Global Media Forum: Journalism in a time of crisis

Global crises are no longer the exception but the rule: Climate change, the extinction of species, growing social and economic inequality, pandemics, wars: these are not just huge threats to our lives happening at ever shorter intervals. They are also phenomena that draw each other into a downward spiral of destruction and disruption. Most recently, this has been manifested in the chain of events set in motion by Russia's brutal invasion of its neighbor Ukraine.

Many are dying because they find themselves caught in the crossfire. Others because they do not have enough to eat. But the war has also thrown the global economy out of kilter, forcing more and more desperate men and women to join growing waves of migration.

In the middle of it all are journalists. But even as authors, reporters, and correspondents, they all too often become the targets of arbitrary and systematic violence.

"There is little doubt that the Russian assault on Ukraine will overshadow this year's Global Media Forum," says DW Director General Peter Limbourg as he looks forward to the international media conference on June 20 and 21. "This is mirrored in the key issues on the conference agenda, but also in the selection of the winners of this year's Freedom of Speech Award: Two Ukrainian journalists who have each made a very special contribution to bringing to a global audience shocking reports on the full horrors of this very dirty war.”

Evgeniy Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov risked everything to document the siege and destruction of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The presentation of the GMF Freedom of Speech Awards to the two photojournalists will be a major highlight of the first day of the conference.

Sacrifices to protect the truth

Also eagerly anticipated is an address from Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Ressa. Her title: "What are you willing to sacrifice to protect the truth?”

Ressa knows what she is talking about: As a prominent investigative journalist and co-founder of an online news portal, she was subjected to constant personal harassment and intimidation from the Philippine government, including being arrested several times: "I'm delighted that she will be joining us in Bonn to open the first session of the Global Media Forum," says Peter Limbourg. "What we hope is that this conference will encourage and strengthen all those around the world who put themselves on the line to protect freedom of opinion and free speech for journalists." 

The DW Global Media Forum has established itself as the largest international media conference in Germany, now to be hosted for the fifteenth time by DW. This year's title is "Shaping tomorrow, now."

In the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic meant that meetings and discussions could only take place in digital formats. Now the GMF is back where it belongs: In the former German parliament building in Bonn, with more meeting space made available in the World Conference Centre Bonn. "After two years of the pandemic, many people are simply grateful to be getting together again face to face," notes Verica Spasovska, who is responsible for the conference program. And anybody who can't make it to Bonn can follow much of the discussion online.

War reporting, the digital Iron Curtain, and censorship

Spasovska outlined the headline topics at this year's GMF by posing a series of questions: "How best," she asks, "should journalists position themselves in times of crisis and conflict? How can we either maintain or even win back, the credibility that we once had? What specific challenges do these crises entail for the work of journalists?"

The war in Ukraine prompted the program manager to revisit her conference concept. "We're now looking more closely at the work of war reporters, putting Europe's new digital Iron Curtain in the spotlight and, for instance, investigating the issue of censorship — and how to get around it. These are all examples of elements that we only very recently put on the conference program."

Above all, Spasovska hopes that conference participants will leave the two-day conference with a feeling that, "I've really learned something here and I have some new thoughts to take home with me." Particularly important in this context: a series of workshops with practical tips for the everyday work of journalists out in the field."

The heads of Germany's media academies are also staging their annual meeting on the fringe of the GMF. They will be sending out their young journalists to report on the conference.

There will also be a bridge between the GMF and global politics, with G7 culture and media ministers, who are also meeting in Bonn, scheduled to visit the GMF. Germany's Minister of State for Culture and Media, Claudia Roth, will be joining other speakers on the podium at the beginning of the conference. The theme: "Shaping the future of journalism in times of crisis and war: How we will live in the future depends on how we report today."

This article was originally written in German.

While you're here: DW editors round up what is happening in Germany and the world in regular e-mail newsletters. You can sign up here.