Draft:Nadja Vancauwenberghe

Nadja Vancauwenberghe (born April 18, 1970 in Paris) is a bilingual English French journalist, senior editor, film critic and moderator. She is best known for co-founding The Berliner (formerly Exberliner) and serving as its Editor-in-Chief from 2002 to 2023. The magazine quickly acquired recognition of the international community in Berlin in prominence "becoming Berlin's go-to guide for the English-speaking expats and visitors". In 2009, The Guardian named The Berliner "one of the best expat magazines in Europe".

Apart from The Berliner, Vancauwenberghe wrote for Agence France-Presse, Moscow Times, Moscow Journal, The Guardian, Berliner Zeitung, ƒ among others.

While at Exberliner, Nadja Vancauwenberghe mostly published under multiple aliases: Ruth Schneider and René Blixer for features, reports, long-form interviews (Politics),  Mars Yupilamu (Film), Françoise Poilane (Food).

Currently, she writes, conducts master classes in Journalism, moderates exBlicks film nights.

Early Life and Education

From 1990 to 1998 Nadja Vancauwenberghe studied Law, Politics and Sociology at Sorbonne University. During her PhD research (1994-1998), she divided her time between New York and Moscow. While in Moscow, Vancauwenberghe lectured on Sociology and Politics at Moscow State University and MGIMO and began publishing as a journalist.

In 1998, she pursued a degree in International Journalism at City University of London, which she completed in 1999. Upon her graduation, she settles in Moscow to embark on a full-time career as a Russian journalist.

Early Journalist Career

From 1994 to 2001, Nadja Vancauwenberghe conducted investigative journalism on critical topics for various media outlets. Her assignments for ZDF Auslandsmagazine, France 2, Danish TV 2, Moscow Times, Moscow Journal, The Guardian covered subjects including the destruction of chemical weapons as well as the Second Chechen War. During this time, she began to serve as news correspondent for AFP's Moscow bureau under the leadership of Nicolas Miletitch, a prominent supporter of Soviet dissidents.

In 2000, Vancauwenberghe reported undercover from Groznyj after the siege ended in February. Her report, aired on ZDF in May 2000, refuted the official announcement of the end of military operations. On May, 20th 2000, the print article titled "Behind Enemy Lines" followed the investigation in the Moscow Times. Her investigations eventually led to her turning a persona-non-grata in Russia. In late 2001, after a short trip abroad, she was banned from returning to Moscow.

Founding The Berliner (former Exberliner)

In 2002, Nadja Vancauwenberghe co-founded The Berliner (former Exberliner), an English-language magazine in Berlin, along with The Village Voice editor Ioana Veleanu and Deutsche Welle reporter Maurice Frank . Modelled on The New Yorker and The Village Voice, former Exberliner, with the circulation of 20,000 and eight employees, quickly became the biggest print monthly focusing on news, events, culture and art for the international community in the German-speaking capital.

The Berliner has earned respect from the local community for its incisive cultural commentary, investigative journalism, and coverage of local events, arts, and culture. A crowdfunding campaign among its readership during the corona crisis, when press was heavily hit due to the loss of advertisement, helped to raise 29,703€ to cover its running costs.

In her 21 years as an Editor-in-Chief, she shaped the magazine’s editorial tone and its high professional standards with its preference for on-the-ground reporting, face-to-face interviews. In 2020, in an interview to The Berliner deputy editor Helen Whittle, Nadja Vancauwenberghe asserts her ideas on journalism:

“[On] the question of how to investigate and how to do good journalism. I guess I’m from that old guard of reporters who believe in journalism, not as just putting two statements side by side, and thinking “oh great I’m being impartial”, but wanting to find out the truth. I see journalism as investigative in its essence”.

The notable issues of The Berliner were Ukraine issue (April 2022), Exiled Politics (February 2021), On Life Beyond Corona (special issue June 2020), Korea in Berlin (October 2019), No Shit! (June 2019), Jewish issue (June 2018), Populism (April 2017), Islam (April 2015), Combats in Exile (September 2015), Snowden issue (September 2014). The Berliner was among the first media in Germany to cover to the vibrant African community in Berlin, raised awareness the issue of Germany's problematic colonial past and its impact on contemporary Berlin. In the editor's note to Africa issue (September 2012), Vancauwenberghe pointed out:

"Germany committed its first genocide in Africa, a reality that the modern German state is still reluctant to acknowledge. Why? One reason is that it is a political minefield. Somehow recognising a precursor to the Nazi genocide would challenge a conveniently established consensus among European nations that National Socialism was a parentheses in history".

Views

On many occasions, Nadja Vancauwenberghe expresses strong support of freedom of press, free speech, civil liberties and social justice. In 2015, following the terrorist attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that killed 12 staff members, The Berliner -- despite some reservations about safety -- published a series of controversial cartoons as a gesture of solidarity with the fellow journalists.

Nadja Vancauwenberghe took a distinct position on the case of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher. In 2020, she was among the few journalists officially accredited to cover Assange's extradition hearings at London's Old Bailey. In the supplementary series of interviews with Vancauwenberghe on case she spoke Nils Melzer, a human rights lawyer and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Meltzer assessed the WikiLeaks publisher to be as a political prisoner: "two medical experts[...], both specialised in the examination of potential torture victims[...]examined him [Assange] separately from each other, but all of us came to the same conclusion, that Julian Assange showed typical signs of prolonged exposure to psychological torture".

In October 2020, in another interview from the series with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg confirmed to Vancauwenberghe his irritation with due procedural violations in Assange case .

In 2023, she interviewed the award-winning Ukrainian film director Sergei Loznitsa, after his expulsion from the Ukrainian Film Academy. Loznitsa expressed his opinion on the refusal to boycott dissident Russian filmmakers: “to answer that barbarism with an attack on people in culture would be another barbarism. To ban somebody, to boycott the possibility for someone to talk, that’s an act of aggression”.

Controversies

In March 2021, Vancauwenberghe's OpEd on lockdown hypocrisies during the corona lockdown sparked controversy and diverse reactions. In response to the “backlash”, Exberliner published an overview of unedited readers’ responses, showcasing a range of opinions on COVID-19 measures from advocates to critical thinkers.

Over the years, reflecting the city's ongoing gentrification debates the magazine was accused of exacerbating gentrification and living in an international bubble. While The Berliner provided balanced critical perspectives on gentrification, it also operated an accommodation service, Exberliner Flatrentals, from 2003 to 2020.

As Editor-in-Chief, Nadja Vancauwenberghe rebuked personal accusations on multiple occasions, arguing that the politicians were responsible for selling off the city property without offering any credible housing policy.

In 2021, The Berliner became a part of the Tip Berlin Media Group, owned by the Berliner real estate mogul, Yoram Roth.

In June 2023, Vancauwenberghe, the last founding member of Exberliner, was dismissed after 21 year in the role of Editor-in-Chief.