WikiLeaks story has been grabbing headlines, nationally and internationally this week. So has Arizona’s controversial immigration law, after a federal judge put key parts of the measure on ice. For more on how these two stories are being covered beyond US borders we turn to Stephan Bachenheimer, US correspondent for Germany’s Deutsche Welle. And to Angela Kocherga, who covers Mexico and the border for KHOU TV in Texas. Welcome to you both.
STEPHEN BACHENHEIMER: Thank you.
ANGELA KOCHERGA: Thank you.
WERMAN: First to you Stephan. We’ve just heard in that piece by correspondent Alex Gallafent about the evolving image of the group WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. Germany’s Der Spiegel newsmagazine, of course, was one the three outlets Assange turned to to release these documents. How does your German audience view the organization WikiLeaks, rouges or reputable?
BACHENHEIMER: Well, I think it depends who you ask. I think people are quite fascinated with the fact that an organization like that exists. There’s nothing like that in Germany, or nothing on German websites. WikiLeaks does have a section for Germany, but I think people are quite surprised. They know that in America you get sued very quickly, and they’re quite surprised to see that it’s possible to publish all these secret information on the web and it is, if you look at the different media reactions, on the one hand you have the newspapers and they would point out that it is actually the words threaten the life of the Afghanis, for example, the German tabloid with a very large circulations, Bild-Zeitung, asked is this the death penalty for Afghans, so quite some concern there. In Germany it’s still being discussed. Is Afghanistan actually a war or not? What kind of mission are we in ourselves with our soldiers? So many different aspects that were touched upon by the story.
WERMAN: And Angela Kocherga, how does this WikiLeaks story play in Mexico because, I mean Mexico has had its own issues with government secrets in the past?
KOCHERGA: Exactly. And of course this was a major story in Mexico in all the leading newspapers. Although most of the coverage was coming from European or US news sources. The Mexicans are also fascinated by the idea that there’s this alternative source of information that kind of lifts the shroud and provides this look inside the war in Afghanistan. Of course, here Mexico’s coping with its own war, a drug war, and that relentless violence has really overshadowed most other major news stories. I mean we’ve had several key events this week including the kidnapping of four journalists who are now being held hostage and just this morning the US consulate here in Juarez has been shut down for security reasons as the looming car bomb threat hangs over this violent border city.
WERMAN: Now perhaps the far bigger story for your audience, Angela, has been the ruling this week knocking down key portions of Arizona’s immigration law SB1070. We spoke with Mexico’s Foreign Minister on yesterday’s program. She said Mexico’s government is going to do more to reach across the border and provide support for Mexican citizens who are in the US illegally. So, what’s been the reaction from Mexicans you’ve been speaking with about the ruling this week?
KOCHERGA: Well, of course, this is huge news in Mexico and all along the border there were protests, not just on the US side, but in Mexico, especially outside the US embassy in Mexico City. The opponents are furious. They say that they’re calling for a boycott of Arizona because they feel this law is clearly directed at people of Mexican descent and Mexicans themselves, they want to boycott both in terms of trade and travel. They say legal residents and tourists will definitely be harassed by authorities in Arizona and, of course, their Mexican consulate, they’re on alert for any kind of abuses when it comes to Mexican undocumented people in the US.
WERMAN: Stephan Bachenheimer of Deutsche Welle, has the Arizona immigration debate kind of played in Germany like a latter-day civil rights struggle or do Germans see it as proof of the complexities of US whole assimilation melting pot?
BACHENHEIMER: I think it got a lot of attention. I’m not sure if people understand all the complexities about it. But in general I would say Germans, and that was the press reaction pretty much, are very disappointed to see that the US tries to close its borders. And it’s kind of ironic because that’s what Germany does and that’s what Europe does. But American is still seen, we learned that in school, as a melting pot and its still seen as the ideal, so the feeling is America should take all these people. We don’t do it in Europe, but America should just be default. And so there is lots of disappointment also of course because there is a wall at the border. We tore down our wall. But I think talking about the complexities a lot of Germans would not understand why its possible that so many illegal immigrants are actually in the US, living here, having jobs, because in Germany that would be completely impossible. It’s not that you have to have an ID all the time with you and show it to police, but you have to have an ID, you have to go to the authorities to register where you live. If you don’t do that, you won’t get a bank account, you won’t get a driver’s license, and so on. So you would be a fugitive and they don’t understand how it works in the US.
WERMAN: Angela, what do you think your Mexican audience is missing from the whole Arizona immigration law story that would help their understanding?
KOCHERGA: Well, at this time they become very polarizing issues and the fact of the matter is there are people in the US who do feel, especially in Arizona which receives the majority of undocumented immigrants, that something needs to be done even if they view this as kind of a drastic measure. But Mexico’s also very harsh with any kind of illegal immigrants that cross into the country. There’s some sort of protection, but it’s not on the books and immigrants who come through from Central America or elsewhere and come through Mexico and do a terrible human rights abuses, corrupt police shake them down, I mean they go through a horrible time. And I think Mexico needs to kind of look internally at how it treats the immigrants that come into its country and I think that story’s often left out of the mix as they look at the US crackdown.
WERMAN: Well very good indeed to hear your perspectives. Angela Kocherga covers Mexico and the border for KHOU TV in Texas. Stephan Bachenheimer is the US correspondent for Germany’s Deutsche Welle. Thanks to you both.
BACHENHEIMER: Thanks for having us.
KOCHERGA: Thank you.
Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.
Discussion
No comments for “American headlines abroad”