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Germany was the first major country to commit itself to an electricity system transition based on decentralized renewable sources and energy efficiency. This experiment has attracted interest worldwide, but its influence on national energy debates is largely unknown. We study how the German transition appeared in the news media of three countries following alternative nuclear pathways -the United Kingdom, Finland and Hungary -between 2011 and 2015. We show that most discussions are techno-economic, supply-oriented and focused on nuclear, wind and solar energy. Key issues such as energy democracy, regional development, participation, demand-side measures, and bioenergy are neglected. We find that topics are detached from their original contexts and selectively contextualized elsewhere, resulting in very different pictures of the same transition in specific countries and news sources. The 'Energiewende' has become part of the international energy policy landscape, but its representation depends on local visions of a good society.Significant increases in energy efficiency and electricity production from renewable sources are widely considered essential for energy transitions. The first countries that pursue this path inevitably set an example and reveal challenges and opportunities regarding security, affordability, sustainability and democratic participation. In Germany, after decades of discussions and disagreement on how to change energy systems, the 2011 Fukushima disaster brought unity to the parliament and led to the decision to not postpone the nuclear phase-out, but instead to further accelerate renewable energy development, and to reiterate commitment to energy efficiency 1 . The German transition, called the 'Energiewende' has a long history rooted in resistance against nuclear power, community-level development of renewable energy, and broad public support (see Supplementary Note 1). It has been extensively examined and discussed in public and academic debates all over the world [2][3][4] .How the Energiewende is interpreted and contextualized at the national level outside Germany has received little attention. This is surprising because the global significance of the Energiewende is more due to its international than domestic effects. Germany, responsible for 2.2% of global carbon emissions, has been watched by many of the countries that make up the remaining 97.8%. The Energiewende is mostly discussed