Ludger Schadomsky new head of DW Amharic Service

Ludger Schadomsky (36) has been appointed by Deutsche Welle Director-General Erik Bettermann as the head of DW-Radio’s Amharic Service.

After completing his studies (African studies and political science), Schadomsky worked as a trainee at Deutsche Welle in 1998. He then worked as a freelance journalist specialising in African topics. He reported for DW and other ARD stations, concentrating mainly on crisis areas such as Angola, Somalia, Congo, Ethiopia and Liberia. His reports were nominated for various international media awards. Recently, the Cologne-based journalist has focused largely on Somalia as a “failed state” and the issue of safe food provision in Ethiopia.

Deutsche Welle has been broadcasting on short wave in the Amharic language since 1965, mainly to listeners in Ethiopia and Eritrea and regions of Somalia bordering on Ethiopia, but also to people from the region who are living in exile. A recent study has shown that DW-Radio’s Amharic Service is the most listened-to international radio service in Ethiopia.

Since the Ethiopian elections in 2005, the importance of the Service has grown still further. It mainly provides reports on Germany and Europe, as well as original information on the geo-strategically important target region in the Horn of Africa. DW-Radio is seen here as one of the few independent information sources. “In view of the ongoing crisis in the Horn of Africa, which is currently worsening in Somalia, our Service is of particular significance. Many millions of listeners every day rely on Deutsche Welle’s reporting,” says Bettermann.

(Source: Deutsche Welle)