Africa

Star Times is one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest digital TV providers, and since August, they have been carrying DW’s flagship English TV channel. Vincent Yu, the media chief operating officer at Star Times said that DW was a rich addition to Star Times’ portfolio, which includes other international broadcasters like BBC World News and Al Jazeera. Star Times reaches an audience of 10 million viewers across Sub-Saharan Africa.

DW’s Nigerian radio partner Platinum FM is broadcasting DW’s Bundesliga radio series in Hausa, Bundesliga Radio Kai Tsaye. The partner, based in the northern city of Keffi, already broadcasts the Hausa magazine and the radio novella Crime Fighters in English and Hausa.

Eco@Afrique, the French version of DW’s environmental program, Eco@Africa, has been picked up by Label TV in Gabon, Anfani TV in Niger and Tele-tchad in Chad.

DW’s complete French radio program is also being broadcast by Radio Voix des Jeunes and Radio Diocésaine Siriri, both in the Central African Republic. Both partners have been broadcasting the radio novella Crime Fighters and Radio Voix des Jeunes will now additionally broadcast DW’s Bundesliga program in French.

Asia

DW content in Bengali, Urdu, Hindi and English is now available on the Indian content aggregator app, Times Internet, which has over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store.

The Indonesian OTT provider, First Media X, will soon carry DW’s Indonesian tech magazine Inovator. First Media X is owned by the Indonesian IPTV market leader First Media.

Also in Indonesia, the pay-TV provider K-Vision now includes DW in its basic package. K-Vision offers 100 channels, 50 of which are international broadcasters, and reaches over 100,000 subscribers across the country.

In Pakistan, Radio Humara FM 90 is broadcasting DW news bulletins in Urdu five times daily during the week and three times on weekends. The station is received by 2 million listeners in the Faisalabad region.

At a recent town hall debate in  Mamou, a small city in central Guinea, DW’s project supporting African youth, The 77 percent, brought together around 600 people to discuss young people’s challenges and dreams for the future.

Conducted by the Guinean minister of youth, Mouctar Diallo along with DW journalists, the debate focused on preventing young people from joining the wave of migration leaving Sub-Saharan Africa. In a speech, Diallo appealed to parents not to give their children money so that they can leave the country

The work done by local media in cooperation with DW conveys an important message to young Africans that leaving home is not the only solution for the future. Dialogue, communication and sharing ideas can give young people hope that they are not alone in dealing with challenges.

The DW project, The 77 percent, focuses on a new generation of Africans, 77 percent of whom are under the age of 35. With web-videos, online projects and direct reporting from different regions in Africa, DW is trying to paint a picture of what life is like for African youth. In identifying the problems that many people share, solutions can become clearer.

Since 2016, DW, in cooperation with local media partners, has visited many communities in Sub-Saharan Africa to address the problem of mass-migration and listen to reasons why young Africans are leaving home.

The town hall debate in Mamou was conducted in cooperation with the German foreign ministry  and Radio Bolivar FM, and was one of the most successful events to date. More 77 percent debates are planned soon for Mali and Nigeria.

In the barren region around Mount Sinjar mountain in the north of Iraq, two DW reporters were able to capture the harrowing story of a Yazidi woman who survived two years in the captivity of the so-called Islamic State (IS).

Opressed, Enslaved, Forgotten: Yazidi’s of Northern Iraq, brings viewers to a remote place with an intimate piece of reporting that captures how the suffering of one individual symbolizes the larger impact of genocide.

The DW reporters visited the Yazidi woman and the remainder her family at the Sar-Dashte refugee camp on the plateau of Mount Sinjar and recorded their story of survival. Describing the family’s personal tragedy along with an intimate portrayal of their everyday lives and their perspective for the future provides viewers a unique experience.

“We are making a forgotten story visible again,” said DW journalist Sandra Petersmann. “On every platform we need to captivate our audience with emotion and information.”

Although the world knows about the atrocities committed by IS, in-depth storytelling delivers a perspective that has an emotional effect on viewers.

The report is a great example of the work DW’s journalists perform to share stories of forgotten people with the entire world. It will be broadcast in all four DW languages and can be seen in the DW Media Center.

The 2018 Global Media Forum wrapped up last week with over 2,500 guests from all over the world gathering in Bonn for three days of learning and networking. You probably caught the keynote speeches, and the DW Freedom of Speech Award , but here are four events at the 2018 Global Media Forum you may have missed.

1. Peace With the Taliban: A Compromise on Human Rights?

On Tuesday, former Afghan President Ahmed Karzai was joined by DW journalists and the German envoy to Afghanistan to discuss the potential for peace with the Taliban in a country beset by continuous conflict. The discussion provided first-person insight into a complicated and unstable region from someone who has played an integral part in its politics.

2. Reporting terror: Who sees what, when and why?

Four journalists with experience in reporting from crisis regions around the world gathered for a panel discussion on Monday to discuss how stories about terrorism are portrayed unequally in the media. For example, the Charlie Hebdo attack dominated the media, while 2,000 people killed by terrorists in Nigeria at the same time didn’t make the news cycle. The panel provided a riveting, inside look at challenges and dangers of delivering information from dangerous areas while looking for an audience.

3. Threats and opportunities of increasing isolationism to international power relations

At a plenary discussion on Tuesday, a panel of prominent journalists and academics discussed the trend of isolationism, especially with Donald Trump’s “America First” politics. One speaker discussed the danger of the US losing soft power on the world stage and being ignored internationally. The panel provided a preview of a future that looks a lot different than today.

4. Lie Detectors

The final day of the Global Media Forum was devoted to media innovation. As part of the Innovation Lab day, DW Akademie invited the media competence organization Lie Detectors, which goes to schools and teaches children media literacy and how to spot fake news stories from real reporting. As online news and social media are the primary sources for a new generation of media users, this service will become even more valuable.

Europe

Zapovednik, DW’s Russian-language, animated political satire, is resonating with Russian audiences and is one of the most viewed videos on DW’s Russian partner website Ekho Moskvy. The 12-minute episodes tackle current political issues and put a funny and entertaining spin on important topics. By using animated satire, DW can convey an alternative perspective in the Russian media landscape. DW’s partner Ekho Moskvy is a reliable source of independent news in Russia.

Asia

DW’s English channel is once again available on the leading Malaysian Pay TV provider ASTRO. Around 1 million subscribers can now access DW on the providers OTT platform Astro Go.

The Vietnamese cable provider HTV-TMS in Ho Chi Minh City is providing DW’s English channel to 600,000 subscribers.

DW’s partner in Thailand PSI is broadcasting Tomorrow Today, Global 3000, Drive It, In Good Shape and Euromaxx to an estimated 18 million households.