Weltzeit 2-2020 | Freedom. Information. Empowerment. by Deutsche Welle

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Freedom. Information. Empowerment.

DIG I TA L CO N FE R E N CE 2 02 0 : J OI N T H E CO N V E R S AT IO N N OW !

Pluralism. Populism. Journalism. THE SAVE

DAT E

1 4 –1 5 , JUNE 202 1

e n ce Co n f e r m a ny World e G r B o nn , Ce n t e r

In the coming months, Deutsche Welle will oﬀer a series of digital networking opportunities to all friends of the Global Media Forum. We will use various digital formats to promote discussions on this year’s topic and create a platform for interactions and exchanges within our global conference community. Despite these turbulent times, we hope to bring together decisionmakers and inﬂuencers from the media, politics and civil society, culture, education, business, science and more. Visit us online to stay up to date on our conference program and join this global, interdisciplinary conversation

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Editorial

These are challenging times for all of us. A global pandemic is truly living up to its name and has an immediate impact on all aspects of our lives as individuals as well as on our societies. The first global lockdown in human memory will have long-term effects for everyone on our planet. The media play an important role in this unprecedented situation. Journalists are

standing up to the challenges of disinformation and autocratic infringement. The technological revolution is enabling people from every corner of the earth to join a powerful discussion beyond controlled media and make their voices heard. Freedom of the press is vital for the sustainable development of societies. A well-informed public can make a difference.

A well-informed public can make a difference. Against racism, repression and hate speech. informing the public despite the personal risk that they are facing in some countries. Autocratic regimes have responded by intimidating and arresting journalists. There is evidence of journalists simply disappearing. DW has dedicated its Freedom of Speech Award to all those intrepid colleagues this year. In this issue you will read about the loss of freedom of expression, the loss of democracy and of values. But you will also read about determined minds who are

Against racism, repression and hate speech. We must take these threats for what they are. Nothing less than our values are at stake. Populism is driving a wedge into our social infrastructures, challenging basic human rights. Even in recognized democracies we are witness to the erosion of civil liberties and respect for the law. With its global coverage, DW contributes to an open dialogue, the multiperspectivity of opinions and a free flow of information. Our

DW Akademie is fostering media and information literacy, thus enabling people around the world to better discern propaganda. And while, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, DW was not able to host the annual Global Media Forum in Bonn as scheduled, the digital GMF 2020 will offer networking opportunities to all friends and followers. We are creating a platform for interactions and exchanges within our global conference community on this year’s topic “pluralism, populism and journalism.” As ever, we will not rest to drive the agenda in these turbulent times. Allow me to invite all of you to participate in these digital discussions. I am looking forward to welcoming you again in person at next year’s GMF. Keep well. Cordially, Peter Limbourg Director General

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Returning to Washington “Since I started working as a journalist, I have been concerned with the question of what holds societies together and what divides them,” says Ines Pohl. She joined DW in 2015 as correspondent in Washington and has recently taken over leadership of DW’s Washington bureau. Looking at recent political and social developments, she believes that there is no better time and place to investigate such questions. “I have known and loved the United States for decades. I hope to understand what has happened, what is going on in this country and what the world must prepare for,” she says. She is passionate about human rights and the role of democratic structures and legitimacy and

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seeks to understand how they can protect themselves from being captured by autocrats and populists. Pohl served as DW’s editor-in-chief from 2017 to 2020. During her three-year tenure, she focused on increasing DW’s social media presence and the exclusive content of all 30 language services. She is a strong advocate for using social media to enhance the connection between audiences and journalists in the digital age. On one of her first assignments, she covered the protests against police violence in Chicago. “I want to know how the wounds of the past can heal and how we can prevent the fear of social relegation from turning into exclusion, worries or hate.”

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ENCOUNTERS

Contents ENCOUNTERS

PROGR AM INSIGHTS

6 Activism through art Gianluca Costantini

28 Police violence in the U. S. Spike Lee: “Change has to happen”

9 DW Documentary The Russians

29 Interview: Jérôme Boateng “No child is born a racist” 30 Interview: DW’s new Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge “Our strength lies in our teams”

DW FREEDOM OF SPEECH AWARD

10 Awarding fact-checkers COVID-19 reporting

PERSPECTIVES

11 Meet the laureates

13 White House Correspondents Journalism in the U. S.

32 Diversity and Inclusion 34 Beethoven Anniversary Conductor Kent Nagano

FE ATUR E A RT ICLE S GLOBAL MEDIA FORUM

14 Media freedom and pluralism Věra Jourová: EU perspective

36 Maria Ressa and Lina Attalah The importance of the Internet in autocratic states

17 COVID-19 and disinformation An expert from Kenya speaks

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

18 Information access in Brazil New challenges for media 19 Internet access in India “Longest shutdown in a democracy”

38 Environmental activism Tierra de Resistentes

21 Press freedom in Turkey Veysel Ok: “There is still hope”

40 Amazon indigenous communities “Without the earth we cannot exist” AROUND THE WORLD

22 Media in South-East Europe Is western media also to blame?

41 Nigeria: Strength through ballet “When I dance, I forget about everything”

24 Tackling disinformation online Interview with Dr. Markus Kerber, German Interior Ministry

42 Portrait: Alexandra von Nahmen Outgoing DW Washington bureau chief

27 Dangerous time to be a journalist Interview with the CPJ advocacy director

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Art meets activism: Spotlight on Gianluca Costantini

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Gianluca Costantini, the creator behind this issue’s cover, is an Italian artist, a ctivist, cartoonist and illustrator. He hopes to empower citizens by raising awareness of global injustices and human rights violations, especially restrictions on freedom of expression and of the press.

Gianluca Costantini’s art installation “Sitting next to Patrick Zaky” in the University Library in Bologna. He is calling for the release of the student Patrick Zaky who is detained in Egypt.

This issue’s cover refers to journalists who are facing assaults and arrests while performing their duties. “I’m trying to create art which has an impact on the system and which tries to change it — or at least question it.” In some of his drawings, Costantini calls on governments to release imprisoned journalists. This has led to some of his art being c ensored online by the Turkish government. “I look for art that has a strong intersection with com-

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munities, that shares and doesn’t impose anything. Art to me is a way to travel among hardship, a different way to work on politics and society. Art is a tool that prevents me from looking the other way. I’m an artist and an activist at the same time, I like the term artivist. I use the practices of activists and I support them, but I’m always an artist,” says Costantini. The ‘artivist’ has also worked together with NGOs such as Amnesty International,

Oxfam, several human rights festivals and Words Without Borders. In 2017, he was nominated for the European Citizenship Awards. In 2019, he received the Art and Human Rights Award from Amnesty International. More of his works can be found in this edition and on his website: gianlucacostantini.com

‘Mozart would have been a good Cuban’

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Think sustainably. And act.

Horn player Sarah Willis has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic for 19 years. For a unique musical encounter, she traveled to Havana and combined classical music with Cuban rhythms. At first, her new solo album “Mozart y Mambo” seems like an unusual combination as many people would not immediately associate Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Mambo. “There is a statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Havana. On my first visit to Cuba in 2017, I was told by one of the local musicians that Mozart would have been a good Cuban. I was intrigued by this comment and thus began the inspiration for this album which was recorded in Havana in January 2020,” says Sarah Willis. She went to Havana to give a French horn masterclass and was surprised by how many horn players turned up. As soon as she started to explore

the classical music culture of Cuba, Mozart’s statue in Old Havana began to make complete sense to her. “I decided then and there to do what I could to raise awareness of the wonderful classical music-making going on in Cuba,” she says. The result is a unique musical program that combines the horn concertos by Mozart with traditional Cuban music. DW broadcasts the documentary Mozart y Mambo: A Cuban Journey with Sarah Willis as part of the program Arts.21 and on the YouTube channel DW Classical Music. The album “Mozart y Mambo” was released by Alpha Records.

Ideas for more inclusion

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DW employee Kay Macquarrie has invented an app to promote barrier-free travel with German rail operator Deutsche Bahn.

Overcoming hurdles: Kay Macquarrie wants to make train travel easier for wheelchair users

Book a train ticket, take your luggage and set off — commuters know the game. But for people with disabilities, booking travel alone is a major hurdle: from having to register at least 48 hours before the planned time of departure to filling a form with up to 79 fields. Kay Macquarrie would like to change that. He has developed an app to make train travel easier for wheelchair users. He estimates that it will take at least 20 years before rail travel is be completely barrier-free, from booking to the platforms. A spokesperson of the German rail operator Deutsche Bahn agrees with this assessment. Macquarrie’s ideas will now be incorporated into the new booking system that Deutsche Bahn is currently working on.

DW reports extensively on environmental and social issues through formats such as the multimedia platform Global Ideas and the TV magazines Eco India and Eco Africa. In addition to this, DW also takes responsibility for the people within the company and the environment. This approach is reflected in the company’s new corporate goal on sustainability and manifested in the establishment of a new department — and in the publication of a sustainability report. The report will be published biennially. “This is the first review of the period from 2018 to 2020,” says Johannes Hoffmann, head of General Management, and one of the three authors of the report together with Benjamin Rietdorf and Thilo Pommerening. It describes DW’s commitment in the areas of environmental, social and sustainable corporate governance. In the environmental field, one highlight is the promotion of renewable energies by purchasing green electricity, photovoltaic and solar thermal systems, charging stations for electric vehicles and the conversion to efficient LED lighting in the studios. In the social area, DW also provides many benefits and offers for employees, such as additional childcare allowance, a parent-child office, free language courses and a subsidized transport ticket. DW is the first ARD member to document its commitment to sustainability.

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DW on TikTok

From beer to nudity and ridiculous grammar — Meet the Germans uncovers the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the German culture sharing insider tips and a light-hearted but informative look at life in Germany.

dw_berlinfresh offers a closer look at culture and everyday life in Germany and Europe. “With Berlin Fresh, we want to take an entertaining look at the lives of young people in Germany and Europe,” says Rolf Rische, head of DW’s department Culture and Life, which developed the format. The channel will feature well-known DW faces, up-and-coming reporters as well as established TikTok stars. Among others, DW will cooperate with TikTok star Bartmann (@bartmann1). The Australian, who works as a teacher at a German school, is a wellknown figure on the video platform and has more than 700,000 followers. The video app TikTok is currently growing faster than any other social media app. According to the company, TikTok is available in 150 markets and in 75 languages. An estimated 800 million users worldwide watch the short videos every month. The video sharing app has also become a platform for ideological formation on political matters as well as activism. TikTok

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“With Instagram we can offer our viewers even more: Be it videos, pictures, stories or live streams. In addition, this will enable us to get even closer with our audience,” says Rachel Stewart. Presenter Rachel Stewart was born in the UK and has been living in Germany since 2016. She explains in her social media videos the peculiarities of Germans and of the German culture such as small talk, the love of allotment gardens, women in Germany and the German sauna “cult.” The Meet the Germans team also produces fact-based, informative and entertaining videos on complex topics such as equal rights or digitalization. dw.com/meet-the-germans Instagram @dw_meetthegermans

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Exploring historic sites in a TikTok video

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DW is now also on the social media platform TikTok, addressing users aged b etween 14 and 26 years with the channel dw_berlinfresh.

