The Webit.Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria brings together leaders, innovators and producers in technology, marketing and media to discuss big ideas and best practices. It is a truly international event, with 5,000 participants from over 60 countries. DW’s Managing Director of Distribution, Marketing and Technology Guido Baumhauer appeared at Webit for a panel discussion, The Future of Media.

Joined on stage by Didier Stoessel, CEO of NovaTV Bulgaria and Mattias Hjelmstedt, Founder of MagineTV, Baumhauer spoke about the importance and challenge of engaging audiences with content that is relevant to them. Baumhauer emphasized that actively reaching people is key to success. For example, by working with partners on coproductions, DW can produce content with regional relevance and succeed with programming tailored for different markets around the world.

After the event Baumhauer went more into detail about the future of media in an interview with Bulevard.bg, a Bulgarian media website.

“New technologies are changing the way the media industry works. A general trend is that the diversity of content continues to grow, ” said Baumhauer in response to a question about changes in the media business. “We have to continue to pay close attention to our target audience to make sure that they are receiving the content that they want.”

When asked if more traditional media like print and broadcasting were going “extinct” Baumhauer said, “It’s just another example of how ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t fit anymore. Today’s media landscape makes it possible for each individual to consume content – whether that be news or entertainment – whenever, wherever and however they like. For some, it’s reading newspapers in the park and for others it’s watching vloggers on their tablets on their train ride home.”

Baumhauer maintains that there will always be an inherent need for trusted and unbiased sources of news and media, even in the presence of social media’s growing dominance. “DW wants to ensure that our viewers and users have a balanced view of current events and pressing world issues – because people need a place to turn for credible information,” he said. “And while so many social media sources are mainly concerned about making something go viral, we are concerned about telling the whole story.”

 

 

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.

Online

The complete programming line-up from DW (Europe) will be included as a live stream on the Spanish online platform Las Teles. The website attracts 2,7 million unique users every month and is visited around 300,000 times daily making it one of the top eight online platforms in Spain.

There is now an updated DW Android App available for free download at the Google Play Store. This version is a forerunner to the upcoming DW App 2.0 which will replace all previous versions and provide an improved and modernized mobile user experience.

Asia

Antara, Indonesia’s national news agency, is now a DW partner.  Antara’s online news portal will be including articles every day from DW in world news, sports, technology, business and German lifestyle as RSS feeds in Indonesian and English. All articles will include a tracking pixel which attributes each page view to DW. Antara is among the top 100 most visited websites in Indonesia.

TVMU (TV Muhammadiyah) is now a partner of DW’s Indonesian science magazine Inovator. TVMU is a new channel from the second-largest Islamic organization in Indonesia that is dedicated to social, charitable and educational activities. TVMU broadcasts nationwide via satellite and reaches a potential audience of 25 million.

Prime Cable Network, a cable station in northern Pakistan, is a new DW partner. Around 10,000 households in the Ghizer district can now receive DW’s English TV programming. The Ghizer district is a part of the geostrategically important Gilgit-Baltistan province located near India and China.

 

 

DW’s Ingo Mannteufel recently took part at this year’s Global Policy Forum in Yaroslavi, Russia. The head of DW’s Russian Service spoke about the role of the Internet in conflict situations and also moderated a panel about “Global Security in Local Conflicts”. The Forum took place from September 7-8 and focused on “The Modern State in the Age of Social Diversity”. Politicians and experts from around the world participated in the conference, which welcomed Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and the President of Turkey Abdullah Gül as keynote speakers.

Mannteufel spoke about “Global Media 2.0 – Role of the Internet for Global Security and Local Conflicts”, especially addressing the challenges facing the global media in the Internet era.

The editors from our environmental series Global Ideas recently conducted a quiz. The winners have been selected and the prizes are being shipped. Congratulations goes out to:

Joaquín Gutiérrez, Mexico
Rishita Islam, Bangladesh
Noel Kuppan, Malaysia