The Sylke Tempel Fellowship 2025 was dedicated to the topic “Limits of Reporting: Media in Times of War and Polarization” – a particularly relevant topic in light of the war in the Middle East.
In both traditional and social media, a battle of narratives is taking place over the interpretation of events on the ground. Media coverage of the war and its political and societal implications vividly illustrates the crucial importance of balanced journalism. At the same time, media professionals face enormous challenges when reporting on war, as they must uphold journalistic standards, maintain access to reliable information and protect their personal safety. In addition, the selection and evaluation of topics for reporting is often politicized, raising the question of whether media outlets themselves become part of the conflict.
The Sylke Tempel Fellowship 2025 was dedicated to examining reporting on the conflict in the Middle East since October 7, 2023, with the goal of analyzing the role of access, interests, and responsibility in media coverage. During the Fellowship Program, our eight Fellows focused on topics of their choice and wrote articles published in the December 2025 special issue of International Politics (IP).
Get to know our 2025 Fellows.
Our partner organizations
Our 2025 partner organizations were the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Berlin, the foreign policy magazine Internationale Politik (IP) and Women in International Security Deutschland e.V. (WIIS.de).
2025 Program
To support our Fellows in their research projects, we organized various discussions and workshops throughout the Fellowship. At the beginning of the year, the Fellows met online for a discussion on journalism in times of war and investigative journalism in Israel, led by Shomrim – The Center for Media and Democracy.
At a two-day kick-off meeting in Berlin in early April, the Fellows had the opportunity to get to know each other in person and present their research projects at an editorial meeting. The stay in Berlin was accompanied by discussions with the media house Correctiv and a workshop on disinformation networks in the context of the Israel-Hamas war, conducted by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) Germany.
During a follow-up online workshop in June 2025 with invited experts from Cemas, Algorithm Watch, and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue Germany (ISD), the group discussed the social effects of disinformation and how journalists can respond.
A highlight of the 2025 Fellowship was the joint trip to Israel in September. There, we met with media professionals and discussed the role of the media in reporting on the Gaza war, among many other topics. You can find more information about the trip to Israel here.
Publication
In December 2025, the articles written by the Sylke Tempel Fellows were published in a special issue of Internationale Politik entitled "Limitations of Reporting."
You can download the magazine in German and English here.