‘Meet the Germans’ now on Instagram

Meet the team behind #meetthegermans (clockwise from top left): Rachel Stewart, Cristina Burack, Jenipher Camino Gonzalez, Sam Baker, Ineke Mules and Klaudia Prevezanos

The Russians — An Intimate Journey from Birth to Death

c hildren’s home. The journey continues to the boreal forest in western Siberia to 16-year-old Veronika, who spends most of the year at a boarding school. Her parents are reindeer herders and members of the indigenous Khanty people. Young adults are represented by Kirill, who has a normal job, but spends his free time practicing a dangerous hobby: no holds barred-boxing. Part 2 of the documentary introduces Dmitri, who lives in northwestern Russia and works at Europe’s largest blast furnace. He is a proud steelworker and admires Vladimir Putin. At Lake Baikal, Baba Lyuba tells many stories about her legendary region and her own eventful life. Finally, the audience makes the acquaintance of Ivan, who earns a livelihood from death as an engraver of tombstones at a gigantic cemetery in central Russia. The documentary is available on DW’s website and on youtube.com/dwdocumentary

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In the two-part-documentary, the audience meets a nation poised between tradition and the future. Viewers experience impressions of a world power with a shrinking population, many ethnic minorities, huge geographical distances, social tensions and “great people who seek their fortune despite all resistance. And find it,” says filmmaker Juri Rescheto. “Russia plays a very important role on the world stage. With this journalistic project, we are giving a close-up view of everyday life in this fascinating country,” Ines Pohl says. Rescheto traveled across the country, meeting with Russian citizens who shared their everyday lives with him. They talk about their joys and sorrows, their hopes and needs, and their good and bad experiences. The film shows intimate scenes from their homes and workplaces, as well as glimpses of their political views, their standards of living, and their customs. The protagonists’ personal situations are presented based on official Russian studies on their respective generations. In Part 1, viewers get to meet Jelena in a city halfway between Moscow and Novosibirsk. She works as a surrogate mother in a

Juri Rescheto talks to a 96-year-old protagonist in the Republic of Bashkortostan, a federal subject of Russia

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Juri Rescheto with producer Marina Ivanova during a shoot in a hospital in Chelyabinsk in the Urals, in the mirror camera operator Maxim Tarasyugin can be seen

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DW’s former Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl and DW’s Moscow Bureau Chief Juri Rescheto initiated and promoted the documentary The Russians. The film follows the lives of Russians from six different generations revealing a Russia beyond Moscow and the Kremlin.

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DW FREEDOM OF SPEECH AWARD 2020

Awarding fact-checkers fighting the infodemic in times of COVID-19 DW Director General Peter Limbourg: “At a moment of a global health emergency, journalism serves a crucial function and each journalist bears great responsibility. Citizens of any country have the right of access to factbased information and critical fi ndings. Any form of censorship may result in casualties and any a ttempts to criminalize coverage of the c urrent situation clearly violate the freedom of expression.” by Vera Tellmann, DW editor

DW Freedom of Speech Award Since 2015, DW has presented the Freedom of Speech Award annually to a person or initiative that has shown outstanding commitment to human rights and freedom of expression in the media. The laureates of the DW Freedom of Speech Award to date are blogger Raif Badawi (2015), who continues to be imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, Sedat Ergin (2016), former editor-in-chief of the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, the U. S. White House Correspondents’ Association (2017), Iranian political scientist Sadegh Zibakalam (2018) and Mexican investigative journalist and author Anabel Hérnandez (2019). The Freedom of Speech Award ceremony is usually one of the highlights of the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany, which this year was canceled due to COVID-19. However, the award still received broad coverage on DW’s TV channels, news websites and social media in 30 languages. dw.com/freedom @dw_freedom @dw.freedom

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In the early weeks of 2020, the world was watching events unfold in Wuhan, China. Rumors of a deadly virus began to spread on Chinese social media platforms and Wuhan police accused Li Wenliang, a 33-year-old doctor at one of the city’s hospitals, of “making false comments on the Internet about an unconfirmed SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] outbreak.” Back at work, Li contracted the coronavirus and died a few weeks later, on February 7. Around the same time, young citizen journalists Li Zehua, Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin started to report on the outbreak from Wuhan, sharing information and video footage on social media. All three of them disappeared in February. Only Li Zehua re-emerged after nearly two months in a short YouTube video, stating that he had first stayed at a quarantine center and then in isolation in his hometown. As the coronavirus continued to spread rapidly across countries and continents, violations of press freedom became more and more frequent side effects of the COVID-19 disease. Cases occurred mostly in countries already known for restricting free expression but also in liberal states. Authorities and politicians manipulated data, withheld facts and launched personal attacks on journalists. Their coverage of the pandemic led to dozens of journalists around the world being attacked, arrested, and even disappearing. DW journalists followed up on many of the cases and the DW management board decided that they would send out a clear message against this worrying development. On World Press Freedom Day on May 3, DW issued a statement honoring 17 journalists from 14 countries with the Freedom of Speech Award 2020. The laureates represent all courageous journalists worldwide who have suffered reprisals because of their reporting on the coronavirus situation. DW Director General Peter Limbourg: “We honor all our colleagues who are being prevented by force from doing their job in these difficult times. DW is demanding that all journalists who have been arrested because of their coverage of the COVID-19 crisis be released immediately.” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet readily agreed to be the laudatory speaker. In a video message Bachelet said: “Now, more than ever, we need

©©picture alliance/Alex Pazuello/Semcom/Prefeitura Manaus/dpa

An excavator digs new pits for graves on a cemetery in Manaus, Brazil

information to flow, and people to have access to it. Governments need information to make accurate decisions that respond to the realities on the ground. The general public — all of us — need full and accurate information about the pandemic, and to be involved in the decisions that are being made on our behalf. Participating in those decisions increases people’s understanding of and compliance with measures that are being taken. It is shocking, in such a context, that journalists are being attacked, threatened, arrested, accused of spurious crimes and even disappeared because of their reporting about the pandemic. These are attacks on media freedom, and attacks on the public’s right to be informed.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet

Laureates of the 2020 DW Freedom of Speech Award Belarus: Sergej Sazuk, online journalist, detained and officially accused of taking bribes, Sazuk had criticized the government’s handling of the pandemic before his arrest. Cambodia: Sovann Rithy, TV journalist, charged with “incitement to cause chaos and harm social security” after quoting Prime Minister Hun Sen, who had said the government was unable to help motorbike-taxi drivers on the verge of bankruptcy.

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China: Chen Qiushi, lawyer, activist and citizen journalist, disappeared while reporting from the city of Wuhan interviewing doctors and citizens.

I pay tribute to the courage of those who have been disappeared, arrested or threatened for their work.

China: Li Zehua, citizen journalist and former TV presenter, disappeared while covering the crisis in Wuhan, reappeared briefly on YouTube months later. China: Fang Bin, businessman-turned-citizen journalist, disappeared after several visits by the police while reporting from his hometown of Wuhan. India: Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of an online newspage, summoned by police and accused of “causing a riot” and “leading to panic” after publishing a story about a politician violating COVID-19 guidelines. Iran: Mohammad Mosaed, freelance reporter, arrested after criticizing the government’s lack of preparedness regarding the coronavirus outbreak.

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Siddharth Varadarajan

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Mohammad Mosaed

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Darvinson Rojas

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Serbia: Ana Lalić, online journalist, jailed for two days after publishing an article about medical equipment and protective gear lacking in the city of Novi Sad. Slovenia: Blaž Zgaga, investigative journalist and member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has faced ongoing harassment from the government. Turkey: Nurcan Baysal, journalist and human rights defender, charged with inciting “public to enmity and hatred” based on her comments on the authorities’ response to the coronavirus. Turkey: İsmet Çiğit, newspaper editor-in-chief, was arrested in connection with a news report about two individuals who reportedly died of COVID-19.

David Musisi Karyankolo

Beatific Gumbwanda

Jordan: Fares Sayegh, managing director of DW partner station Roya TV, detained for three days together with a colleague following a report which included interviews with citizens about the lockdown.

Russia: Elena Milashina, investigative journalist, received a death threat on social media by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov after she published an article on how Chechen authorities had responded to the pandemic.

Blaž Zgaga

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Nurcan Baysal

Elena Milashina

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Ana Lalic

Fares Sayegh

Philippines: Maria Victoria Beltran, artist, jailed for a Facebook post in relation to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in her hometown of Cebu. The mayor called her post “fake news and a criminal act.”

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Maria Victoria Beltran

Sovann Rithy

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Fang Bin

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Li Zehua

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Chen Qiushi

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DW FREEDOM OF SPEECH AWARD 2020

Uganda: David Musisi Karyankolo, TV journalist, severely beaten at his home by security officers, leaving him in a coma for ten hours. Venezuela: Darvinson Rojas, freelance journalist, imprisoned for 12 days after reporting on the spread of COVID-19, charged with incitement to “hate and instigation.” Zimbabwe: Beatific Gumbwanda, newspaper reporter, detained for several hours due to an alleged violation of the lockdown regulations.

‘Journalism is widely appreciated right now’ In 2017, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) received the DW Freedom of Speech Award (FOSA). Current WHCA president Jonathan Karl tells DW how the latest developments in the U. S. could affect journalists.

First of all, what is it like to be a reporter in the U. S. right now? We are facing some extraordinary challenges right now. The press corps is reporting from all these protests while also covering all the other stories that are happening. These recent weeks have been back to back stories with all the rallies in the U. S. but we’re also covering all the COVID-19 news simultaneously.

there is a large percentage of the country that oppose him, no matter what. So it’s difficult to gauge how these events will influence the election or to predict what might happen. I’ll tell you what, though: I believe that the image of Trump holding the bible outside St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington DC will probably go down in history as the defining image, the defining moment of his presidency.

Is this intensity comparable to anything you’ve witnessed in journalism before — or is it new ground even for seasoned journalists? Well, if you had asked me six months ago, I would never have guessed that anything like this would be happening. No one would have guessed that. Six months ago, the main story we were looking at was impeachment. That just goes to show how much has happened since.

How do you protect yourself as a journalist in these turbulent times — especially in the middle of a global pandemic? There is no short answer to that. There’s a heck of a lot of uncertainty right now. The pandemic is clearly not over. It will take a good while until things are back to normal in any way, and that will have an impact on many things we are still going to be covering this year: How will all this affect political campaigns for the elections? How will rallies be affected? How will we cover them? There are a lot of questions, and there isn’t going to be an answer before the November elections, that much is clear.

As the U. S. is now entering election season, how do you believe these recent events might influence the presidential election in November? On June 1, Trump was photographed holding up a bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church — in the midst of ongoing protests over racial inequality in the U. S.. Opinions are pretty hard in the U. S. right now. The President has a base of supporters who will vote for him, no matter what. But

What about violence against reporters? There have been attacks on journalists covering the protests in the U. S. in response to the death of George Floyd. A DW journalist in Minneapolis was shot at with projectiles, a CNN reporter was arrested. What’s your reaction to these developments?

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U. S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during the daily briefing of the coronavirus task force in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 27, 2020 in Washington, D. C.

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Interview conducted by Sertan Sanderson, DW editor

Jonathan Karl is Chief White House Correspondent of ABC News and the incumbent president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). In 2017, DW awarded the WHCA with its annual Freedom of Speech Award (FOSA).

