An organisation that provides journalistic content in 32 languages, Deutsche Welle gives audiences across the world an opportunity to crystallise their own opinions. Its programmes show Germany as a liberal democracy anchored to European culture and the channel promotes the exchange of ideas among different cultures and peoples.
With professionals producing high-quality multimedia content distributed through television, radio and online and a portfolio that boasts of TV channels in English, Arabic and Spanish including digital content in 32 languages, DW’s 24-hour English language TV channel is available almost everywhere in the world.
In a freewheeling interview with Business Frontier’s Senior Editor Megha S Anthony, Debarati Guha, Director Programmes for Asia, Deutsche Welle, explains her vision for the broadcaster and her aim of making the workforce more diverse.
Q. Please describe your professional journey. What made you join the broadcasting sector?
I am originally from India, though both of my parents are from east Pakistan, now Bangladesh, at least partly. Born and brought up in Kolkata, I left the city in 1999 to study at the Jawaharlal University in Delhi. I ventured into journalism while doing my PhD following my Master’s and MPhil. So, my doctorate remained incomplete. My first journalism stint was a brief one at NDTV following which I joined a German newspaper – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, after which I moved to Germany. Initially an intern at Deutsche Welle in 2005, I completed a journalism course in Germany. Finally, after freelancing for DW, I was asked to sign a job contract with the company following which I became a senior journalist. After initially reporting in the region about South Asia, I took over as the coordinating editor for Hindi, Urdu, and Bengali departments. It was during those days that I learnt a lot about bureaucratic concepts and was writing papers on management-related content.
Later, I took over as the Bangla boss, before heading South Asia and Southeast Asia at some point of time. So, summing it up, my journey started with print before I moved to radio and then Internet, social media, and television. Now, I am dealing with artificial intelligence and the like. This pretty much sums up my initial professional journey.
The interest to join the media was kindled within me by the famous historian Partha Chatterjee who dissuaded me from joining academics as I come from a family of academicians. He saw within me the aptitude to become a journalist as the profession has an association with storytelling.
Q. You have done notable research on the representation and empowerment of women in India. Given the current climate of increased support for women entrepreneurs, do you believe there are certain challenges which need to be addressed?
The issue is that for South Asia or the Subcontinent, you can’t have a black and white answer about the empowerment of women. It’s like the existence of modernity and the Stone Age at the same time. You see a lot of people—albeit a small percentage—with wealth, power, amenities, and resources. But there is a huge population which is very different. You may still come across villages that have no electricity; at the same time, you have flyovers on the sea. That’s why I think it is very important for India and the subcontinent to have these kinds of multiple truths and not to judge everything through one lens.
Q. Reflecting on your career and journey, which individuals have most influenced your perspective in the media or impacted you in a more positive way as such?
Several people including luminaries have had a lasting impact on me. I never had one hero or someone I would follow in the cultural field or cinema or politics or the like. I read not only Ranajit Guha but also Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities, which explored the origins of nationalism; so, for me, the public sphere and the community became very important. A Theory of Justice by John Rawls, in which the concept of justice and the welfare state are explored, also had an impact on me. Such reading introduced me to a Social Democrats-type of model. In addition, the three words from the French Revolution – Liberty, Equality, Fraternity deeply influenced me.
When I was around 15 years old, I met and worked with Mother Teresa, and wanted to join her organisation. But she told me I had to convert to Christianity to join the Missionaries of Charity. I did not agree to this and decided that I will do good deeds without changing my religion.
I have seen South African Apartheid Leader Nelson Mandela from a distance and met the current Pope. Rabindranath Tagore is like an icon to me. In addition, I have also talked with Amartya Sen. All these figures have influenced me in one way or the other.
Q. With the advent of social media, journalism has changed considerably and pretty much everyone seems to have become a reporter and the Paparazzi culture has seeped into society. What do you think is the future of media and journalism?
Until two years ago, I used to think that I am into journalism because I want to change the society. I am not into social media to enjoy a following, but because of my profession. Going back a little in time, in the late 90s, there was a pervasive fear of everything collapsing once we were in the year 2000. And now it is artificial intelligence, which has triggered concerns about deep fakes and the like. Though it is alarming, you must be open to change and learn new concepts. At the same time, you have to be critical and questioning as a journalist. I do not believe that with the increasing popularity of AI, employment will be affected due to robots taking over jobs. For example, Deutsche Welle uses a software that can translate 32 languages. Though we can save on voice-over etc because of this software, people are still part of the process.
Overall, you must be open to change and what is popular in the current ecosystem. Two years ago, I visited Warner Bros in Los Angeles as part of an executive management course. It was then that I realised that the kind of AI there was much more advanced than what we have in our part of the world.
Though DW is a non-profit organisation, and we don’t have to take care of profits, TRPs etc, we do investigate reach, views and the like. Therefore, it is also a business concept. Seeing the media as a business concept was new in my life as I have always worked in non-profit organisations where my goal was to make an impact on the life of people. However, now I take the business concept very seriously not to make profits but to have a meaningful impact on the life of people. So, DW’s goal and my objective are to reach as many people as possible. Therefore, we are present on multiple platforms, languages, duration, and audiences. We have a variety of programmes including that for the younger generation.
Q. What is the future vision for Deutsche Welle?
I look after Asia, and we already have programmes in many Asian languages. However, we don’t have programmes in Malaysian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Thai. Initially, it was hard to make a social impact due to the big-time difference with places as far as Indonesia. So, we decided to open regional offices in Taiwan, India, and Indonesia. We are also strengthening our correspondent network. However, for me the most important thing is perspective. These are not the times of the Cold War, and the world is headed in another direction. As such, the global south perspective is of key importance in news.
Moreover, a news story cannot always be about a problem, which leads to news fatigue that was evident during the pandemic. So, I am trying to have stories that are written or done constructively and are solution-oriented. In addition, I would like to increase the percentage of women in the workforce or rather make the workforce more diverse.
Q. What is the one advice you would give to the younger generation which wants to enter journalism and media and make an impact?
First, anyone who wants to enter this field must have a genuine interest in journalism and what journalists do. You can’t decide to be a journalist just for the money or the visibility. Going by the tough life journalists lead, a deep interest in news is imperative. Keenness to go deeper into things is another requirement as youngsters these days can be somewhat superficial in their approach. So, interest, knowledge, and the willingness to work hard are important. At the same time, I would urge the younger generation to maintain a balance between work and life for good mental health and happiness
