Latin America
Mexiquense TV, the public broadcaster for the Mexican state of México, is now featuring the DW programs Enclaces and Reporteros en el Mundo as a part of its lineup. Mexiquense, also known as Canal 34 by locals, is a part of the nationwide broadcasting network La Red and already includes the DW journals En Forma and Prism as a part of its programming. Together with the new formats you can find DW programming in 15 time slots every week. Canal 34 is also available in México on cable and DTH providers bringing DW programming to a potential audience of 40 million.

DW has signed a strategic partnership with Lanacion.com in Argentina, providing content to the most visited website in Argentina.

Africa
DW is expanding its cooperation with the Sahara Media Group, one of Tanzania’s leading media groups. DW’s English program is now available as part of the group’s digital-terrestrial television program “Continental”. The Sahara Media Group also includes Radio Free Africa and Star TV – both of which have been long-time DW partners. According to DW’s research, 43 percent of the Kiswahili target audience listens to Radio Free Africa and 10 percent lists Star TV as their primary source of information.

DW has signed its first partner in Chad with Radio FM Liberté. The station will be incorporating DW’s French radio programming into its lineup.

Europe
After a two-year hiatus, you can once again watch DW programming in Hungary. The popular shows Tomorrow Today, Euromaxx and Arts.21 will be broadcast on channels M1 and M2 of the public broadcaster, MTVA. MTVA is also a partner of the DW series World Stories. All DW programming is being dubbed into Hungarian for broadcast.

In the context of a joint project with DW’s Russian premium partner, Newsru.com, a DW-Widget will be built into the website. It will display seven of the latest and most popular articles from dw.de/russian.

Online
What happens off-camera at Journal? What does Learning by Ear do so well and what challenges are overcome by DWAkademie? For four weeks now, DW users and employees alike have gone online at dw.de/mydw and clicked their way through the numerous departments in Bonn or Berlin to learn more about the work that is being done by DW professionals. With 360, DW is offering fans around the world an inside look at how producers, trainers, project and department managers all overcome challenges every day to create programming and run projects. The online special is available in German, English and Spanish.

Notes
DW’s Distribution Department in cooperation with International Marketing has organized four workshops at the 2013 Global Media Forum. On June 17, there will be a panel on the growth potential of Pay TV and the teaching of values in Latin America. The following day, there will be two panels focusing on the economic growth in the Asian media industry and the challenges for free speech and freedom of the press. High ranking CEO’s and regional media representatives promise to provide an exciting presentation and discussion.

Li Chengpeng didn’t start out wanting to make a difference. In his past life he was a cool and popular soccer announcer. He was also a believer in the Chinese government. Now he’s a little older and has become an unlikely patriot. He has achieved a certain celebrity status in China, not for being a good-looking sportscaster, but rather for his daring social criticism. Five years ago Li became a online activist fighting against the illusions propagated by the Chinese government. And he is definitely still cool. His blog has over 7 million fans who call him “Big Eyes Li”. He has a special influence on the young and media savvy in China who are working on creating a new information generation that is nipping at the edges of a civil society. He is also the 2013 Bobs winner for best blog.

“I view the Bobs awards as one of the few really important prizes I have been given in the past years,” said Li in an interview with DW after the prize was announced. “The Bobs is precious to me because I don’t receive any awards in China. As you might know, authors who speak out the truth have a rough time.”

A free press is a vital ingredient if economic development is to improve the well-being of Chinese people. This will not be easy, and support from places like DW plays an important role.

Li will be in Germany next Tuesday to accept the award at the 2013 Global Media Forum in Bonn and he is looking forward to meeting like minded bloggers. “I would like to speak with them about how they managed to break through their walls,” he said.

Representatives from the five other jury winners will join Li as a part of the ceremony.  Also coming out of China is the winner for best innovation, freeweibo.com,  a play on words from the Chinese microblogging website SinaWeibo. FreeWeibo provides access to content that has been filtered by Chinese government censors – and the award will be presented to Carl Lee in Bonn.  Also receiving their awards will be  Stephanie Hankey for the Most Creative and Original, Kodjo  Kiki Kouassi for the Reporters Without Borders Award, Houda Lamqaddam for Best Social Activism and Acter Mahfuza for the Global Media Forum Award.

The quake that changed his life
Crumbling walls are what changed Li from conformist to crusader. After witnessing the destructive aftermath of an earthquake in 2008, he was deeply moved by the loss of life and was compelled to independently investigate construction codes. He discovered many buildings were built using sub-standard materials except for one school that didn’t collapse because it was actually built properly. This inspired his first essay, “The truth about the amazing survival of students and teachers at the Longhan primary school.”

Using his typical sarcasm Li has said about his life: “before 2008, I was an idiot.” The earthquake collapsed Li’s illusions and he realized that truly being a patriot meant working for the well-being of his fellow citizens and providing an example for others. Since then he has been working to tell the truth about the small things that can have a big impact.

“He gives young people a very good example of how to influence the future cause of China,” said Chinese journalist and Bobs jury member, Hu Yong. “The award shows that the jury members also think that a blogger like Li Chengpeng can influence millions of young Chinese people in making them aware of censorship, to be more free, more open and to be more active in the political process.”