It is deeply concerning to see a journalist arrested or physically assaulted while simply engaging in the work of journalism. CNN reporter Omar Jimenez was arrested while he was on air. He was then released rather quickly, but why was he held in the first place? Because police officers thought it was ok to arrest him while he was doing a report. That is a horrific thing to watch. There have been instances of journalists being attacked before in the U. S., but it has become more widespread. And that is worrying. How are audiences reacting to this trend? Do journalists in the U. S. enjoy support from their audiences amid all these developments? We have a really strong tradition of a free and independent press in the U. S., I think that people need journalism now more than ever. So we get a lot of support for what we do. Journalism is widely appreciated right now. A free and independent press is the cornerstone of American democracy, and it is especially valuable in this moment. The interview was conducted as part of the Global Media Forum 2020.

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Freedom. Information. Empowerment. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression — a right that also includes the freedom to access and impart information through any media regardless of frontiers. This is a right that must be guarded at all times, particularly in the face of global uncertainty caused by the current pandemic. Many people around the world are facing economic insecurities. At the same time, we are witnessing a rise of populism around the world. The following contributions aim to give an analysis of the current situation in the European Union, B razil, India, Turkey and the U nited States — just to name a few. They aim to give perspective and to encourage all to stand up for the right of freedom of expression. Daphne Caruana Galizia, depicted in this drawing by Gianluca Costantini, was an investigative journalist from Malta. She was murdered in a car bombing for reporting on corruption in Malta. She symbolizes the numerous journalists worldwide who have faced — or are facing — threats and intimidation for simply doing their job.

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Threats and intimidation should have no place in Europe In response to the growing threats to democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights, European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová has been given the portfolio of values and transparency, including media freedom and pluralism. She talks to DW about her role. Interview conducted by Leonard Proske, DW editor

What role does media literacy play in this context? Media literacy is key to make our society more resilient. The media landscape is changing. Now with social media, everyone can create content. It’s difficult to fully understand who created what and for whom. Yet, we see that scammers and foreign governments use this confusion to divide us and spread false information. In the Commission, we support media literacy. For instance, we have an initiative called “Media Literacy for All” to support, with 2.25 million euros of EU funding, actions bringing media organizations, schools,

researchers and fact-checkers together. One funded action is called “YouCheck!” and it develops a toolbox for classrooms which includes an application for verifying if a photo or video has been manipulated. How do you judge the recent developments in Hungary and Poland and what specific approaches are you taking to ensure that fundamental rights are upheld according to European values? The European Union is a community of values based on three pillars: democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights. As a person born in authoritarian Czechoslovakia, I can tell you that having those values enshrined in the Treaties is a real achievement. But indeed, recently we see a worrying trend not only in the countries you mentioned. The European Commission has developed a rule of law toolbox, a set of instruments to address challenges for the rule of law. We already work to promote a common ©©European Commission/M. Cizek

You recently tweeted that a resilient and critical society is what we need to fight against disinformation. What is your approach to enable EU citizens to better deal with disinformation? Lying is not new, nor that scary. What scares me is that we believe in lies too easily. We need to become more resilient and critical as a society, especially in the online world. We need to support free and independent media, the fact-checkers and researchers. We are calling on member states to ensure that journalists can work in the right conditions and to make the most of our recovery package to support the media while respecting their independence. The Commission has been working on initiatives, in terms of funding and legislation. We are in close cooperation with member states, in particular education and media ministers, with schools, researchers and civil organizations and with the private sector.

I made a promise to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family to better protect journalists in Europe.

Věra Jourová has been the European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency since 2019. She has been a member of the Commission since 2014, serving as the Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality.

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rule of law culture across the member states. We are using also all legal instruments at our disposal to uphold the rule of law in the EU. This includes infringement procedures. And we also have Article 7 that reaches its limits.

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Journalists and civil society organizations should use their expertise and time in being the needed watchdogs for our democracies, not in fighting abusive litigation.

SLAPP: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation These are lawsuits filed against journalists, broadcasters and activists and which ordinarily originate from defamation lawsuits. The lawsuits typically take years and hence require a huge investment of money and time for the defendant. The resultant financial burden and frustration may lead to self-censorship and thus poses a danger to the freedom of expression.

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This is why we need more tools. We have to strengthen a preventive arm. In September, we will publish the first annual rule of law report which will include all EU member states. I also fully support the rule of law conditionality for EU funds. We are now in a hot moment of EU budget negotiations and I believe this would be a strong guarantee that the money that goes to the State in question is there for the benefit of all people, not only some. A group of European MEPs has been calling on the EU Commission to promote an anti-SLAPP EU directive to counter the attempts at silencing journalists. Are there any plans to create such a directive? I am worried about the working conditions of journalists. The threats and intimidation should have no place in Europe. I made a promise to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family

to better protect journalists in Europe. We are conducting a mapping of the possible situations of abuse of litigation against journalists to determine the best way forward. The European Democracy Action Plan, to be adopted by the end of this year, will also include our suggestions on how to tackle SLAPP matters. Journalists and civil society organizations should use their expertise and time in being the needed watchdogs for our democracies, not in fighting abusive litigation. The support of the member states will be crucial in this endeavor, because on the European level we have limited competences to act. What do you plan to achieve during your term at the European Commission in your current role as Vice-President for Values and Transparency? My goals are to make Europe more democratic and transparent, more aware and resilient against new threats, including digital ones and more capable of defending the values we cherish, including the rule of law, media freedom and pluralism. The European Democracy Action Plan will be a first major step. It aims at improving the resilience of democracies and address the threats of external interference in European elections. It will help counter disinformation, support free and independent media as well as civil society. Secondly, I want to build a rule-of-law culture based on mutual respect. We should prioritize dialogue and prevent crisis situations from happening, but equally, we have to address problems where they exist. The third pillar of my tasks is fundamental rights. Fundamental rights are key to what makes Europe the place we love to live in: inclusion for all, equality for all, security for all, a human-centric digital transformation. Europe is also best-placed to finally put some balanced rules on digital sphere, including fair taxation, more transparency, responsibility and accountability of the big digital players. This mandate will define if we will continue to be the rule-makers or we will become the rule-takers.

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A pandemic meets an infodemic Dr. Moses Masika is a leading virologist in Kenya. He describes the situation in the East African nation with r egard to the coronavirus and underscores the value of f actual information for public health and mitigation measures.

Dr. Moses Masika

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by Anne Samba, DW editor

As the novel coronavirus began to spread, and the number of infections began to rise — so did the amount of information on the virus. Across the globe, there were — and still are — mixed opinions about the perceived risk of COVID-19. Kenya is no different. “As the days go by and more cases are reported, the fear has reduced and many people are now pushing the government to ease the containment measures despite the increasing number of cases,” says Dr. M asika. He attributes this to the low case fatality rate and the gradual increase in the number of infected persons. As the economic effects of the restrictions begin to bite, many people are flouting the rules. Enforcement has also been lackluster. The top leadership in the country has been holding face-to-face meetings in clear contravention of its own regulations. “The president previously held a conference of

hundreds of politicians in the capital which is the epicenter of the outbreak,” Dr. Masika shares. As a result, others have taken cue and continue to hold meetings. However, recently, the president has led enforcement of regulations and crack-downs on public gatherings.

Thirst for information The COVID-19 outbreak has been complicated by a deluge of mis- and disinformation. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic, there was a myth that young black Africans could not contract the virus. Currently, false information on the “danger” of wearing face masks is also circulating on social media. “In the initial days, the government was not very keen on releasing information frequently though the public was thirsty for information. This thirst was

quenched by social media with information that was many times incorrect. In response the government threatened to jail anyone spreading false information on any platform. This approach did not work too well. Shortly after that, the government changed tact and started giving daily briefings on the COVID-19 situation in the country and key developments across the globe,” Dr. Masika explains. According to the virologist, false information has many negative consequences on public health. “It spreads fear or hypes the risk associated with COVID-19, which could push people to take the wrong action as they try to protect themselves, placing themselves at greater risk of infection.” He recounts the attacks and stigma against people of Asian descent at the beginning of the pandemic, and the mistreatment of black people in China for fear of spreading the virus. “It stirs hate and discrimination,” he says. The pandemic has also posed new challenges to the virologist who is also a research scientist and a tutorial fellow at the University of Nairobi. “As I try to disseminate information on COVID-19, I have to keep up with a barrage of information from scientific journals, and the mainstream and social media. This can take a lot of time which competes with my regular duties.”

Keep it short and simple However, having the information is not enough. “The next challenge is to find the right, simple and clear words to use in passing this message to the public to ensure that most can understand what you are putting across. This can be a challenge to many scientists who have not been in the health communication space.”

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Freedom in Brazil gradually eroded “State power is being mobilized to obviate worldviews contrary to the government’s views and interests,” says M ariana Valente, director of the São Paulo-based think tank InternetLab. She fears that the shrinking access to public information is creating an environment of distrust. by Mariana Valente

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Examples spread over 18 months of government Funag, a prestigious think tank founded in 1971 and tied to the Brazilian ministry of foreign relations, took down an open-access manual about the history of Brazil that had a critical phrase about the president. At least two books had their publication canceled because their prefaces were written by experts critical of the current anti-multilateralism approach to foreign policy. Public programs to fund the arts have been explicitly censored — from LGBTQ film projects to plays about authoritarian regimes. An advertising campaign by the public bank Banco do Brasil depicting gender and racial diversity was taken off the air upon the request of the president “out of respect for the people.” The Palmares Foundation, a federal government institution created to preserve Brazilian black heritage, took down from its website biographies of historic black leaders — “icons of the victimist left,” its new head Sérgio Camargo declared. It began publishing papers that question the existence of racism in Brazil. The publication of data on drug use by the prestigious federal university Fiocruz was prohibited on the grounds of being biased — too liberal.

Access to public information is brutally shrinking The current government has made at least 13 attempts to hide public information — including two acts to change the 2011 Freedom of Information Law in order to make more databases classified and other measures to

hide or modify specific databases. Access to reports on social media surveillance by the government was denied on the grounds of copyright, information on government meetings denied on privacy justifications, and studies that supported the 2019 pension reform made partially secret. The president of the National Institute of Spatial Research ©©private

At the end of 2018, when it became clear that Jair Bolsonaro was going to be elected, his opponents divided into those who believed he lacked the ability to last a long time and those who feared he would immediately try to break democratic institutions. It was no paranoia: Bolsonaro had made his praise of the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) and their sanguinary leaders public whenever he could. Few predicted what would happen: a permanently crisis-led administration, eroding rights day by day. A year into his government, his “02” son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, declared that if leftists radicalized, a new AI-5 would be made necessary. AI-5 stands for Institutional Act No. 5, the infamous 1968 military dictatorship decree that gave the president the authority to force the Congress and state assemblies into recess, censored artistic expression, suspended habeas corpus for politically motivated crimes and prohibited political convenings without police authorization. Praise of the AI-5 and other vague threats of “more energic measures” have not been uncommon in the government’s ranks ever since. Words uttered by public authorities are influential. Aggressive and hateful public manifestations from the president and his family — three of his sons are parliamentarians and influential in the government and the public sphere — fuel physical and online attacks against journalists, the opposition and marginalized groups. Additionally, state power is being mobilized to obviate worldviews contrary to the government’s views and interests.

Mariana Valente is the director of the São Paulo-based think tank InternetLab which focuses on the intersection of human rights and digital technologies. She holds a PhD in Sociology of Law from the University of São Paulo Law School and is the Coordinator of Creative Commons Brazil. Valente works in the field of human rights and internet policies, copyright and access to culture, knowledge and education, gender, women’s rights and technology.

