Studio Berlin

It’s high time to book that summer vacation, but what options for leisure travel are there in the time of a pandemic? Is it even safe to travel domestically or internationally? And what will happen to tourism in Berlin?

Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson explores these questions with Elizabeth Becker, an award-winning journalist and author of “Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism,” travel writer Katherine Alex Beaven, whose articles appear in Fodor’s Travel, Lonely Planet and Travel+Leisure; hidden europe magazine co-founder Nicky Gardner, who is the author of “Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide,” and visitBerlin CEO Burkhard Kieker.

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson with assistance from Sylvia Cunningham. 

Lawmakers from across the European Union are urging transparency from China, with growing calls for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus. How will the COVID-19 pandemic change Europe and Germany’s relationship with Beijing? And among the many challenges to globalization, is this pandemic the biggest?

Host Sumi Somaskanda is joined by Noah Barkin, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and fellow Studio Berlin host; Lucrezia Poggetti, a research associate at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS); and Amrita Narlikar, president of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA).

This show was produced by Sylvia Cunningham and Sumi Somaskanda with assistance from Monika Müller-Kroll.

Developers worldwide are working on contact tracing apps that track the spread of the coronavirus through Bluetooth technology – that means, if you’ve come into contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, you’ll be notified. But how much do these apps actually help, and how much privacy do users have to give up?

Studio Berlin host Sylvia Cunningham is joined by Shashank Bengali, a Los Angeles Times correspondent based in Singapore, Chris Köver, who writes about digital rights for Netzpolitik.org, and Andrea Renda, a senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham

This week Germany is trying to restart part of its economy and public life, but is loosening restrictions the right way out of the COVID-19 crisis? 

Studio Berlin host Sumi Somaskanda examines Germany’s plan for a gradual return to normality and takes an in-depth look into the medical effort to contain the coronavirus. She is joined by Professor Ulrike Protzer, director of the Institute of Virology at the Technical University of Munich; fellow Studio Berlin host Erik Kirschbaum; Ayten Doğan, who is with the SPD and Berlin commissioner for Integration and Migration, and secondary school teacher Ryan Plocher.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sumi Somaskanda.

Few leaders in EU states agree on what should happen to people who flee to Europe to escape war and poverty.

Studio Berlin host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson explores this sensitive topic with Joanna Kakissis, an international correspondent whose stories air on NPR and This American Life, and James Kanter, founder and editor of the progressive politics podcast “EU Scream.” We also hear from Jane Wangare, a volunteer with “Women in Exile,” and a female asylum-seeker in the eastern German city of Suhl whose refugee center was locked down because of a COVID-19 threat.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, production assistance by Sylvia Cunningham.

This April is a holy month for Christians, Jews and Muslims that would normally be one in which families and friends gather and people get together to pray. But how can the faithful observe their respective holidays given the COVID-19 pandemic? Also, what toll are the bans, closures and increasing isolation taking mentally on all of us?

Studio Berlin host Sylvia Cunningham gets tips on relieving stress from psychiatrist and head of the Fliedner Klinik Berlin Dr. Mazda Adli and hears from Father Sylvester Ajunwa, the head of the English-speaking Mission of the All Saints Catholic Community in Berlin, Iman Andrea Reimann, the chair of the Deutsches Muslimisches Zentrum (German Muslim Center) and Nina Peretz, a member of the Fraenkelufer Synagogue in Kreuzberg and chair of the non-profit Friends of Fraenkelufer on how they’re managing to uphold tradition, even when they can’t be with their communities.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham. 

Germany has abandoned its balanced budget to soften the blow the pandemic is delivering to the economy. Will this historic aid package get Germany through the crisis? And what is happening on the European level?

Studio Berlin host Sumi Somaskanda discusses the relief efforts with fellow Studio Berlin host Noah Barkin, and DW and NPR contributor Teri Schultz from Brussels. We also hear from small business owners in Berlin about their struggle to survive.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll with Sumi Somaskanda.

German Chancellor Merkel has called the coronavirus pandemic the biggest challenge to her nation since World War II and is receiving praise around the world for her government’s handling of the crisis. But is that praise deserved?

This week, Studio Berlin host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson explores that question and the impact of COVID-19 on Berlin, Germany and the EU with fellow Studio Berlin host Sumi Somaskanda; the Bloomberg editorial board’s Andreas Kluth, and Henning Hoff of the Berlin Policy Journal.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll with assistance from Sylvia Cunningham.

In the first six weeks of 2020, five cyclists were killed in road traffic in Berlin, propelling cycling advocates to demand more protection for people on their bikes.

In this episode of Studio Berlin, we take a closer look at the city’s cycling infrastructure and Berlin’s mobility law. When the law came into effect in 2018, it was meant to mark a “paradigm shift” in the city’s transport policies. So where are we now?

Studio Berlin host Sylvia Cunningham is joined by Nikolas Linck, spokesperson for the German National Cyclists’ Association (ADFC) and Julia Jarass, who researches mobility and urban development at the Institute of Transport Research at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham with voiceovers by Benjamin Restle and Caleb Larson.

The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly changing our lives.

This week, Studio Berlin host Sylvia Cunningham looks at where we are in this health crisis and what measures are being taken to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. She’s joined by Dr. Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization (WHO), journalist and fellow Studio Berlin host Erik Kirschbaum, and Klaus Warmedinger, a German business economist who’s been living in China for the past two years.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham.