Washington Times Reporter Profile
An Austrian on a Mission

Print Article for Master's Program
August 15, 2003

In busy Washington DC traffic, one might hardly notice the special designer license plate, “GRAZ,” on the back of the 1989 blue convertible. However, “some Austrians do,” says Thomas Jandl, an immigrant and free-lance journalist from Graz, Austria.

Jandl, 38, is one of the many Austrians living in the Washington metropolitian area, yet he doesn’t consider himself to be an active member of the Austrian community. Aside from the Post-It notes strangers stick to Jandl’s car (“ Are you from Graz? I am too!”), he says he doesn’t make a significant effort to stay in touch with Austrian culture. Jandl is the only member of his family who left Austria in search of world experience.

Like fellow Graz native, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star running for California governor, Jandl created a new life for himself on the West Coast -- as a language student at San Diego State University.

Over the past 15 years, Jandl has earned degrees in journalism and international development, from other U.S. and European institutions.

Friends and colleagues are not surprised he has several degrees; Jandl is like a sponge. He soaks up as much information as he possibly can.

“Jandl goes into the culture [of any place he lives] and truly absorbs it on every level,” Kevin Baerson, a fellow journalist says. “The world is his classroom, and he has enough confidence that many people of many cultures are drawn to him, but he is humble enough to learn from them.”

As he adjusts his wire-framed glasses on his nose, he describes his work as a freelance journalist for the Washington Times.

The job has provided travel accommodations to some of the most exotic destinations around the globe, including Vietnam, the Isle of Man, and the Czech Republic.

“Jandl tries to capture the intent of each individual he interviews and will go out of his way to make sure that their viewpoint is expressed,” Jandl’s colleague, Steven Stroschein says.

For a recent article Jandl published in the Washington Times, he relocated to Vietnam for nine weeks where he wrote, interviewed, and researched how U.S. business interests and culture affected Vietnamese residents.

“I’ve noticed that Vietnam tends to have fewer problems than the media portrays it to be,” Jandl says in an almost undetectable Austrian accent.

In fact, Jandl is fairly critical of the media because he says it is very “superficial.”

“If you really want a stand on a story, don’t read a newspaper,” Jandl says.

According to Jandl, Austrian papers and U.S. papers are similar because of the distinct separation between the opinion pages and the straight press. However, some French papers are mixed and entire papers are mixed with fact an opinion.

“They [the journalism school] teach you to end articles with thought provoking quotes,” Jandl says referring to his classroom instruction at a Parisian Journalism Program.

“I’m not really a journalist -- I don’t feel the vocation,” Jandl says.” I want to tell people stories, but I really think I want to reach them.”

Regardless of who reads his work, Jandl is a storyteller. He will have many stories to share with his undergraduate class since Jandl has decided to enroll as an AU doctoral student this fall.

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