Limbourg: Diversity is the strength of Global Media Forum

The Global Media Forum 2022 in Bonn concludes with the attendance of global media leaders: Maria Ressa, Leonid Volkov, Timothy Snyder, David Beasley, Paul Ronzheimer, Barkha Dutt, Audrey Tang, Ulrik Haagerup, Bernhard Pörksen and Gwen Lister.

In his closing remarks, DW Director General Peter Limbourg emphasized the strength of DW’s Global Media Forum in bringing even people from countries in conflict with each other into conversation and constructive debate. "The diversity, reflected in the presence of journalists from Russia, Ukraine, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, was the strength of DW's Global Media Forum," he said. "We can ask critical questions. We can address everything. I’m really happy that we had these two days in Bonn."

A highlight of the event was the keynote of Philippine journalist and Nobel Prize laureate Maria Ressa. "If you don't have facts, you don't have truth; if you don't have truth, you don't have trust," Ressa said in her keynote. Fact-based journalism, she said, can restore the trust that has been lost to illiberal governments. A second Nobel Prize laureate, David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, also attended this year's media conference.

Limbourg similarly addressed the loss of media credibility: "We are confronted with a storm of disinformation, propaganda and censorship. When the free and independent voices work together, we can withstand this storm and make a difference." 

In an emotional ceremony Monday evening, DW honored Ukrainian photojournalists Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka with the Freedom of Speech Award in recognition of their courageous reporting of the Russian attacks on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in February and March. Jodie Ginsberg, president of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), delivered the laudatory speech. Ensaf Haidar, wife of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who received the first Freedom of Speech Award in 2015 while in prison for ten years, read a welcoming speech. 

Among the political leaders in attendance were Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and Media, Věra Jourová, EU Commissioner for Values and Transparency, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst, Digital Minister of Taiwan Audrey Tang, and Katja Dörner, Lord Mayor of Bonn.

Reporting from the frontlines and combating disinformation

BILD Deputy Editor-in-chief Paul Ronzheimer reported from Ukraine on his war experiences: "Many journalists died in this war and that's something you can't get out of your head," he said. In another panel discussion, Taiwan's Digital Minister Audrey Tang and Russian opposition politician Leonid Volkov debated the threat of online censorship and methods to combat disinformation. "It is no coincidence that Putin and the Kremlin shut down all independent media in Russia on the first day of the war," Volkov said. "They know full well that the media is part of the war effort."

In his closing speech "Media Coverage in Times of Crisis,” U.S. historian Timothy Snyder drew a parallel between the famine in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-33 and the current Russian war in Ukraine: "Stalin took a particular political decision to blame the Ukrainians," he said. "As with Stalin, so with Putin. This is a political decision with perfectly predictable consequences."

On Tuesday afternoon, the ARD.ZDF Media Academy honored three female graduates with the "Women and Media Technology" award for their work in the field of audio-visual media production and distribution. The award winners (first to third place): Katharina Greiner, Janine Jensch and Wiebke Middelberg.

The participants of the conference in Bonn were able to experience live broadcasts of the DW programs "JaafarTalk" and "Arts.21." In addition, the 15th GMF offered numerous online events covering topics such as Internet censorship, fact-checking and reporting on the Ukraine war.

The DW Global Media Forum is Germany’s only international conference for representatives of the media from all over the world. Together with its main partners, the German Federal Foreign Office, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Savings Bank in Bonn, the Federal ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the City of Bonn, DW offers media professionals a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary discussions with opinion-leaders from different fields around the pressing issues of our time.