Deutsche Welle launches special programming devoted to human rights

Multimedia content in 30 languages – Topical focus to coincide with this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum

Deutsche Welle aims to contribute to the dialogue on human rights and globalization issues with dedicated content in its television, radio and online programming in 30 languages. The project complements the theme of this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum scheduled to take place from 20-22 June 2011, “Human Rights in a Globalized World – Challenges for the Media”.

“The media can be a powerful instrument for the realization of human rights,” says DW Director General Erik Bettermann. Many people, he adds, are still unaware of the contents of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its two key binding human rights treaties – the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. “The media can serve as an informational bridge and an instrument of enlightenment. They should be held responsible around the world.”

Multimedia project

Basic human needs – the rights to fair working conditions, adequate food and housing – are the central focus of DW’s multimedia project “Human Rights in 2011” (www.dw-world.de/menschenrechte2011). Feature reports provide insight into the living conditions of people in light of global change. Some of the topics include rising prices and hunger in Senegal, displacement as a result of drug gangs in Colombia and the dangerous work of transporting scrap in India. The project includes statements by human rights experts, such as Monika Lüke, Secretary General of Amnesty International Germany, and John Ruggie, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Business and Human Rights. Blogger Lina Ben Mhenni, winner of this year’s Deutsche Welle international blog awards The BOBs, reports on her experience during the Tunisian revolution. The multimedia project is presented in German, English, Spanish and Russian. Many reports will be included in Deutsche Welle’s 26 other broadcast languages.

Theme week on DW-TV

From 13-20 June 2011, DW-TV will broadcast reports, features and documentaries related to the theme of human rights in 2011. Targeted to its worldwide audience, the programming will be in German, English, Arabic and Spanish. For instance, sports program “Kick off!” will report on Muslim soccer players on the occasion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. TV magazine “Arts.21” will introduce female authors from Turkey who have been detained. “European Journal” will feature Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's envoy on human rights. Other highlights include interviews with Angelika Nussberger, a judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and Tom Koenigs, chair of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid in the German Bundestag.

Virtually all of DW-TV’s programs will focus on various aspects of human rights, ranging from the situation in Arab countries through to international labor and social standards to fair trade products, conditions for refugees and child trafficking. DW-TV reports will also be integrated into the multimedia project, “Human Rights in 2011”.

Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum

The three-day conference in Bonn begins on 20 June 2011. This is the third in the German public service broadcaster’s series of conferences examining the role of the media in key issues that will shape the world’s future. Some 1,500 media professionals and renowned experts from around the world are expected to attend the forum.

The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is an interdisciplinary congress for which DW, as the initiator and host, has teamed up with many renowned national and international organisations, such as Amnesty International, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation, the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, the German Institute for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), UN Water, the European Council on Foreign Relations, die European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the German Development Institute, CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg, the Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Goethe Institute, the German Journalists Association (DJV) and other organizations.

Six of this year’s Global Media Forum partners have been included in the University of Pennsylvania’s list of the top 50 think thanks in the world.

Deutsche Welle will hold the prize ceremony for its international blog awards, The BOBs, during the forum in June. In this seventh edition of the competition, prizes have been designated in six categories and eleven languages. For more information go to www.thebobs.com.

Co-host of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Sparkasse in Bonn. The conference is also supported by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the European Regional Development Fund, the Minister for Federal, European and Media Affairs of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the city of Bonn, DHL and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

(Press Release)

Climate Change Conference: Focus on Media Responsibility

The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, taking place from June 21-23, will welcome 1,300 participants from around the world.

Hermann Scheer, winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize, President of Eurosolar and Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy and Bertran Picard, researcher, adventurer and special ambassador for the UN are just two of the renowned experts taking part in the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum from June 21-23, 2010. This year, the international conference will operate under the title: "The Heat is On - Climate Change and the Media". Deutsche Welle is expecting around 1,300 participants from around the world to attend the conference's third edition. With more than 50 individual events and panels, representatives from science, politics, business and the media will have the chance to discuss how the media can create awareness for one of the most important topics for the future. The conference will pay special attention to how journalists can work as intermediaries for complex issues.
"In this case, intensive research, meticulous weighting of sources and precise analysis are more important than headlines and emotion," says Erik Bettermann, Deutsche Welle Director General. "We need to go beyond fear-mongering and belittlement and take on the challenges of quality journalism. The media should not automatically buy in to those who offer sensational reports from questionable disasters or those who prematurely state that all is clear."
Organizers of the three-day conference are expecting a range of renowned participants, including Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Frank Appel, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Post, Fatih Birol, Chief Economic Advisor of the International Energy Agency and Marco Arana, presidential candidate in Peru and environmental activist, who was selected as "Environmental Hero 2009" by Time Magazine.
Topics like reducing CO² emissions (mitigation), minimizing the effects of climate change (adaptation) and transforming into a post-fossil fuel, sustainable, low-carbon society (vision) are all on the agenda. Each of the individual podium discussions and workshops will also look at the media's role in communicating these issues. For example, participants will have the chance to discuss topics like climate change and desertification, consumption and climate change, perspectives in a post-carbon society, journalism and global crises as well as risks associated with environmental reporting.
Within the framework of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, DW will be awarding prizes to the winners of its international weblog awards, "The BOBs". The sixth edition of these awards also features a special prize for weblogs and podcasts dealing with climate change. Deutsche Welle is cooperating with many different organizations for this interdisciplinary conference, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change (UN IHDP/ESSP), EU Commission and the World Bank, the Wuppertal Institute, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), NABU and the Climate Alliance, the Institute for World Business Kiel, German Development Institute (DIE), the Center for Development Research (ZEF), the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).
The yearly Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum offers podium discussions and workshops, interactive presentations and exhibitions, networking and interesting side events. It takes place at the World Conference Center Bonn, close to Deutsche Welle's headquarters. Co-host of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Sparkasse in Bonn. The convention is also supported by Germany's Federal Foreign Office, the Family, Women and Integration Ministry of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, European Funds for Regional Development, the city of Bonn, DHL and Faber-Castell.

(Press Release)