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Demonstrators hold up books during a protest against censorship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in O ctober 2019

was fired after releasing data on the rise of deforestation and fires in the Amazon. At the beginning of the pandemic, the government edited an emergency decree suspending access to information deadlines, and has since taken down the website of the ministry of health. Brazil’s vibrant civil society reacted and the Supreme Court reverted both cases. But the rate of response to information requests has steadily decreased, and public trust in government data weakened. Journalists and the media are affected twofold: the lack of information creates new challenges and an environment of distrust, additionally, under the rhetoric of fake news, Bolsonaro is sparing no effort to attack and defund the media. Hostility towards journalists, not taking their questions and opting for live streams instead of press conferences have become the new normal. The Brazilian democratic constitution of 1988 set a framework under which, by leaps and bounds, participation grew, rights became recognized and enforced, and citizenry could see a future ahead. The 2019 Democracy Index declassified Brazil to a “flawed democracy.” The democratic resistance belt that is still forming could either corner the government and stall the erosion of freedoms and democratic institutions until the next elections or result in Bolsonaro’s ouster or resignation altogether. We would however still have to deal with the political culture that brought us here.

The long shadow of digital darkness Government-imposed Internet blackouts have increased in India over the last years. Technologist and public policy researcher Rohini Lakshané describes the impact of internet shutdowns to people in India and its economy. by Rohini Lakshané

One summer evening in August last year, the Indian government placed the state of Jammu and Kashmir under military lockdown, imposed a blackout of all communications services, stripped the state of its autonomous status and redrew its borders. This was the start of what would become the longest internet shutdown in a democratic country. It is one of the 121 shutdowns to have happened in India in 2019 and one of the 394 that have occurred in the country since 2015 — figures that make India the world’s internet shutdown capital year after year. The government for its part maintains that blackouts of telecommunications are an instrument to prevent the spread of violence, curb rumors and misinformation, control public unrest or “terror activities” and to prevent “proxy wars” and “the spread of propaganda/ideologies” that cause “disaffection and discontent among people.” Part of the justification given for such executive fiats is the violent armed insurgency that Kashmir has been experiencing since the 1990s. Shutdowns in the country are highly localized, restricted to a city, district or region, always implemented unannounced to the public, and lasting as long as the administration deems fit. Sometimes mobile voice, SMS and local TV broadcasts are shuttered along with the Internet. Two major incidents in the country led to a slew of network

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Journalists protest against the ongoing restrictions of the internet and mobile phone networks in Kashmir, 2019

disruptions in the country last year: widespread public protests against a new citizenship law passed by the parliament (dubbed by some as India’s Nuremberg Law) and the Supreme Court’s final judgement in a long-standing dispute over a religious site.

Economy hit hard

The absence of reliable information creates a milieu of fear, anxiety, uncertainty and lack of safety. 20 Weltzeit 2 | 2020

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The impact of shutdowns on the economy is, unsurprisingly, devastating. A conservative estimate by Top10VPN (a review site and market research company) pegs the economic cost of shutdowns in India in 2019 at 1.3 billion U. S. dollars and the number of shutdown hours at 4,196. For the people directly affected by a shutdown, the absence of reliable information creates a milieu of fear, anxiety, uncertainty and lack of safety, while providing room for rumors and misinformation. For media persons, a lack of internet access deprives them of the tools of their trade, hindering their most basic activities, and further feeding the information vacuum. It also upsets one of the fundamental checks and balances in a democracy: the freedom to access information and the freedom of speech and expression. Several studies have documented the impact of Kashmir’s shutdowns and the suspension of civil liberties on media professionals: closure of publications, diminishing advertising revenues, loss of employment and professional opportunities, wage cuts, fear for safety, self-censorship and an overall chilling effect on the freedom of the press, all of which were subsequently exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak. To make ends meet, some journalists were

compelled to switch to other professions, such as running a cafe and even manual labor.

Internet shutdown in Kashmir and Myanmar A limited relaxation of Kashmir’s indefinite curfew in November led to hundreds of people, including journalists, to travel 100 kilometers or more every day to visit internet kiosks and exercise what is considered a fundamental right in many parts of the world — internet access. In response to an order of India’s Supreme Court in January 2020 decreeing indefinite internet shutdowns as unconstitutional, the government introduced a whitelist for internet access at 2G speed. Theoretically, the shutdown has ended but it lives on as a slowdown in which data speeds are too low to allow meaningful usability and access. Researcher Prateek Waghre and I conducted an empirical analysis of the whitelist, which showed that only a fifth of the URLs in it were practically usable. The whitelist was expanded over a few iterations before being scrapped altogether. As I write this, Kashmir’s deprivation of meaningful internet access has just reached a year. Like Kashmir, another conflict-stricken geography and India’s neighbor, Myanmar has imposed an internet blackout in the Rohingya-majority Rakhine and Chin states since June 2019, making it the world’s longest shutdown ever. The long shadow of digital darkness engulfs authoritarian regimes and democracies of all stripes.

Rohini Lakshané is a researcher, Wikimedian and former journalist working at the intersection of technology, policy, and civil liberties. Her body of work encompasses diverse territories such as access to knowledge, openness, patent reform, and the cross-hairs of gender, sexuality and the Internet.

Press freedom in Turkey — light at the end of the tunnel? ©©picture alliance/AP Photo/L. Pitarakis

The declining freedom of the press and expression in T urkey has been a topic of debate for many years. However, Istanbul-based press freedom lawyer Veysel Ok says there is still hope. by Veysel Ok

©©picture-alliance/dpa/U. Baumgarten

Veysel Ok

Over the past few years, two sentences have been constantly repeated in panels or discussions: That “freedom of the press in Turkey is often limited” and that “journalists in Turkey have been prevented from doing their jobs.” In fact, Turkey has never been a country, where journalists could report freely and speak up fearlessly. Standing before the court or getting prison sentences have always been a part of journalism — reporters and writers have never witnessed free conditions. I believe those two sentences are not enough to describe today’s Turkey. Journalists are not only restrained and prevented from doing their jobs. It goes beyond that: The Turkish state pursues a policy aspiring for the elimination of the free press.

The coup attempt in 2016 introduced a new era — fundamental rights have been eradicated permanently as a result. Hundreds of journalists have been detained; some of them got provisional releases. Currently, at least a hundred journalists are in jail. Several media organizations have either been shut down or seized. Access to countless websites has been blocked. TV broadcasting is almost entirely under the control of the state. The Turkish constitution, in contrast, gives journalists a broad range of rights, also with regard to free speech. However, the courts and the judges do not enforce them or simply ignore them — another consequence of the political atmosphere in the country. The guidelines of the European Convention on Human Rights are also ignored.

is a free speech and press freedom lawyer from Turkey. He co-founded the non-profit organization Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) in 2018, which provides pro-bono legal support to writers and journalists who have been subjected to intimidation, surveillance and legal harassment. The association also aims to promote the public’s right to information. Ok has also defended the novelist Ahmet Altan and the Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yücel.

Not even a state of law The fragile connection between the judiciary and the state of law, which partially existed before the coup attempt is now completely lost. Today, we see a system unwilling to respect its own legislations. Turkey’s judiciary is not a problematical institution — it has become the problem itself. Since the coup attempt, the judiciary — influenced by state administrators — has ignored national and international law standards, oppressing and punishing all parts of society. In the past, many critics have said: “Turkey is not a constitutional state.” At this stage, even this description is inadequate. An accurate description would be: “Turkey is not even a state of law” anymore.

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Internet media on target

The situation of the media in Central and South-East Europe is deteriorating. Keno Verseck, an expert for this region, believes that German media companies bear co-responsibility for this development. by Keno Verseck

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A high percentage of mainstream media in Turkey is owned by business groups with close ties to the government. But despite this enormous power, the government fails to set the agenda in Turkey. It fails to monopolize the information flow. The news portals on the Internet and social media have become the new centers of the news flow. The efforts have been made with really small budgets and by the force of brave journalists taking legal risks. The government is naturally aware of this and is thus targeting Internet media by imposing new restrictions. Requirements for launching a new internet television were also tightened. There are also legal attempts to restrict popular social media channels and gain users’ personal data.

Media in Central and South-East Europe: Danger level yellow

A woman holds a poster saying ″Freedom of the press cannot be silenced″ in Istanbul in June 2020

A failure after all In this desperate situation — in a country where journalists are arrested regularly and where the state tries to control every aspect of life. Is there still hope? I believe so. For, there are still people resisting and fighting for free information. Despite the pressure, there are still journalists taking the risks keeping up their work. And of course, there are lawyers defending them. Journalists have not given up writing and producing news despite pressure from the judiciary. This is a sign that the government has failed to reach its goal, that the project of controlling journalism has failed.

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Protesters gather in Bratislava in 2018 to rally for media freedom after the murder of Journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová

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Recently, the editorial staff of the independent Hungarian news portal Index, the country’s most widely read portal, raised a special alarm: On an external website accessible only to the editorial staff but not to the management and which uses a traffic light system to indicate Index’s independence status, the pointer moved from green (“independent”) to yellow (“in danger”). This was triggered by the management’s consideration of breaking up the editorial department and distributing its staff among many small outsourced companies, which would allow much greater intervention in the content orientation of the portal. A few weeks later, the portal’s editor-in-chief was fired. As a result, more than 70 journalists and staff resigned, accusing the government of interference.

The alarm signal of the Index editorial office caused a great stir in Hungary and internationally. After all, the portal is the last large and broadly effective medium in Hungary that is completely independent and meticulously fulfils the function of the press as the fourth estate — to the great annoyance of the Orbán regime. There have been many cases in the past decade in Hungary in which Orbán has brought influential independent media into line or had them shut down, sometimes in a devious and sometimes in a brutal way. If this were to happen with Index, there would only be a few, much smaller independent media left in the country that could not do what Index does. Then one could rightly speak of the end of press freedom in Hungary.

Journalists seen as enemies, secret agents or traitors The fact that the Index pointer jumped from green to yellow at the end of June is also symbolic of the developments in the entire region of Central and South-East Europe. In recent years, the situation of the independent media and for independent journalists has deteriorated in most countries in the region, in some cases dramatically as in Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia or Hungary. In some countries, such as Poland, Romania or Slovenia, an increasing political polarization of the media can be observed. Many politicians in the region, often enough also heads of government and heads of state, have created a climate of hatred against journalists, presenting them as enemies, secret agents or national traitors of the region. At a press conference, Czech President Miloš Zeman once jokingly suggested to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that that they should simply “liquidate” the journalists present. Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Janša tweets his anger at critical media and journalists almost daily. The Slovak ex-head of government Robert Fico calls journalists hyenas, idiots or prostitutes. Violence against journalists has increased significantly in some countries or has remained at a consistently high level. The murder of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová

has become known worldwide. Less known is the case of the Montenegrin investigative reporter Olivera Lakić, who was shot in the leg by an unknown person two years ago as a kind of last warning. The Montenegrin authorities have not yet solved the case — and probably do not want to.

Corrupt elites take over media There are many reasons for the problematic situation of press freedom in many countries in Central and South-East Europe. The assumption that EU integration of the region would automatically lead to more rule of law and democracy has not proved true. Instead, authoritarian, nationalistic and also corrupt political elites, for whom independent journalism is a real existential threat, are growing stronger. The media markets in Central and SouthEast Europe are predominantly very small. Poverty, still widespread in some cases, and the demographic crisis are also reflected in limited opportunities for advertising revenues. Moreover, the media are often dependent on state advertising which politicians use as a means of exerting pressure. However, the international concern should not hide the fact that in recent years, large international media companies, including especially German ones, have increasingly withdrawn from the region due to the poor profit prospects, thus facilitating the takeover of media by local oligarchs or politically bound businessmen. Hungary is a prime example of this. Western media groups therefore bear a heavy share of the responsibility for the decline of press freedom in the region.

