What drives young Gambians to risk their lives and flee to Europe? At a recent town hall meeting in the capital Banjul, representatives from DW’s African distribution and programming departments gathered for a discussion with locals and former refugees.

It was made clear in the discussion that leaving the Gambia is on the minds of many young people. An estimated 10,000 Gambians crossed the Medditerrainian Sea in 2016. Many said that even if they only had a remote chance of making it to Europe, they would take the risk. But others noted that the image of Europe in the minds of young Gambians was unrealistic and not like they see in movies.

One of DW’s strengths is going to where the audience is and understanding the problems that are shaping their world. At the Banjul discussion, over 300 people gathered to discuss the reasons why so many people are migrating from Africa, including the political and institutional failures that have led to a frustrated generation without any perspective.

Migration from Africa is one of the most critical issues facing Europe in the next decade. By going to the sources of large and seemingly abstract social issues, DW creates a greater sense of clarity, reality and eventually help establish dialogue with young Africans.

If more young people are presented with facts, maybe they can be persuaded to explore other options besides risking their lives on an uncertain and dangerous journey.

The Migration Dillema is a series of discussions DW is holding in four African countries. The discussion in Banjul was organized in cooperation with DW’s local partner Paradise FM.

Africa

 DW has new partnerships in The Gambia with the state television and radio station Gambia Radio and Television service (GRTS). The DW programs included are Africa on the Move, Eco@Africa, In Good Shape und Kick off! Also in Gambia, DW is now radio partners with Paradise FM Radio, BIZ FM Radio and Capital FM, which will be broadcasting DW’s radio shows AfricaLink, Crime Fighters and Learning by Ear.

Asia

One of Indonesia’s leading video websites, vidio.com, is including DW’s Indonesian-language technology show Inovator along with selected programs from DW English with Indonesian subtitles.

DW and DW (Deutsch) are now available in Thailand on the TrueVisions Anywhere app for iOS and Android, developed by the country’s largest cable provider.

Digital

DW content is available on Google Home – Google’s new speech-assisted, interactive speaker system operating on Google Assistant software. The voice-activated system can answer questions, control smartphones and play music. Audio news reports from DW in English and German, as well as slowly spoken news reports in German for learners. DW content will also be rolled out in the future on Google Assistant software for Android

At the DLD Innovation Festival last week in Tel Aviv, big ideas were brought out of the workshop and the bustling Israeli tech scene was on full display. DW was at the event along with young entrepreneurs from over 400 startups gathering to share ideas and generate investment.

DW organized a startup competition at DLD to highlight people who are doing great work in tech innovation. The winner, the Keepers app, protects children from cyberbullying and alerts parents to suspicious messages and content on their child’s smartphone.

The contest titled #Startmeup, awarded Keepers with 2,000 Euros and gave the developers the chance to showcase their app in front of investors from around the world.

DW’s Director General Peter Limbourg presented the award and also participated in a panel discussion on the effect of digitization on international media. At the panel, Limbourg emphasized how the audience for international media is being changed by digitization and how a new generation of media consumers needs to be reached through innovative means.

Shift, DW’s science and technology program, was at DLD and broadcast the event around the world with innovative ideas from water quality testers that don’t need to get wet to pest control without poison. DW’S involvement in DLD is part of a strategy to promote and publicize digital innovation and creative thinkers from around the world.

Latin America

DW will be opening a correspondents’ office in Bogotá, Colombia in 2018. The new office will add to DW’s reporting across Latin America. The plans were announced during a meeting between DW’s Director General Peter Limbourg and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. The president praised the quality of DW’s reporting and is looking forward to welcoming DW’s correspondents. With around 14 million TV households, Colombia is DW’s second-largest market in Latin America after Mexico.

Online videos from DW are being posted by Brazilian partner Terra using Facebook’s cross posting function. It is the first time DW content has been used in a cross posting partnership. The cooperation has already registered an increase in total views for DW videos posted on Terra. Terra posts DW videos on its Facebook page and names DW as a source and links to DW websites.

Europe

Following a new partnership, DW’s English-language TV channel will have increased availablity in Scandinavia starting in September 2017. DW’s partner channel, Canal Digital from the Telenor Group, is available to 430,000 households in Norway, 255,000 in Sweden, 46,000 Denmark and 34,000 in Finland. The partnership also puts DW’s English TV channel in many hotels across Scandinavia.

Spiegel TV is carrying DW’s German language programs Euromaxx, Made in Germany, Projekt Zukunft and Reporter on its web TV lineup. The cooperation is expected to be expanded in the near future.

Asia

DW’s articles in English and Hindi are now available on the popular Indian news aggregator app, InShorts. The app features articles shortened to 60 words and has 10 million active users.

DW News is being broadcast once a day during the week on Hong Kong’s free-to-channel ViuTVsix. DW’s English-language channel is also being included in the basic package of Indonesian pay-TV company SMV Freeview. The channel is also being included in the basic package of Hyderabad, Pakistan-based cable station Hyderabad Cable Communication.

In some countries, there is a climate of insecurity when it comes to freedom of expression. Recently, DW, the BBG (Broadcasting Board of Governors), the BBC and France Médias Monde, have launched a website that helps people learn about methods to circumvent censorship.

More people around the world than ever before can easily communicate and access information. But it is easy to forget that there are many places where people who publish dissenting thought are punished and the free flow information is blocked. DW has made fighting censorship a core principle and works consistently to provide people everywhere with the information they need to understand problems and issues affecting their societies.

Available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Chinese, and Russian, Bypasscensorship.org features tools that get around government censors and enable free access to the Internet. Tor is a tool that provides anonymity and free access by relaying a signal around a global network so that websites cannot read an actual physical location. Orfox uses Tor technology for Android mobile devices. Psiphon is a tool that DW uses, for example, to get DW content around the Great Firewall of China to users in Mainland China. And these are only a few of the many tools available.

And DW is focusing its efforts during a critical time for Internet freedom. In its Freedom on the Net report, Freedom House analyzed 65 countries, and more than half are experiencing a decline in Internet freedom.

Internet filters keep people from sharing and receiving important news and information. But there is also active persecution of people who publish dissenting thought. In places like Bangladesh, Pakistan or Vietnam, bloggers and online activists are being struck down as targets of violence and oppression.

Outright censorship is a different form of oppression where “mainstream” international news outlets are filtered along with any other online content the authorities deem to be unacceptable. Censors try and keep independent and unbiased news coverage from reaching the public. In Iran and China, there is a constantly evolving campaign of online censorship.  China has the worst rating by Freedom House, Iran the third worst.

But as censors continue to try and control information, DW and its international media partners are fighting back by promoting freedom of speech and taking action to make sure unbiased and factual information is available all over the world.