The power of modern communication is being felt around the world, particularly in the form of organizing public protest. What is the role of the media?  Both traditional and new media affect the dynamics of how protest movements are formed and publicized.

At this year’s Global Media forum, a panel discussion organized by the international news agency Pressenza titled Big media vs. social media in the global, nonviolent and humanist revolution, will focus on how protests are organized from the ground up by using social media. The talk will emphasize how social media fosters effective forms of non-violent protest. Speakers include a member of the Occupy Wall Street movement and Pressenza bureau chiefs.

Covering another angle, the global activism network, Avaaz, will be sharing some of their secrets and networking strategies in a panel discussion: The secret of mobilizing 34 million people.  Avaaz helps local issues gain global recognition by using the power of community-powered politics. The discussion will shed light on where Avaaz wants to go in the future and on best practices in creating positive change through community activism.

The international campaigning and advocacy agency One, will be also host a discussion: How digital activism can help achieve real change. The talk will feature insight on how digital petitions can translate into tangible action and how online activism combined with traditional campaigns can be particularly effective.

The 2014 DW Global Media Forum is starting soon and there will be a rich variety of experts and thinkers gathering in Bonn who represent organizations from all over the world. In the weeks leading up to the Global Media Forum, we’ll give you a sneak preview of the partners, issues and hidden gems you can look for at this year’s conference. There is an intriguing variety of issues that will be discussed.

Next week we will be previewing three further Global Media Forum events on cyber security and data protection in the oft-perilous digital world.

You can find all information on the Global Media Forum here.

A diverse selection of DW documentaries, specials and series won numerous awards at the 15^th World Media Festival in Hamburg this past week. Organized by Intermedia, this year’s festival drew 700 entries from 35 countries.

Winning a gold intermedia-globe in the documentary-magazine format category was PopXport Special, a 10-part production from DW’s popular music show that showcases some of Germany’s most successful recording artists. The Global Ideas web-documentary, Serengeti- Toward an uncertain future, won a gold award in the E-Learning and Education category and the 10-part series, Tracing the past: German-Jewish cultural heritage,  won gold in the Documentaries-Other category. The 28-part Euromaxx series, Europe 28 , which takes a look at all 28 capital cities of the EU,  won a gold award in the documentaries-destinations category as did the music documentary, The Highest Level , in the documentaries-arts category.

Winning a silver intermedia-globe award was the music documentary, The Colón Ring- Wagner in Buenos Aires, in the Documentaries-Arts category and a production from Kino- The German Film Magazine  that explores German film in Brazil and the relationship between the two countries won silver in the documentaries-magazine format category. A report from People and Politics was also awarded silver in the News-Documentary category. It tells the story of children who were abducted by the Nazis in Eastern Europe who as adults are searching for their roots.

The performance at the 2014 World Media Festival in Hamburg comes a few weeks after many DW productions won awards at festivals in Las Vegas and Houston.

Guest Commentary

Ingo Mannteufel, Head of Russian and Eurasian Services at DW

The current conflict in eastern Ukraine is being played out as much on the front pages and primetime newscasts as it is on the ground in the affected areas. Misinformation coming from Eastern Ukraine is rampant and events become confused as both sides attempt to control the narrative.

Responsible journalism does not contribute to a single agenda or fan the flames of public animosity. In the case of Ukraine, the role of the impartial observer becomes integral in presenting a sober and realistic assessment of the facts aside from jingoistic nationalism or the fog of war. What is said becomes critical in a situation where words are being used as ammunition.

Getting the facts straight in a conflict zone can be a daunting task. In Eastern Ukraine, reporters on the ground have been threatened, accused of telling lies and even imprisoned by pro-Russian separatists. There is a clear and present atmosphere of media control. The United Nations has already called for action against propaganda and misinformation in Ukraine illustrating the need for a reliable point of view.

As an international media outlet with coverage in Russian and Ukrainian, DW can play a very unique role as an impartial broker of information that provides an unbiased presentation of events directly to those affected. Delivering impartial news and analysis is however a big challenge. While neutrality is a fundamental principle of good journalism, certain information will always take precedence. To compensate for this, we always try and provide a wide range of perspectives.

At DW we have seen the numbers of people using our Russian and Ukrainian news services rise dramatically as the situation continues to escalate. This demonstrates a direct demand for the services of third party media organizations. As the conflict in the region goes on, the truth will only become more unclear. That’s why we feel it is the duty of international broadcasters, like ourselves, to step in and make sure that all facets of the stories are being told – to ensure that everyone can build their own opinions.

Follow me on Twitter for more news and analysis on the situation in Ukraine

 

 

 

 

On May 15, the first ever interactive live debate between candidates competing for the EU’s top position will be televised, streamed and broadcast across Europe and the world. DW is one of only two international broadcasters that will televise the event to global audiences.  The Eurovision Debate will allow European voters to ask direct questions via social media to the candidates for President of the European Commission.  It is also the first debate where each of the five major candidates will be present.

With DW, audiences all over the world can directly experience European democracy and understand how this oft-perplexing system functions from the inside.  DW has also created a special EU election web platform packed with multimedia content covering every angle of the elections. Issues include an expert discussion on lobbyism in the EU or a report on the effects of the Euro crisis.

The 2014 European elections are the first where the president of the Commission will come from the parliamentary party which receives the most votes, thus for the first time including the European electorate in deciding who will be in charge of the EU’s most powerful office. DW will continue to do its part in covering the elections while helping people all over the world understand how the EU operates and what issues are valued by Europeans.

The EU parliamentary elections run from May 22 to 25, the Eurovision Debate will be televised live on May 15 at 20:00 UTC.

 

 

Europe

The compact online version of DW’s Russian-language news program Geofaktor has been a big success since it was launched in mid-March. The 13^th broadcast alone was watched 430,000 times. Almost all of the video content was accessed via DW’s online Russian-language media center. The majority of viewers were directed there via a banner-ad campaign on the popular Russian news website, news.mail.ru. On YouTube, Geofaktor episodes were accessed an additional 50,000 times during the second half of March.

The ongoing geo-political tensions in Ukraine have created a high demand for unbiased news coverage delivered in Russian. This is made clear by the burgeoning rise in page visits on DW Russian. The number rose by nearly 4 million visits between February and March 2014. A large amount of that traffic came via DW’s Ukrainian online partner, ukr.net, as well as the Russian search engine, Rambler.ru. Also In March, visits to DW Ukrainan doubled from 1 to 2.2 million, with most of that traffic coming via ukr.net.

North America

After a series of extensive and lengthy negotiations, a new transmission contract has been successfully arranged between DW and Canada’s largest cable provider, Rogers Cable. Rogers will now carry the English-language flagship channel, DW, and the German-language channel, DW (Amerika). Previously, only DW had been offered as a part of the English news package. Starting at the end of May, DW (Amerika) will be offered à la carte as a single subscription channel. Rogers brings DW’s quality programming to a large audience of political and business leaders with a coverage area that includes Canada’s capital Ottawa and its largest city, Toronto.

South America

The Peruvian online news portal, Peru.com, is a new DW partner and will regularly include full articles from DW. The website belongs to the El Comercio group, which occupies 75 percent of the market share in Peruvian print media. A tracking code developed by DW’s market and media research will count how often DW articles are accessed.