The main conference room at the ARD headquarters in Berlin was filled with invited guests from the media, government ministries and civil society. Matthias Gebauer (chief reporter for Spiegel Online) and Michael Tecklenburg (deputy head of DW-AKADEMIE’s Africa division) both had similar views on the situation. “There are no government structures so far, no official counterparts. If I need to talk to the National Transitional Council’s spokesperson, I currently have 30 different cell phone numbers to choose from,” said Gebauer, who has traveled to Libya several times for the online magazine.

It remains unclear as to how the country will develop. “Foreign reporters trying to enter the country now face almost the same restrictions they faced under Gaddafi. There are now battles for money and we’re talking about multi-billion dollar sums. Those fighting to get them are using the same methods they used before. And just as in the past, the main actors are doing everything they can to ensure nothing about this is being reported,” he said.

Local reporters are facing a similar situation, said DW-AKADEMIE’s Michael Tecklenburg – the difference being that they do not have the journalistic skills needed for critical reporting. “We held a workshop for radio journalists in Bengasi in October. It was the first workshop to be held since Gadaffi’s overthrow, and 12 of the 15 participants had never held a microphone before,” he told the startled audience. The German chancellor’s G8 Personal Representative for Africa at the BMZ (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), Günter Nooke, was among those attending the discussion.

A further problem, said Tecklenburg, was that local journalists tended to be on the side of the new authorities. Upcoming DW-AKADEMIE Libya workshops will therefore now focus more on what Spiegel reporter Matthias Gebauer calls the “reporter reflex”: critical questions, research and analysis. The discussion was chaired by Christian Thiels from the German regional public broadcaster, SWR. The director of DW-AKADEMIE, Gerda Meuer, was pleased with the successful event. “This is the first time we’ve held this type of event together with another public broadcaster. ARD has already signaled interest in more events of this kind.”