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Radio Free Bonnie: An American Perspective From 'New York Times' Berlin Correspondent Melissa Eddy

Bonnie North

In the Internet era, the lines between local, national and international news are blurred. If you want to read a story from the newspaper in Helsinki, Finland, or Johannesburg, South Africa, it just takes a few clicks of a mouse or taps on your smartphone, and you’re there.

That’s a news climate that has evolved since Melissa Eddy began covering Europe for the Associated Press in 1997. Her first posting was in Vienna, then Frankfurt, then Berlin. She later became a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune for its last year of existence. That newspaper evolved and is now the international edition of the New York Times, which means Eddy is writing about Germany both for Americans at home and readers in Europe.

Eddy has been reporting from Germany as long as Angela Merkel has been Chancellor there.  It’s a situation Eddy says will soon be over as major shifts in the German political spectrum are taking place.

"The anger and the backlash of the German people fed into the party of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) that runs a very hard anti-refugee line, who did quite well in the elections last year and are now the strongest oppostition force in Parliament," she notes.  

Eddy says that she senses a genuine fear amidst the German public as the AfD grows stronger.

"[Germans] like a predictability to things on many levels, inlcuding in politics," she explains. "The AfD is a party that for the first time is questioning some of the ground principles of post-war Germany's attitude towards its Nazi history. And that has never been done before and people don't know how to respond to it and that's what's creating the fear in many cases."

Eddy met with Lake Effect’s Bonnie North in Berlin to discuss Chancellor Merkel's remaining time in office and the changes she's experienced in Germany as a reporter:

You can also follow Bonnie North's journey and see additional photos through her blog, Radio Free Bonnie, that she’s writing on location.

Bonnie North
Bonnie joined WUWM in March 2006 as the Arts Producer of the locally produced weekday magazine program Lake Effect.