Keno Verseck is a journalist with a special focus on Central and South-East Europe. He was a correspondent in Bulgaria and Hungary from 1991 to 2000. Since then, he has traveled regularly to the region for research.

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Tackling disinformation online Disinformation and fake news pose a threat to democracies. According to Dr. Markus Kerber, State Secretary at G ermany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior and national coordinator against hybrid threats, media, fact-checkers, political parties and citizens themselves all play a crucial role in promoting d igital and media literacy. Interview conducted by Ingo Mannteufel, head of DW’s IT and Cybersecurity

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Disinformation, i. e. the targeted dissemination of deliberate misinformation to achieve a political goal, is a very old phenomenon. In your view, what is new about its current threat to democracy? What is new about this phenomenon is that false and misleading information can now be disseminated over the Internet with much greater reach and at relatively low cost. This makes it possible, for example, for the creators of disinformation to simultaneously test different content in order to increase their reach. The personalization of content in social networks also makes it possible to target disinformation at specif-

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ic groups of people, for example through paid advertisements. In addition, the initial sources are often not recognizable at all because they conceal or even falsify their identity. As a result, the problem of disinformation is much greater today than it was in the past, for example during the Cold War. Research shows that subsequent corrections in social networks are much less widespread than disinformation. In part, there is still insufficient knowledge about the effect of disinformation on different social groups. The Federal Ministry of the Interior monitors politically motivated and very targeted disinformation, which can have a negative

influence on the free formation of opinion and the political decision-making process, for example by undermining trust in government agencies, the independence of the media or democratic processes. We live in a world in which one has the impression that there is no more truth or that one can choose “one’s version of the truth.” What role do you see for authorities and for the media in combating dis information? The doubting of generally valid facts is not a new phenomenon, because the idea of objective truths has been scientifically questioned before. On the other hand, there is a broad consensus on many issues, e. g. the extensive findings on climate change. Therefore, it makes a difference whether things are simply claimed or whether they are well-founded and verifiable. Above all, it makes a difference whether false and misleading claims are disseminated deliberately in order to deceive the public. It is not the task of the state to actively distinguish between truth and falsehood in the public debate. This is largely the task of the media, fact-checkers, political parties and citizens themselves. Online platforms must also take stronger action against the spread of disinformation and are doing so to varying degrees. However, the state can, within the scope of its possibilities, work towards making the public even more aware of targeted disinformation, for example through civic education. As part of its prevention efforts, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution also raises awareness of disinformation and influence emanating from foreign government agencies and media close to the state. A vigilant

Dr. Markus Kerber has been State Secretary at Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community since 2018. From 2009 to 2011, he was Director General for Economic and Fiscal Policy Strategy at the Federal Ministry of Finance. Prior to that, he was Director General for Basic Policy Issues and International Analyses at the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

IT and Cybersecurity WARNING! Before you share this content, have you verified its truth? NO I’d like to risk sharing disinformation.

©©chinnarach/stock.adobe.com [M]

public and critical journalists are crucial for preventing disinformation. How do you define the boundary between defending freedom of expression and combating disinformation by means of criminal prosecution? Possible legal measures to stop the dissemination of disinformation must always be weighed up very carefully, as the process of forming public opinion must not be unduly restricted. Furthermore, criminalizing false statements, as is sometimes called for, would create very practical problems. It is not always possible to distinguish clearly between opinions — which fall under the protection of freedom of expression — and factual claims. Criminal law will therefore not solve the problem of disinformation. Other means are needed to combat disinformation. One possibility would be to focus more on the mechanisms of information provision in social networks. More transparency and traceability is needed here. How do you assess the role of foreign actors and media in Germany in the dissemination of disinformation and what can you do about it? In principle, all journalistic reporting may be critical, even critical of the government. The media fulfil an important democratic con-

trol function here. At the same time, we see that, for example, the political reporting of Russian state-run and state-affiliated media in Germany is often one-sided and tendentious, and that sometimes misleading claims are disseminated. Due to the connections of these media to Russian state authorities, a decidedly political agenda can be assumed. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, for example, has already explicitly pointed this out. The aim here is quite obviously to intensify social conflicts and to stir up mistrust of public institutions and the democratic process. Therefore, one can only point out again and again that the reporting by these media is not independent and should not be understood in this way.

Ingo Mannteufel is a journalist and cyber security expert. As head of DW’s IT and Cybersecurity department, he is responsible for the establishment of innovative approaches to IT security. Prior to that, he was head of the Department for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. He studied Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London and the University of Cologne.

What advice do you take to heart or give your children to avoid the dangers of disinformation? One should look closely at every news item, especially those with lurid headlines. Which sources are mentioned, is there publication information? For social media accounts: how long has the account existed? Is it verified? Are other credible sources also reporting on this topic? One should be aware that disinformation is a worthwhile business model for some actors. And the most important thing is not to share dubious information with others.

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YES I’ve checked multiple sources.

is a department within DW responsible for IT security issues. It is primarily tasked with the development and enhancement of organizational regulations, IT security issues as well as the monitoring and analysis of developments around the topic of Internet censorship. The team oversees the threat assessment for DW, and develops and prioritizes measures for “Cyber Threat Awareness.” Other responsibilities include consultation with all units in DW on compliance with organizational regulations and risk-conscious handling of information and data. The department also focuses on measures to raise awareness of risk-conscious handling of information and data to ensure secure access to DW content via digital platforms. In addition to that, it is important to coordinate all Internet censorship measures. The department represents DW on data security issues at funding agencies, political organizations and authorities.

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Can free press in Hong Kong survive the national security law?

by William Yang, DW editor Just days after Beijing passed the contentious national security law for Hong Kong at the end of June, activists said there were already signs that freedom of expression in the city is under threat. Hong Kong authorities said that chanting the “Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times” slogan is tantamount to the subversion of state power. A day later, the government filed terrorism charges against a 23-year-old biker who used the now-banned slogan. The government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory said it would “vigorously implement” the controversial security law. The new legislation targets what authorities in mainland China define as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Those violating the law could face up to life in prison. “I forewarn those radicals not to attempt to violate this law, or cross the red line, because the consequences of breaching this law are very serious,” Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a press conference. The new law has drawn international condemnation for jeopardizing Hong Kong’s civil liberties enshrined under the “one country, two systems” framework, including the freedom of speech and assembly. According to Chris Yeung, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the national security

Demonstrators wield umbrellas during a protest in Hong Kong in 2019

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law poses a direct threat to journalists and media organizations because any pro- democracy report could be deemed a criminal offense. “Hong Kong journalists dealing with politically sensitive stories could face charges under the new law,” Yeung told DW. Foreign media organizations not spared by the new law The law empowers Hong Kong authorities to “strengthen the management” of foreign media outlets, NGOs and other international organizations. Eric Cheung, a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law, told DW that Article 38 of the law allows Beijing and Hong Kong authorities to monitor the conduct of Hong Kong’s expat community as well. According to the law, individuals working with foreign organizations will be penalized if they “provoke hatred among Hong Kong people towards the local or central governments.” Yeung, however, believes the media freedom situation in Hong Kong is still better than in the mainland. But Kai Ong, a researcher at Amnesty International, told DW that Hong Kong journalists are concerned that the city government may replicate the Chinese model of restricting journalistic activities and force journalists to get accredited in order to report and gather information in the city. Others are less optimistic about the future of journalism in Hong Kong. “I think it will only get worse regardless of what we do,” a journalist shared. “However, I won’t give up journalism because I love Hong Kong. How can China criminalize someone’s love for their city?”

©©picture alliance/Pacific Press Agency/S. Sharpe

Journalists in Hong Kong are worried that new legal measures in the city would limit the scope of independent reporting as authorities vow to “vigorously implement” Beijing’s new security law.

Police crack down on protests in Minneapolis: DW correspondent Stefan Simons (pictured right) and camera operator Maximilian Förg were shot at with rubber bullets by p olice forces while covering the protests

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Courtney Radsch, advocacy director of the NYC-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), explains how leaders are violating media freedom, not only in the United States but also around the world. by Ivana Drmić, DW editor

Since the outbreak of the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, the U. S. Press Freedom Tracker founded by CPJ has investigated and documented numerous violations against journalists such as arrests by police, theft of equipment, assaults by both police and protesters, among other attacks. Hundreds of cases of press freedom violations in the U. S. were registered from late May to mid-June. CPJ is calling for investigations into these incidents. One of those incidents involved a DW reporter named Stefan Simons. He was shot at with rubber bullets and threatened in Minneapolis. According to C ourtney Radsch, unfortunately, Simons’ experience of getting shot at by the police with non-lethal projectiles is not uncommon. Not all of those attacks were necessarily directed at the journalists because they were journalists though, she adds. “Sometimes it’s simply an issue of being in a protest in a crowd. But there were numerous incidents in which the police targeted journalists,” says Radsch.

Journalists under threat worldwide According to Radsch, the number of journalists harassed, attacked, even killed or jailed as well as the staggering levels of impunity in the murders of journalists is increasing at a global level. Examples include the conviction of journalist and Rappler editor Maria Ressa in the Philippines as well as governments adopting new surveillance technology ostensibly to fight COVID-19, and the ongoing (and longest-ever) internet shutdown in Rakhine state in Myanmar. “In many ways, 2020 has really brought home the reality that there has never been a more dangerous time to be a journalist,” she observes. For her, among the most concerning threats for press freedom, though, are those posed by leaders who are seizing this moment as an opportunity to clamp down on the flow of information. At a time when the public needs independent information more than ever due to COVID-19, governments in countries like Iran or India are trying to censor coverage of the pandemic. The leaders of China, Honduras, Hungary or Thailand, to name just a few, are introducing draconian legislation, employing new surveillance technologies, blocking the internet, or in some cases even

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A dangerous time to be a journalist stopping the distribution of newspapers, she says. Such measures can have devastating consequences for public health and safety.

Global consequences There is a decline of the U. S. leadership on press freedom and human rights, since the withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO and other international fora for cooperation on human rights. But the constant berating and denigration of the press by President Trump and other politicians is encouraging worldwide leaders to do the same. If press freedom would — even symbolically — be further eroded in the U. S. it would have devastating consequences for journalists worldwide. “We’ve also tracked how the fake news rhetoric and the attempt to delegitimize independent journalism through calling it “fake news” has reverberated around the world and been adopted by leaders as diverse as Duterte in the Philippines, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Orbán in Hungary, Putin in Russia, and China and Egypt.” Radsch believes that countries that do not need a pretense to crack down on press freedom are nonetheless happy to have one in the guise of fake news.

Courtney Radsch is a journalist, author and advocate for freedom of expression. She is the advocacy director for the Committee to Protect Journalists and author of “Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change.” She has written and been interviewed extensively about digital activism and social media in the Middle East since 2006.

Deutsche Welle

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PROGR AM INSIGHTS

Spike Lee standing in front of a street mural, celebrating the 30th anniversary of his film “Do the Right Thing.” The film includes a scene where a brawl ends in the death of a black man at the hands of a police officer.

