Team

Lisa-Maria Kretschmer, Project Manager Cambodia, Philippines, Ghana, Tanzania

Lisa-Maria Kretschmer has worked as Head of Research & project coordinator, and was responsible for the project implementation in the Philippines. Previously, she has worked in the field of human rights and resilience, amongst others for the German Development Agency (giz) and a Member of the German Parliament. In 2011, she supported an international research project on the role of media in conflict at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. This experience now contributes to her work for MOM as much as her previous positions in communications departments & agencies (profit & non-profit) for creating public awareness for human rights concerns. She studied political communication, journalism and economics in Germany (LMU Munich, FU Berlin), The Netherlands, Denmark and Israel.

Anna Rutz, student assistant

Anna Rutz has worked as student assistant for the Media Ownership Monitor of Reporters without Borders. At the same time she studies Communication Sciences at FU Berlin. After her graduation from school, she did a voluntary year in Peru, working for a community radio in the south of Lima. Due to further abroad experiences she has got a strong connection to Latin America.

Linda Otto, student assistant

Linda Otto works as a student assistant for Reporters Without Borders` Media Ownership Monitor. She studied sociology and communication science at LMU Munich. Currently she is finishing her Master’s degree in Media and Political Communication at FU Berlin. Her focus lies on media and migration and since her internship in Lebanon she has a special interest in journalism during war and crisis.

Nube Àlvarez, Project Manager Mexico and Argentina

Nube Alvarez is project manager for the Reporters without Borders project Media Ownership Monitor in Mexico and Argentina. She is a media researcher, freelance journalists and news coordinator with a focus on press freedom and media development. Ms. Alvarez has experience training up-and-coming journalists in programs that boost media skills. In her M.A International Media Studies’ thesis, Ms. Alvarez examined the experiences of Mexican journalists in exile and displacement with the aim to reflect on the phenomena of violence against press and its implications in press freedom.

Clothilde Le Coz, Project Manager Marocco, Lebanon and Egypt

Clothilde le Coz is project manager for Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) Media Ownership Monitor in Morocco. She oversaw the research for the same project in Cambodia in 2015. A French journalist, she worked extensively on media freedom and human rights in the US and in Southeast Asia, where she lived for the past 6 years. Now based in Europe, she is still travelling to work in the area of international media development and research. She is now focusing on the issue of media independence.

Ariane Schneider, accountant

Ariane Schneider is a banker and has been working in a tax office and as consultant for the district court for many years. From 2015 to 2019, she worked in accounting for the Media Ownership Monitor.

Olaf Steenfadt, Founder and Managing Director

Olaf is the Founder and Managing Director of Global Media Registry (GMR), a charitable social enterprise that promotes transparency, accountability and pluralism in the information space. With his background in news reporting and investigative journalism, he is a speaker, lecturer, entrepreneur and globally visible expert on digital media policy and ethics. Two of his signature projects include the “Media Ownership Monitor” and the “Journalism Trust Initiative” which he developed and implemented on behalf of the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Olaf previously worked for national German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF in various roles.

He is a member of the “High-level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation” of the European Commission and of the “Committee of Experts on Quality of Journalism in the Digital Age” and the “Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform” at the Council of Europe.

Nafisa Hasanova, Head of Research

Nafisa managed Media Ownership Monitor projects in Ukraine (2016), Serbia (2017), Albania (2018), Sri Lanka (2018), India and Pakistan (2019). She was also involved in the Journalism Trust Initiative, from the RSF team. Before joining RSF, Nafisa worked on the Transdniestrian Settlement Process for the Finnish Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) founded by the former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. Prior to that she worked as policy officer for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia for APRODEV (now ACT Alliance EU), EU Central Asia Monitoring (EUCAM) for Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Nafisa holds an MA in Intercultural Communication and European Studies from the University of Applied Sciences in Fulda, Germany. She completed a BA in English Philology at the Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages in Uzbekistan.

Josefine Spannuth, Project Manager, Data Analyst

Lea Auffarth, Head of Operations

Lea coordinates the implementation of the Media Ownership Monitor's editions, and manages some of them directly.
Previously, Lea has worked for the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders, where she coordinated the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) and headed the development of its IT infrastructure. Other work on media transparency, literacy, and ethics include the ‘Media Ownership Monitor’ (MOM) and Lebanese Samir Kassir Foundation’s ‘Digital Rights Project’.
Lea is a trained journalist and has worked with the German public broadcaster WDR as well as regional press. She holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution from King’s College London.