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.

 

Deutsche Welle (DW) is using a contest to develop a new kind of user-generated content for its award-winning radio series Learning by Ear. From now until June 30, young listeners in Africa will be able to submit their story ideas for a chance at having one of them produced and broadcast, as well as being turned into a community play.

So far, Learning by Ear has told the stories of many young Africans, like Jon-athan who dreamt of becoming one of the most successful soccer players in the world. Or 16-year-old Desirée who took care of her little brother follow-ing her mother’s death.

Now, Germany’s international broadcaster wants their listeners in Africa to share the most important lessons they’ve learned in life, or respond about the topics they want to hear more about in the future. The winning story will be turned into a new Learning by Ear series and adapted for the stage in the winner’s hometown, with the winning group in the production. Other prizes include cameras, a CD player plus a Learning by Ear fan package including t-shirts, CDs and much more.

Entries will be accepted until June 30, 2012 and winners will be selected shortly thereafter. The contest is open to young people under the age of 25 and groups need to be made up of at least five people. All participants must be from an African country.

Entries should include a written story no longer than one page; a list of the group members including their names and ages; and a photo of the entire group. All entries should be sent to lbe@dw.de.

Find out more about Learning by Ear or go to the contest website.

Learning by Ear for Afghanistan is available in Dari and Pashtu.

Asia
Radio Nawa has been signed on as a radio partner in Afghanistan and has been broadcasting DW’s Pashtu program since the middle of March. Radio Nawa is a subsidiary of the Saba Media Organization that specializes in informational programming and is available in 20 of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan. Along with the nightly DW broadcast, Radio Nawa will be broadcasting “Learning by Ear” once a week in Dari in Pashtu.

MioTV in Singapore has integrated the all-English television channel DW into their IPTV line-up. MioTV is considered a pioneer in the realm of IPTV in Asia and provides programming to the culturally-diverse public in Singapore. It is a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) – one of the largest in Asia.

The Indonesian cable provider Megavision has also integrated DW’s English chanel into ist line-up and broadcasts it 24 hours daily. Megavision bundles international and local television channels for viewers in Bandung, Bogor, Semarang and Malang.

Europe
Euromaxx is now available in most of Russia as the result of a new partnership with STP-Content. The Russian syndication network is the largest in Russia and provides content for regional TV networks in. This will make Euromaxx available to more than 40 million viewers throughout Russia. The Russian version of the award-winning lifestyle show is being produced by Kanal 100TV in St. Petersberg.

America
DW has a new online partner in Brazil with O Povo. DW will provide a content box for the website as well as Global Ideas videos in Portuguese. O Povo started off as a daily newspaper in 1928 and has expanded to include three radio stations and one television station. The website has more than two million unique visitors monthly.

America

The Chilean channel ARTV has noticeably increased the number of DW shows it broadcasts in the last month. A DW premium partner, ARTV is now showing Claves, Euromaxx and Cultura 21 in Spanish. ARTV is one of the most important DTH and cable platforms in Chile and reaches more than 2.5 million viewers.

Asia

The Indonesian video portal Okezone has included DW in its lineup. The video and streaming website, which is managed by cable giant Indovision, has started broadcasting DW’s English television channel. Okezone has more than 1 million potential users and offers livestreams of Indonesian and international channels as well as offering an on-demand package.

Sansar Cable in Mongolia is also broadcasting DW’s English television channel to its more than 80,000 households in the capitol city of Ulaan Bator.

DW has expanded its cooperation with Nine Six International Radio in Pakistan, which will now provide DW programming to three further stations on the border to Afghanistan. The stations will be broadcasting DW in Urdu. Also in Pakistan, DW has signed a new partnership with a web-radio provider. Pakistan Sounds will be broadcasting 12 programs and two language courses in Urdu, Pashtu and English.

 

Deutsche Welle (DW) has put intercultural dialogue at the forefront in 2012 by expanding its work with partners in the Arab world. DW is producing “Hiwar El Khamies” with Raya FM in Palestine along with “Rabia Al-Shabab” with Voice of Lebanon. Both coproductions show DW’s focus on the future of the Arab world and will be produced weekly.

“DW is committed to working in the most dynamic regions in the world,” said Naser Shrouf, DW’s Head of Distribution for Africa/Middle East. “Our presence in Palestine, Lebanon and the Middle East is one of our priorities. Coproductions like these are the best sign of beneficial dialogue across cul-tural borders and national lines. We look forward to long partnerships and new challenges in the future.”

New challenges in Palestine
Hiwar El Khamies officially began on February 1 and will be aired on Thurs-days at 3:30 pm local time in Palestine. “Similar to our TV talk shows in the Arab world, we want to use radio as a medium to create a dialogue between Europe and the Middle East,” said Rainer Sollich, Head of the Arabic Radio Programming at DW.

The talk show will be hosted by radio personalities from Raya FM and DW, and will welcome expert guests to discuss a range of different topics. Listen-ers will have the opportunity to join the conversation and continue the debate online on DW’s Arabic Facebook page.

Besides Raya FM with its nationwide reach in Palestine, the coproduced program will be aired by three other DW partners: Radio Albald in Jenin, Radio Alwan in Gaza and Radio Marah in Hebron to maximize the number of lis-teners in the region.

“This coproduction is the result of a perfectly-functioning partnership be-tween DW and Raya FM,” said Ihab Al Jarere, Program and News Manager at Raya FM. “This has been proven by the current expansion – from re-broadcasting DW programming to creating a new format together. The idea of the new show is to create a platform for open dialogue on a number of issues that play a major role in the Middle East and Palestine.”