as your mind of our top stories at base our voting has begun in germany's parliamentary elections for the incumbent i give them a voice too when i for a chancellor the main challenge that martin shields has already cast his ballot although he's unlikely to win he could still end up in government task knuckles coalition power. full coverage of that of course that throughout the day here on that date on t.v. and on the block i have your next update of the top of the out myself good day. to. make your smart t.v. even smarter with the d w four smart t.v. . what you watch for when you want it up to date extraordinary in depth you decide what's on sunday morning at w dot com smart.

ass tag germany decides what is your take on the whole position regarding not only climate change. what do you want to know about germany's general election. ask d.w. your questions about germany. and america. and. write to us on facebook we'll answer your questions. today i'm speaking with director general about the media democracy and the man himself limburg welcome to the interview thank you mr. great to have you with us my name is thomas upon mr lemberg you have a special relationship to germany because you didn't grow up here. your father was

a diplomat who worked in paris. and brussels what would you say is typically german . definitely the great german cuisine which you can always look forward to. and then the fact that people abroad always associate us with punctuality propriety trustworthiness. maybe not very much for a country like germany and. i think in germany there is a sentiment expressed by the word. which doesn't exist anywhere else i think that is very true that you can describe this feeling where you come from. to put a negative spin on it but there's something of an inclination towards political romanticism which doesn't exist in other countries.

overall i think throughout my life. i've always had a good feel of germany. and it doesn't hurt. to see something from the outside rather than just the inside so i think my life experience means i'm well placed to do the job i do with. the money of beautiful minds open if it's my. i have a very german sentence for you. should present germany as a european nation of culture and a liberal constitutional democracy. that one sentence presents a demanding task that is the broadcasting mandate. how do you do that in practical terms. with a lot of interesting programs and i think the most important task that the lawmakers have given us is to inform. the most important. we have to inform specially when i might not be sufficient knowledge about germany or europe. or about topics that people aren't allowed to discuss in their own

regions of the wound because their sense of. who has a huge duty to provide freedom of information. and then there's the entire set of values that we also have to impart. as a liberal constitutional democracy that represents and which it propagates is crumbling in poland hungary russia turkey. how does d.w. react to these developments. trying to refer especially to the issues in those places where we have a broadcast presence. in russia and in poland. so we're trying to inform our users listeners or viewers and give them the outside perspective so. we can tell anyone what they should think that's not.

and we always have to ensure that we manage to remain available to worldwide target audience. but we can guarantee freedom of information and also point out the democratic rights to luxury or negotiable in the e.u. for example from your but. then there's a growing number of people who don't consider democratic rights to be that important who want security does that mean the voice of democracy is talking at cross purposes for more and more people. no i don't think so. i believe the important thing for us also in countries where democracy is in danger and there is a real lack of freedom is to be there for those who do believe in democracy history whether in poland during times of dictatorship. played an outstanding role as the voice of freedom. perhaps we are only accessible for a limited time and only for

a minority simply because not everyone can access our services. but we want to offer that minority support so that people in countries where democracy is at risk can see that people on the outside who care about them. are not really there yet in poland and other parts of europe but it's important to us that we don't point a warning finger at them continue to demonstrate the merits of democracy. right wing populism is on the rise in germany as well the f.t. party is entering parliament what can journalists do to bring these angry citizens back to the fold. i don't believe that it's to confront the germans in germany with the topic matter in any way. main task is clearly to address overseas audiences. but we do believe it makes sense for

programming in english arabic and spanish to be made available in germany as well in order to build a bridge between different nations and languages. and. i think that the unrest in germany and the rise of right wing populism is something that's happening across europe. where no exception. it is nevertheless dangerous when these political parties try to chip away at democracy. when they don't just express themselves in a so-called nationalist manner. but when they stray from the basic principles of democracy it becomes dangerous and the job of the media is to identify that and to make every instance of it public and not to capitulate or stay silent or accept the fact that someone is attacking a democracy. and also applies to the us

where right wing populism is in charge. of the price for defending press freedom to the white house correspondents association in washington. do you believe press freedom is in more danger in the us than in russia or china for example. the us is a great democracy which has shown that it can overcome many challenges you know naturally we hope that it will overcome the current ones. but it seldom occurs that the head of state in an established democracy questions democratic rights and that includes freedom of the press which is a prerequisite for democracy and that is extraordinary. when we say we have to highlight events as well and show that we don't just for. attention on the southern hemisphere. where we focus on everywhere where press freedom is threatened.