‘Change has to happen in how policing is done in the U. S.’ Oscar-winning director Spike Lee has made a short film which makes connections between George Floyd’s death and what the filmmaker sees as institutionalized violence and racism in America’s police forces. This time, he’s hopeful of change. Interview conducted by Scott Roxborough, DW editor

Spike Lee is a man of many hats. In addition to directing, he is also a producer, actor, screenwriter and professor. His work explores themes such as race relations, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. He has won many accolades for his work including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film BlacKkKlansman.

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What was your first reaction when you saw that video of George Floyd’s killing? I thought: I just saw this, with Eric Garner [killed by police on July 17, 2014]. In 1989, I made a film about it: “Do the Right Thing” was based upon the real-life chokehold murder of graffiti artist Michael Stewart [on September 15, 1983]. And then I began thinking about all those other black people being killed. Not just by strangulation. About all those being shot by guns. This keeps happening, for decades, for centuries. What, in your opinion, has to be done to stop this from happening again and again and again? We are starting here in America, where Americans, not just black and brown Americans, the white Americans, my white sisters and brothers, are taking to the streets and joining us, arm in arm, saying this has to stop. And there is a national cry for change within these police departments, across America. We have to do something with them, they’ve got to be reformed. Change has to happen in how policing is done in the United States of America. How much blame do you put on the man on top, President Trump, the man you call Agent Orange? Why did you name him instead of me? I’m just joking, I know you have to have me say that. Agent Orange is going to go down as the worst president in the history of the United States. And it is funny now to see his allies, these generals and politicians are slowly starting to move away from him, because they can read the writing on the wall and they don’t want to go down in history attached to this guy. To be written down as on the wrong side of history. With a capital W. It’s been 31 years since you made Do the Right Thing and we are seeing the same thing happening again on the streets. Where do you see hope for the future? The hope I see is with the millions of Americans who take to the streets. Them saying enough is enough: I see hope. And I’ll feel more hopeful on November 4, the day after the presidential election.

‘No child is born a racist’ Following the killing of George Floyd, Bundesliga players have spoken out against racism. German footballer Jérôme Boateng talked to DW about the importance of education and the room for more support. Interview conducted by Jonathan Harding, DW editor

What are your thoughts when you see the current events in the United States? The images shock me. Some of the things on social media at the moment are brutal. And unfortunately, the protests are also taking on a difficult form. Nevertheless, the case of George Floyd shows us just how widespread racism against black people is in America, and the role racial profiling plays. I find it extremely upsetting because I’m often in America myself and I like the country and the culture a lot. But it’s nothing new; it’s something which is omnipresent. Racism is found everywhere, but it is extreme in the USA. I read a good quote recently: It’s as if racism is a dark room and, every now and then, someone turns the light on and everything is revealed. When you think how much African-Americans have done for the image and culture of the United States, I find it inexplicable. And I’m only thinking of sport, fashion and music. Barack Obama as president was also a defining figure. Do you see any parallels with Germany? Of course, racism is a topic here as well. It’s very present. In recent years, we’ve seen attacks on foreigners and different religious groups in Germany. All in all, things are traveling in a certain direction where I think: we were once further along. During my childhood in Berlin, I also had experiences with racism, of course. But I also remember my time on the football pitch, where it didn’t matter where you came from or what religion you were. We were Iranians, Africans, Turks, Germans. We didn’t really think or talk about it. It was all about being together.

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Do you think that Afro-Germans are acknowledged and visible enough in Germany? Generally speaking, people of African heritage are underrepresented in certain areas. Although, I often get the impression that sportspeople are the ones who do get the recognition.

But I don’t want to malign everything: fundamentally, I think Germany is an open country. Personally, I’ve had a lot of good experiences, too. There are countries in Europe where it’s a lot worse. In today’s world, do you think that athletes and sportspeople should be activists, too? Our voices are heard, we have a platform and we have reach. But I think it’s important that it’s not just limited to social media. Initiatives like Black Out Tuesday are all well and good but what we really need is to really get stuck in and do something, be that working with children or supporting other integration projects. Everybody can help. I personally would definitely like to do something in this area in the near future. There are already various suggestions and ideas. Many black footballers have spoken out about recent events. But what could your white colleagues do to support them? Not every white athlete who doesn’t speak out right now is a racist. Of course not. When I watch videos of demonstrations, I see people of all skin colors. But of course, it would be desirable if they used their fame to support this cause. Many do, but I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Is there anything that I have not asked, but which is important to you and which you would like to say? Everything begins with the education of children. That’s the most important thing. No child in this world is born a racist. It’s up to the parents and what they tell their children. The worst thing that could happen would be for my children to experience such things. It’s vital that we teach them that racism isn’t acceptable and that, should they see someone being abused, they should defend them and speak up. That has to start in school. It has to be an integral part of the curriculum. Only in that way can we make progress.

Jérôme Boateng Born in Berlin in 1988, the son of a German mother and Ghanaian father, Boateng honed his skills on the city’s streets before coming through the ranks at Hertha Berlin, making his first professional appearance for the club in 2007. He joined Bayern Munich in 2011 and was a mainstay in the German national team between 2009 and 2019. He was named German Footballer of the Year in 2016.

Deutsche Welle

PROGR AM INSIGHTS

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‘Our strength lies in our teams’

You started off as editor-in-chief at a time when the world was focused on just one topic: the coronavirus. Which three words best describe what you experienced as DW’s editor-in-chief in those first weeks? Teamwork, empathy, innovation. How is teamwork shown when people are working from home? Working from home doesn’t mean there isn’t communication. On the contrary! Since the coronavirus crisis began, I have been experiencing positive and intense communication among colleagues, with focus, flexibility and great understanding for the exceptional circumstances others are in. Right at the start, you made an important change by expanding the editorial board and making it more diverse. Why was that important to you? DW stands for cultural diversity. That is our strength, along with our very competent journalism. I wanted this to be reflected in the editorial board, so in consultation with management, I appointed five colleagues as members. These colleagues advise me, and we discuss content. Among other things, we are working on guidelines for how we use language and images. The debate surrounding the death of George Floyd has shown how important this is. What should we show and what shouldn’t we show? What terms are racist? This is a very important discussion.

Manuela Kasper-Claridge has been DW’s editor-in-chief since May 2020. She joined DW in 1992 as a news editor. In 1998, she took over DW’s Business department, responsible for its TV, online, radio and social media output. In 2014, she became senior head of Business, Science and Environment. Kasper-Claridge initiated partnerships with the World Economic Forum and the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. She is responsible for the introduction of several award-winning programs at DW such as Global 3000, Eco Africa, Eco India and Founders Valley.

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DW’s new Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge speaks about the eventful and moving first weeks in her position. Interview conducted by Ivana Drmić, DW editor

DW has adjusted its programming very quickly to the new normal of the coronavirus crisis. What have been your priorities here? The most important thing was to make sure we kept supplying news and information across all our platforms and in all the languages. Our users were wanting independent and reliable information, and we did a lot of fact-checking. This is especially important in an era of disinformation where there are a lot of rumors and allegations. It was most helpful that our colleagues from the Science department delivered some very competent and levelheaded reporting, for example, about the R-factor, the effects of drugs or the relevance of blood groups.

Fact-checking is especially important in an era of disinformation. What are the main things people around the world expect from DW? First, I’d like to say that the wonderful way our departments work together and pool their strengths to make our reporting more exclusive is the right journalistic approach. To give just one example, the Romanian, German, Russian, China and Business departments have provided excellent background on the coronavirus outbreak at the Tönnies meat factory — background that you would not find anywhere else. This is a journalistic quality and diversity of which we can be proud. The same goes for the many exciting video, social media and online reports from our correspondents across the globe in Africa, Asia, Latin America and, of course, Europe. Stories from Germany, which we are, of course, especially well-qualified to tell, are also very much in demand. What must the content on all the platforms be like if DW is to keep many of the users it has won during the coronavirus crisis? Good storytelling is the key to success, in addition to fact-checking at all levels. We have to stay in close and put people at the center. And we have to make it clear, for example, what impact a political decision has on their lives.

What has been your biggest journalistic success so far? I would definitely include the development of the multimedia platform “Global Ideas”, which has a strong emphasis on climate protection. When we started this in 2009, it was uncharted territory. DW was among the first to present constructive, solution-oriented journalism on the impact of climate change in many different languages and across many different platforms. And do you remember one special journalistic experience? I very much like thinking back to an assignment involving an overnight stay in Lindau on Lake Constance, where a conference of Nobel laureates was taking place. I had three interviews with Nobel laureates from the fields of economics, biology and chemistry. But the nicest thing was the breakfast: I sat in this old hotel with a magnificent view over Lake Constance, and in the same room, there were 20 elderly men and two women having breakfast with me — all of them Nobel laureates. The vibrations from the “big brains” in that room were something pretty special.

What are the challenges for journalism? Independence, due diligence, transparency, respect, plurality of opinion and diversity are the basis of our journalistic work and we all commit to that basis. We have to preserve this, especially at a time when in countries in Europe and around the world there are attempts to restrict press freedom. Autocratic states don’t respect press freedom and take actions against their own media or against international media providers. We therefore continue to strive for the best journalistic quality and to be innovative and courageous in our content. We promote plurality and a culture of debate with experts of different origins and ideologies. I think the role of independent media is very important and as editor-in-chief I am very happy that our journalistic strength lies in our teamwork throughout DW. @ManuelaKC

Diversity — The editor-in-chief’s team On an almost-daily basis, reporting on diversity has been part of DW’s programming, which is c ommitted to a pluralistic and tolerant society worldwide. As an employer, DW aims to strengthen the same pluralistic views that the editors carry to the outside world within the company as well. Manuela Kasper-Claridge appointed five new members to the editorial board to make sure every important topic is being dealt with from different perspectives. Meet the team:

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Kristin Zeier heads DW’s Channel Management team and is responsible for the German and English news homepages. Born in the U. S., Zeier has worked for DW for nearly 20 years, much of that time in digital media. She remains a strong advocate for embracing the opportunities of the shifting media landscape, moving across jobs in radio to social media, TV and videos. Jaafar Abdul Karim, born in Liberia and raised in Switzerland and Lebanon, has been the host of the interactive personalized talk show JaafarTalk since July 2019. In addition to his work as a DW reporter and presenter, Abdul Karim is also a columnist for Zeit Online and has a VLog on Spiegel Online. As a multilingual expert, he is a sought-after interview partner in Germany and other countries. Until June 2019 Abdul Karim hosted the award-winning youth show Shababtalk. ©©DW

Sandra Petersmann heads the Research and Investigation unit. Following her DW traineeship in the late 1990s, she focused on hostile environment reporting and most of her travels took her to African and Asian countries. Petersmann also spent five years in India working for German public broadcaster ARD. Erkan Arikan has been leading DW’s Turkish editorial department since November 2018. He was instrumental in the launch of the successful YouTube format +90 and news service DW Haber. Arikan previously worked as an editor and presenter at news channel n-tv before moving to

Westdeutscher Rundfunk where he was responsible for the Turkish-language service of the international and intercultural radio channel Cosmo.

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Chiponda Chimbelu grew up in Zambia and joined DW in 2009 as an intern before starting a journalistic traineeship in 2011. Today, he works mainly with the DW business desk. He produces a news show and reports on how Europe’s and China’s foreign policies affect African countries, in addition to diversity and inclusion in Germany.

