Our teams from both International Marketing and Sales worked with partners to help design some of this year’s panels at the DW Global Media Forum.

International Marketing worked with the University of Passau to help coordinate the panel looking at “International economic cooperation, human rights and the media – Business journalism as an early warning system”. Around 80 conference guests took part in the discussion, which examined how journalists in China, North Africa and Russia can act as a warning system.

Our Sales team responsible for the Americas also help organize the panel titled “Woman and human rights – Giving a voice to the voiceless”, which brought together a range of noteworthy women’s rights activists from Latin America – including Enriqueta Estela Barnes de Carlotto from the Association of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

Here is the full schedule of events for the Global Media Forum on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For photos from the event, check out our gallery on Flickr.

 

The best bloggers in the world were presented with their awards at a ceremony held Monday at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. The BOBS – Deutsche Welle Blog Awards – are selected and presented annually.

Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni was presented with the award for this years best blog. The 28-year-old professor at the University of Tunis has been writing about social and political events in her country in a blog called “A Tunisian Girl” for several years. She writes in French, English and Arabic.  “When I saw how people were being killed it became clear there was no going back,” said Ben Mhenni. “I had to ensure that the voices of these people and their families be heard so that they hadn’t died in vain.”

Find out more about the ceremony and the award winners in the official press release or on The BOBs website.

 

The fourth Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum commenced this morning with an opening ceremony and keynote session at the World Conference Center Bonn. This year’s conference is focusing on “Human Rights in a Globalized World – Challenges for the Media”.

The opening ceremony featured DW Director General Erik Bettermann, as well as Jürgen Nimptsch, Mayor of Bonn and Angelica Schwall-Düren, Minister for Federal affairs, Europe and the Media, State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The keynotes will be held by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe,  Morten Kjaerum, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

You can check out today’s conference program here.

Read the official press release here or watch videos from the conference.

 

DW wants to help create a platform for dialogue about human rights and globalization with new programming and content in 30 languages. This multimedia project, Human Rights 2011, is a reflection of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, which is taking place from June 20-22, 2011 in Bonn. The conference’s topic this year is “Human Rights and Globalization – Challnges for the Media”.

The multimedia project on human rights 2011 will examine modern basic needs like the right to work, food and housing. Unique reports and features shed light on individual stories from around the world – whether that be rising prices and famine in Senegal, drug-dealing gangs in Colombia and dangerous jobs in India.

Special insights are provided from human rights experts like Monika Lüke, the Secretary General from Amnesty International in Germany and John Rugie, UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

Find out more about Human Rights 2011.

Or check out the line-up for this year’s Global Media Forum.

 

Deutsche Welle (DW) and Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday, June 1 in Berlin, outlining intensified cooperation in the future on Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic radio programming. Director General Erik Bettermann signed for Germany’s international broadcaster alongside Director General Jan Hoek from The Netherlands.

Bettermann said that this agreement symbolizes a “historical moment”. Bettermann added that it is important to both broadcasters – especially with regards to the historical experiences in both countries – to work in the heart of Europe to solidify their shared values such as freedom of the press, human rights and democracy around the world.

Hoek pointed out that free access to information is an especially important good.  DW and RNW will be focusing their cooperation on Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic programming. The two will exchange links to each other’s websites and use cross promotion in their programming. New forms of cooperation should also be developed in the future. The cooperation should also be expanded to distribution. The goal is to reach each of the target audiences better.