In January thousands of fans lined the street for the release of his new book, a collection of essays titled, “The whole world knows”. At the event he was forbidden by authorities from communicating with the audience in any way but he managed to sneak across one message – “I love you all”, written in marker on his t-shirt.

Find out more about the Bobs and all of this year’s winners at www.thebobs.com

In 2008 when she won the Bobs for best blog, she could only leave a video message to let everyone know what an important contribution the Bobs award would make in encouraging free speech in Cuba.  After waiting nine years and winning many awards in absentia, the laws in Cuba changed and Yaoni Sánchez could travel the world and collect all of the trophies that had been put on ice while she was stuck behind a wall of oppression.

“We don’t have a wall in Cuba made of cement,” she said while at the Berlin Wall during a visit in May to collect her Bobs award. “Our wall is a system of control, censorship, and surveillance – it is harder to tear it down.”

While technology enables change, Sánchez personifies it. Her blog may often be blocked, but actions speak louder than words and awards like the Bobs take her message outside of the box. Sánchez speaks for Cuba however what she is doing goes much farther. Her work in exposing the truth about the hardships of everyday life encourages activists all over the world.

When accepting her Bobs award in May, Sanchez dedicated it to people everywhere who are using new technology to speak out and improve their lives. DW Editor-in-Chief Ute Schaeffer added, “we are proud to be able to support bloggers and Internet activists like you in the fight for human rights and freedom of expression – your efforts are an invaluable step toward a freer Cuban society. With this award we want to unmistakably point out how important your work is.”

Bringing the voices together
Since 2004 the Bobs has brought together people from around the world who are working behind the screens and exposing truths that would otherwise stay in the dark. It isn’t surprising that in the past many winners have not been allowed to travel and participate in the award ceremonies. Ironically by preventing people from leaving, authoritarian governments do more to emphasize why the Bobs are so important than the mere presence of an activist ever could. Holding people like Sánchez back only makes them more interesting.

The 2013 winner for best blog, Chinese activist Li Chengpeng, said Chinese authorities were “out of their minds” when they forbid him to communicate with thousands of fans at a recent book signing. Sánchez has also met resistance even outside of Cuba. At a recent appearance in Italy, Castro loyalists threw fake US Dollar bills on the stage with Sánchez’s face printed on them. She sat there almost smiling, the senseless protest of her as being a “puppet for the west” was almost doing her work for her.

But there is still much work to be done and the Bobs are there to help show the world that there are fewer and fewer places for lies to hide and more opportunities and technologies for people to tell the truth about what is happening in their communities. Websites like the 2013 Bobs winner for best innovation Free Weibo, which posts content censored in China are the tip of iceberg for new technology getting around censorship. The 2011 Bobs winner for “best use of technology for social good” was a Russian website that tracked corrupt purchases by state officials. The list of Bobs winners is sure to get more interesting as technology improves but we should always remember it is people that count the most.

The endeavors of Yoani Sánchez, and many other bloggers working all over the world, remind us that freedom of speech is not to be taken for granted, even if the privileges enjoyed by many people may cause us to forget. What they are doing is exactly what the Bobs and DW stand for and will continue to support until every voice can be heard.

The winners of this year’s Bobs will be presented with their awards at the Global Media Forum in Bonn on June 18. You can find out more about the conference here.

Planning is already underway for the next Global Media Forum, DW’s annual conference featuring panel discussion, workshops and more with representatives from the media, civil society and other sectors.

The theme for the June 17-19, 2013 Global Media Forum is “The Future of Growth – Economic Values and the Media.” The conference will address the ongoing challenges facing the world economy, from political tensions to climate change and resource scarcity.

Event organizers stated: “Sustainable economic development is a sociopolitical issue in which the media play an important role. The convey information and knowledge. But they are also expected to alert us to problems and hold those responsible accountable for their actions.”

Topics for discussion at June forum will include good governance for sustainable development, balancing economic growth, the economy and the environment, and the path to social justice.

From June 25-27, the Deutsche Welle Global Media Foru will once again bring attention to the issues that are relevant in today’s global society. This year’s focus will be on “Culture. Education. Media – Shaping a sustainable world”. DW anticipates that about 1,800 participants from 100 nations will attend the conference at the World Conference Center in Bonn. In more than 50 panel discussions and workshops they will discuss subjects such as the right to education, cultural diversity, political culture, global ethics and intercultural dialog, sustainability and new methods of learning.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is taking part in the fifth edition of the three-day conference. On Tuesday, June 26, he will stalk about “Shaping globalization together: Deepening dialogues and building partnerships.” The former Indonesian president Jusuf Habibie and the Director of News and Current Affairs of Al Arabiya Nakhle El Hage will also take the panel discussion. Some of the other illustrious guest speakers confirmed for this year include author and South African anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg, Franz Josef Radermacher, a professor of informatics at the University of Ulm and a member of the Club of Rome, as well as the human rights activist Theary C. Seng from Cambodia.

On Monday afternoon, DW will put a focus on the Russian television market with a panel looking at Education in Modern Commercial TV-Markets. The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum has always been a fantastic platform for media representatives to meet with their colleagues and discuss the most current issues that are shaping the industry. The DW distribution team always takes part in panels and helps develop side events.

We will keep you updated with news from the event – so keep an eye out for developments. You can also check out a full list of speakers and events here.