Deutsche Welle

PERSPECTIVES

Bridging cultures and identities Embracing diversity — that’s Zahra Nedjabat’s calling. She has been head of DW’s newly established International Relations and Diversity department since the end of 2019. She tells us why diversity matters.

DW has employees from more than 60 countries

Since Zahra Nedjabat took over her new position last year, she has continued to actively promote diversity among employees at DW. Within this period, she has made various advances such as establishing a diversity working group, leading DW in its maiden participation in Europe’s largest LGBTQ-friendly career fair “Sticks & Stones” and creating a digital format where employees and members of the management team discuss various issues such as everyday racism and discrimination at the work place. “In the context of diversity, communication must always be bottom-up as well as top-down, and cross-linked in as many directions as possible,” says Nedjabat. For her, diversity is not only about ethnic origin, but also age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, world view as well as a visible or

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invisible disability. “Even the so-called ‘Old White Men Syndrome’ indicates that people often approach other groups of people with certain stereotypes in mind. This shows that it is necessary to put ourselves in the perspective of another person or group of persons,” she says.

Greatest challenge is implementation Asked why DW needs a diversity management when after all, it has employees from over 60 nations, Nedjabat says that while “diversity offers enormous opportunities, it also has the potential for conflict. Diversity management is precisely there to make targeted use of these opportunities and advantages. The ability to cooperate is the

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by Ivana Drmić, DW editor

Not only diversity but also inclusion in every department and at every level. core competence of the 21st century in view of globalization, digitalization, demographic change.” Nedjabat admits working in an intercultural environment is a huge asset. As an international broadcaster, DW has been diverse for over 65 years now — ahead of many institutions and organizations. Nevertheless, according to her, the p otential

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Zahra Nedjabat head of International Relations and Diversity since late 2019, studied comparative literature, Islamic studies, philosophy and history in Bonn and Paris. She was head of corporate communications and PR and she worked as an editor, lecturer and management consultant. She gained journalistic experience at BBC World and RC 93.9 FM Paris. Since 2014 she has been organizing the Vienna International Christian- Islamic Summer University together with the University of Vienna.

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within the company could be used more. “We should not fall into the trap that makes us believe that we are already so diverse,” Nedjabat says reflecting on what still needs to be done. According to her, diversity management is something that needs to be established together with the management and employees. She strongly believes in a solution-oriented approach and the power of inclusive language. “The diversity within the company should be reflected in the corporate culture and communication,” she says. “We are working hard to ensure that there is not only diversity but also inclusion in every department and at every level. Everybody wants to feel respected, seen and to have a voice. This is what DW stands for and this is the culture we want to promote and sustain,” she concludes.

JaafarTalk: Transcending barriers

“The Arab world is undergoing massive social change. We want to confront the people with the diversity and modernity of the region and encourage them to exchange ideas while seeing eye to eye,” host Jaafar Abdul Karim said at the launch of the eponymous TV show in 2019. One year later, the show is doing just that. In May 2020, Jaafar Abdul Karim’s interview with prominent Egyptian actor Hesham Salim and his transgender son stirred an important debate. Salim and his son Nour, formerly Noura, received emotional and mostly positive reactions from many viewers in the Arab world — a region where sexual identities are rarely discussed publicly. Nour told his father on the show: “I thought I wasn’t a normal person, I thought I couldn’t live my life. It was very, very hard. But I learned to love myself and stand on my own two feet.”

Internal debate series ‘Change of Perspective’

DW has a new digital format titled “Perspektiv:Wechsel” which calls for a change of perspective and provides an additional platform where employees and management can discuss real-life experiences on various key diversity issues such as origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, religion and ideology at DW. In the first session of the series, DW Director General Peter Limbourg and employees reflect critically on the status quo and DW’s internal structures. They discuss whether Deutsche Welle and its employees from over 60 nations are immune to discrimination and racism or whether a multicultural environment provides a breeding ground for conflict. The second session explores the opportunities and challenges that diversity presents at DW when it comes to generational differences.

Deutsche Welle

PERSPECTIVES

Beethoven’s music a true reflection of humanism

People enjoy a picnic concert by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn at a park in Bonn, Germany, in June 2020, commemorating the 250th birthday of composer Ludwig van Beethoven

In Beethoven’s nine symphonies, reflection and sensation, mood and emotionality are intertwined in a completely new view in the context of time. Renowned American conductor Kent Nagano writes about his passion for music and the musical genius Ludwig van Beethoven. by Kent Nagano

I was introduced to Beethoven at an early age by my music teacher Wachtag Korisheli. He did so in a universal way, introducing him as a visionary composer within history including not only his music but also what he had written and the historical context of his life as well. To me the power and energy of my unbridled love of music comes from the never-ending affirmation that music is nature itself. Music was introduced not as technical knowledge but as power, drama and emotional beauty. Beethoven’s music is universally beloved, revered and has over time generated a consensus that it is a true reflection of humanism. His 250th anniversary provides a

moment to reflect upon the greatness of this artist and the works he left behind, and he is considered a fundament of our music history. I have always found his music to be above time, divorced from the constraining limits of mode, and reflecting certain truths — and people always need the truth. With his work, Beethoven has clearly and decisively influenced and participated in the structure of European concert life. In particular, through his symphonies and concert compositions, he created a new musical public — a public concert audience. This resulted in a certain institutionalizing of the musical structures in society though socio-structural ideas such as the orchestra, concert series,

memorials and festivals — key fibers of the European and global cultural fabric today. Within Beethoven’s musical work live the ideas which emerged from what we today call the “Enlightenment”. It is an expression of the humanitarian ideals and the human right to

Kent Nagano

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is considered one of the outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. He took up the position of general music director of the Hamburg State Opera and chief conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra in September 2015. His role as music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) will end with the 2019/20 season after 15 years. In 2006 he was appointed honorary conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and in 2019 of Concerto Köln, the Baroque orchestra with which he is working together on the project Wagner Readings. As a much sought-after guest conductor, Kent Nagano works with the world’s leading international orchestras, including the Munich Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, Kent Nagano published the book “Erwarten Sie Wunder!”, a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today’s world. The book is also available in English and French.

2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. The DW documentary “The Sound of Nature” looks at five different musicians and ensembles from five continents, whose work addresses the issues of nature and the environment, inspired by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6.

Beethoven — The sound of nature

dignity, to justice, freedom and self-determination. His music strives to reach and speak to “all people”, not only a selected part of society. Out of this, Beethoven as composer and artist contained a certain political content which is reflected throughout history by the public reception of his works.

Joyous enlightenment This takes me back to my first visits to Germany in the late 1980s. Though at the time, my work was based primarily in the U. S., France and England, I was also working closely with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Pierre Boulez. Through them, I was able to attend rehearsals and performances in Germany. Beyond music, my time in Germany also changed my relationship with beer forever. Throughout my youth until young adulthood, in contrast to those around me, I always had an apathetic relationship with beer. The commercial beer product available in the USA at this time had taste, texture and aesthetic which I found not particularly appealing. It will remain forever in my memory of the day when, after polite reservation, I finally

agreed to share a beer with colleagues. The experience was an incredible, brilliant moment of complete and joyous enlightenment.

New perspectives I have been guided, provoked and inspired by many great professors, writers, historians, orchestras and interpreters. Very often, important influences have come through unexpected circumstances. When I was studying piano, my professor Goodwin Sammel exceptionally sponsored a private lesson for me with Claudio Arrau. As we were working in his studio, Maestro Carlo-Maria Giulini entered the room as he wished to resolve a problem they had just had during the morning’s rehearsal of the Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto. Both excused themselves and in front of me began to engage in a very lively and agitated disagreement over how a certain passage should evolve. Fascinating was that each had deeply inspiring observations to share leaving me with completely new perspectives which follow me today.

Beethoven expressed his romantic appreciation of nature in his Sixth Symphony. The Beethoven jubilee organization and the UN Climate Change Secretariat launched the “Beethoven Pastoral Project” urging creatives around the world to draw inspiration from Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony — also known as the Pastoral Symphony — and set an example for climate protection. The Sound of Nature tells the story of five musicians and ensembles from five continents, whose work deals with nature and climate change: Australian composer Brett Dean, who has written a “Pastoral Symphony” of his own, popular South American rock band Aterciopelados, Indian music star Ricky Kej, the Icelandic jazz band ADHD and pop star Betty G from Ethiopia, the Queen of Afropop. youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic

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GLOBAL MEDIA FORUM

The Internet — danger or boon for autocrats? The Internet can be used as a tool of oppression. But it can also be a p latform for critical voices. Journalists Maria Ressa from the Philippines and Lina Attalah from Egypt and A mnesty International’s Markus N. Beeko d iscussed the importance of the Internet in autocratic states in a digital s ession of this year’s Global Media Forum. by Ines Eisele, DW editor

Maria Ressa is a co-founder and editor-in-chief of the news website Rappler in the Philippines. She is under immense pressure because of Rappler’s critical coverage of the government, particularly on President Rodrigo Duterte’s declared “war on drugs.” Ressa has already been arrested many times and recently received a libel conviction. Her sentence is still pending.

Lina Attalah is the founder and chief editor of the online newspaper Mada Masr — one of the remaining independent media outlets in Egypt — and which has been banned for the past three years by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government. Egyptian authorities have taken action against Mada Masr on several occasions: the newspaper was raided last November and Attalah was briefly arrested in May.

Markus N. Beeko is the secretary general of Amnesty International in Germany. He is also the chair of Amnesty’s international steering group on “Human Rights in the Digital Age.” Appointed to head the German section in 2016, he has been active in leadership positions for Amnesty in Germany and the international secretariat in London since 2004.

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Social media as a weapon According to Ressa, global societies are witnessing the “death of democracy by a thousand cuts.” She stresses that the Internet, in particular social media, has contributed to this process in the Philippines in recent years: “The government uses social media as a weapon by flooding it with so much information and so much hate that at some point people no longer know what is true,” she explains. Despite legal and physical attacks against critical journalists, it is still possible to talk of media diversity in the Philippines, whereas in Egypt, extensive criminal prosecutions and censorship have had a seriously diluting effect on the media. “The only media that escape censorship are those that are either state-owned or have sworn allegiance to the state in one way or another,” says Attalah, describing the situation in the North

African country. Independent media organizations, on the other hand, are barely able to do their job anymore; Mada Masr has had to adopt “alternative publication methods” because their website has been blocked. For Beeko, what is happening in Egypt and the Philippines and other countries like China or Russia, in terms of state influence online reflects what is happening in the analogue world: “Repression is increasing. Human rights are under attack, press freedom is under attack, activists and lawyers are under attack.”

Social media as an alternative meeting place At the same time, however, the Internet remains an important platform for many people to become informed, to exchange and to engage with each other — especially where real spaces for exchange no longer exist,

Digital Global Media Forum tackles role of media in COVID-19 reporting Stay in touch via the Global Media Forum social media channels and check the website for regular updates on the sessions to come in the following months. #dw_gmf

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by Sertan Sanderson, DW editor

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With large-scale events being placed on hold around the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the DW Global Media Forum (GMF) also takes its conference online this year.

GMFconference Global Media Forum (GMF)

says Beeko. So, in the hands of some, the Internet can be the ultimate tool of o ppression, while for others it is an indispensable means of liberation. Attalah and Ressa want to see a change in the way social media operates so that it does not lead to polarization, but to better information and understanding. “We will continue to do our best, because I believe we do make a difference. That’s our way of fighting back: more journalism,” Ressa concludes. Watch the full session on

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The Global Media Forum 2020 receives support from the Federal Foreign Office, the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Savings Bank in Bonn.