us that is partly the case right now. donald trump takes issue with you for that prize send you an angry tweet but. he did not and he doesn't have to. i think donald trump's tweet speak for themselves. and we need no further exchange than. the fact that donald trump also governs by tweeting is a sign i think of a turning point in communication generally social media is becoming increasingly important for journalists as well as being able to reach people through the existing channels in a competitive market do you think it's to your advantage that your first director general with a commercial t.v. background. t.v. background perhaps gives me a broader overview of the market and target audiences. does that mean

a better eye for the ratings that rule commercial t.v. . yes that means that the issue of reaching a wide audience is more of a focal point although reaches into everything. we have to be able to make an impact we need quality journalism. that means we don't do things just for the ratings. but on a new entertainment show to appeal to more people show funny cat videos we focus on producing high quality journalistic content that will connect more to people but of course without reach that is irrelevant. you came under criticism because you made cuts to the news coverage of the german channel. can you imagine france twenty four france's international broadcaster only broadcasting the news in english. no but they do broadcast in english and our beginning in spanish

but also in french. of course france twenty four continues to progress in french. but you have to take into account that we have a german language t.v. channel which is received a world wind and unlike the french we don't have such a large community of german speakers. we continue to broadcast in germany and we are glad to do that and we still have a new show and new shows but it's true that we have made adjustments and are focusing more on cultural programs than in the past. strengthening the english language programming and cutting back the german one is part of the aim to try to bring d.w. on par with b.b.c. and c.n.n. isn't that a somewhat daredevil not to say hopeless. broadcasters have twice the budget and

only broadcast in english. the b.b.c. broadcasts in other languages of course and i think that benchmark that's why i think it is worthwhile to aim high and that goal isn't impossible to reach. we will reach this goal in many countries and in many languages of being one of the top three foreign broadcasters and that's why i think it was right to set ourselves those targets and we're well on the way to achieving that. round off our interview we always like to put forward three unfinished sentences and ask our guests to finish them so from my father the diplomat limburg senior i learned. you need an open view of the world without prejudice and to. the fact that channel my reporting on the election of

a new pope in two thousand and thirteen before the new pope appeared was. inappropriate. decision by my former employer who i otherwise have a lot to thank for and holding great esteem that's. probably what happened as its director general i am not obliged to like music my favorite would be. german music. thanks for talking to me you're welcome. democracy day on d w a reporter has been in solitary confinement since february with no charges filed and no sign of release. tennesse child has become a symbol of press freedom under fire but the turkish president ever to want he's

a political bargaining chip. how his friends and family are trying to secure his release hash tag three deaths. next on. democracy day d.w. whether shady business practices in swiss banks or irregularities in german city governments many injustices would never have come to light were it not for whistleblowers three courageous people tell why they spoke up and what consequences it had for them whistleblowers alone against the system in sixty minutes on d w. this as you get many of them cannot come but end of the right to our correspondent he is in central istanbul and we have our political correspondent here in the studio more on those stories in just a minute but first this news just in it's all about the perspective closer

d.w. news yes. she's long been a symbol of hope in syria i try to help people. a small outside does she stand for change for the false facade of her husband's rule of terror. she believes in my projection that that they are saving syria must masada the beautiful face of the dictatorship starting october first on d w. the german turkish journalist benazir cho has been behind bars in turkey since february fourteenth turkish president. accuses him of spreading terror propaganda.