For the past 12 years, the Global Media Forum has brought together more than 2,000 participants from over 120 countries. This year, GMF is hosting a series of online debates to discuss pressing issues in contemporary journalism within the framework of its 2020 topic “Pluralism. Populism. Journalism.” The first session kicked off on June 24, with a discussion on the media’s role in the ongoing public health crisis. The live-streamed debate “The blame game: What is the media’s responsibility in the corona crisis?” featured three guests from around the globe: John-Allan Namu, CEO of investigative Kenyan news platform, Africa Uncensored; Maria Esperanza Casullo, a political scientist and Associate Professor at the National University in Rio Negro, Argentina; and Guido Bülow, Head of News Partnerships Central Europe at Facebook. Focusing on the trustworthiness of news sources, particularly in the digital realm, Casullo stressed the importance of local journalism within this context, stating that many people were struggling to identify brands they could trust amid a “deluge of information” on the novel coronavirus. “It’s hard to filter what is reliable and trustworthy and what is not. I’m finding during these months that local, provincial or even city newspapers are more reliable than national media because they actually do have reporters on the ground and they have more factual figures and information,” said Casullo. Bülow stated that Facebook had introduced a dedicated COVID-19 information center with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO). “In order to combat misinformation, we are working together with more than 70 fact-checkers around the world,” Bülow said. These include major global news agencies. According to Namu, the current situation could strengthen media in the long-term. He underscores the need for balanced reporting, especially in regions that do not have access to a broad range of independent news, and where smaller outlets provide the majority of news: “We can’t do it all online. Internet penetration is not as high as was recently thought, and COVID-19 has exposed this,” he said. Despite the many challenges posed by the global pandemic, the panelists are hopeful that journalists could learn from the crisis in the long term.

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MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Murder and i ntimidation: threats against e nvironmental a ctivists Nowhere is the commitment to e nvironmental protection as dangerous as in Latin A merica. In a new report, the investigative data journalism project Tierra de Resistentes draws a shocking conclusion. by Stefanie Binder, DW Akademie

“Which Honduran media has enough resources of its own to research nearly 700 cases of threats against environmental activists? None of them do!” said Jennifer Avila Reyes, co-founder of the independent cross-media research platform, Contracorriente. After Brazil, Honduras is the most dangerous country in Latin America for environmentalists. Conditions there are also

extremely difficult for conducting independent journalism. Transnational cooperation with the Tierra de Resistentes project has enabled Contracorriente to conduct extensive research and reports on the Tolupan people in Yoro, an indigenous community facing serious threats for resisting attempts to destroy its lands.

If it weren’t for the project, said Avila Reyes, authorities would refuse to give Contracorriente information about the cases, adding that those affected are also afraid to talk. “But because we’re part of a major project that involves several media and that has an international reach, this has opened doors,” she said. Tierra de Resistentes aims to raise public awareness about the commitment of numerous Latin American environmental activists who have faced threats or have been murdered. The living database is also a source for other media workers and for scientists and political analysts. In addition to data visualization, the project also tells the stories of the people behind the numbers using video, audio, and text formats. Initial figures were published in spring 2019. Since then, Consejo de Redacción has updated the database and the accompanying website and has added cases and countries. The head of the organisation, Camilo Amaya, has already witnessed the first successes. “The pressure of public opinion through reporting has led the government in Colombia to start recognizing that there is a system behind the murders, expulsions and violence against activists,” said Amaya.

The project has published 29 reports and an unprecedented database with 2,367 attacks against environmental leaders in the last 11 years in Latin America

38 Weltzeit 2 | 2020

Almost 2,400 cases of violence Tierra de Resistentes’ latest figures are shocking. Over the last 11 years, there have been 2,367 documented cases of violence against environmental activists in Latin America. The database includes ten countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, and Honduras. Six are among the world’s ten most dangerous countries for environmental activists. A team of 50 journalists, photographers and camera operators conducted the research in government institutions, press archives, civil society organizations and in the communities affected.

“There were previous attempts to document the threats but they weren’t able to provide this range of data let alone assess the circumstances journalistically,” said A ndrés Bermúdez Liévano, chief editor of Tierra de Resistentes.

Much broader picture of situation

Ethnic minorities particularly affected The data shows that almost half (48 percent) of the violent actions documented were directed against members of ethnic minorities. Eleven of the 159 indigenous groups affected are thought to be dying out. Another sad fact, said Bermúdez, is that “these people are often portrayed as underdeveloped instead of being recognized as protectors of a common good.” Attackers use this to as a kind of justification for their assaults. Tierra de Resistentes aims not only to collect the data but to also to find and reveal patterns. For example, the project has shown that activists involved in land conflicts are most at risk and that the threat comes primarily from the agricultural industry. In the Amazon region, the degree and extent of violence are particularly high. Tierra de Resistentes’ reports show that dozens of ancestral lands, indigenous communities and national parks across the Amazon basin have been the targets of attacks and criminal interests. There are, for example, documented cases of newcomers taking over indigenous areas, of the military attacking indigenous

Tierra de Resistentes: local research and transnational cooperation is fundamental to the project

In 2016, UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst published his first report on the situation of environmental activists worldwide. Since then, few statistics have been collected regionally or globally. Bermúdez said it remains unclear as to the full extent of the threats or scope of aggression, and that the figures available focus primarily on the number of activists killed. In response, T ierra de Resistentes has been documenting various types of violence such as physical attacks, expulsions, legal harassment and sexual assaults. This has provided a much broader picture of the situation in all ten countries studied.

Environmental activists protect themselves with bulletproof vests in El Hatillo, César Department in Colombia

leaders, oil companies denying responsibility for contaminated water sources, drug dealers forcing communities to cultivate coca plants, park rangers being murdered and loggers acting against those resisting. Projects like Tierra de Resistentes are also relevant in a global context. Public discussions on climate change have greatly increased worldwide as has the interest in those protecting the global climate. Journalists at Tierra de Resistentes hope that their solidly researched data they provide will advance the debate and will also lead to lawsuits in the countries affected. This is because one of the most serious problems in Latin America is the lack of criminal prosecutions.

Tierra de Resistentes (“Land of the Resistant”) is a multinational investigative data journalism project initiated by the Colombian journalists’ organization Consejo de Redacción with support from DW Akademie. By documenting organized violence against Latin American environmental activists, the project aims to increase awareness for the commitment of the activists and their communities. The database includes threats and murder. tierraderesistentes.com

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MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

‘Without the earth we cannot exist’ They call themselves “Children of Mother Earth.” Indigenous communities of the Amazon are not only fighting for the preservation of a unique habitat but for their survival. Interview with Noelia Campo, indigenous representative of the Cauca region in southwest Colombia. Interview conducted by Jasmin Rietdorf, DW Akademie

Who is responsible for this? We are faced with a policy of exploitation. Large multinationals have invaded the indigenous territory in the northern Cauca. Sugar cane is grown there for fuel. We are running out of water. These companies want to drive us out of our territories in order to further exploit our land. They hire people who come to us and threaten us and try to force us to give up. You are propagating non-violence. How do you resist? The women have become stronger, the young people, too. This is still developing. The communities in the few areas that have access to mobile phones and the internet are very active in social networks and use them to educate people and fight against misinformation. But as soon as we raise our voices, we are threatened. We get written threats telling us to get out of the area, out of the city, and that pushes us into a corner. But still we have strength. We have the clear objective to continue defending our territory. If our land is taken from us, we have no way of continuing to exist as indigenous peoples. Most indigenous areas do not have access to the Internet. How do you inform the public about what is happening in indigenous areas and how do you keep yourself informed? We have mobile phones but they are of no use to us. We have to go to a city, to Popayan or to any other nearby town, to make phone calls or to access the Internet.

40 Weltzeit 2 | 2020

The radio also reaches communities further up in the mountains, in the areas further away from the cities. However, local radio stations are fighting for their own economic survival because the Colombian government is demanding taxes. They do not have the necessary financial resources. That is why there are radio stations broadcasting without a license, the “Radios Piratas.” The state has no control in this region. The government can’t reach up into the mountains but the radio signal can.

You have also been threatened with death — are you afraid? I fear for the life of our Mother Earth. Again and again intruders come into our territories to exploit them. I am not afraid for my life. If I die, I will die in battle. And I know that this struggle does not only take place in the Cauca but that indigenous peoples are fighting all over Latin America. We want our children to continue to breathe clean air, to continue to have clean water. My message is that the resistance must continue!

31-year-old Noelia Campo is the youngest member of the board of directors of the Cauca indigenous council. Here she wears a “bastón” which distinguishes her as a dignitary.

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Your home is the Cauca region, one of the most dangerous areas in Colombia. Political, social and environmental activists have been murdered. What is the situation there now? They want to take away our water. They want to take away our air. The struggle for land has become a life-and-death struggle. Many of us have been killed because they raised their voices to say “Do not let our mother earth bleed. Do not cut off her roots because without the earth we cannot exist.” That is why more than 45 indigenous leaders have been murdered this year and Cauca has been especially affected.

Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca (CRIC) The Indigenous Regional Council of the Cauca, was founded in 1971 as a self-governing organization and political representation of the indigenous population in the Cauca region. Today, a large part of the indigenous population is organized into the CRIC. The council is made up of ten ethnic groups: Nasa and Misak as the largest groups, and smaller ones like Kokonuko, Totoró, Yanacona and Inga. They all live and maintain their own culture and language. The CRIC fights for the preservation of indigenous autonomy and territory. The Colombian constitution guarantees extensive political autonomy in the indigenous territories, called Resguardos. Indigenous self-government also includes their own justice, education and health institutions as well as media.

AROUND THE WORLD

A Nigerian teenager finds strength through ballet Imprint

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“This is my life. I don’t need to fake it,” says Olamide Olawale. Here she dances in her neighborhood Ojo in Lagos, Nigeria.

Christoph Jumpelt EDITORS

Fanny Facsar, head of DW’s Lagos Bureau and West Africa correspondent, met an inspiring 18-year-old ballet dancer in Lagos. Here is her story. by Fanny Facsar, DW correspondent

Ivana Drmić, Anne Samba DESIGN

Lisa Jansari COVER PHOTO

Shortly before returning to Nigeria on a repatriation flight, I came across a few agency pictures of children dancing ballet in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Lagos. I wanted to know more about the students beyond a few colorful pictures. That’s how I met Olamide Olawale. I have encountered various people in West Africa facing hardship, violence and terror. That is a kind of life which is difficult to imagine, let alone endure — and sometimes hard to cover as a journalist. Olamide’s story was captivating on a different level. Ballet to keep children out of harm It is early in the morning when Olamide opens her doors to us — the doors to a 10 square meters apartment, which she shares with her mother and her younger sister. She is about to clean the floor on an empty stomach. Olamide cannot hide her tears as she explains how overwhelming it can be sometimes to put her own needs on hold, not to tell her mother who is struggling to provide for her family. Her mother, an elementary teacher, says she has not received her salary in four months, since schools closed due to the pandemic. “This is my life. I don’t need to fake it. I have faith, if I am disciplined it will change,” says Olamide. Discipline and commitment are what she has learned through

ballet, she tells me. She is one of 12 students who receive free ballet classes in Ojo. In this tough neighborhood of Lagos the future looks bleak — especially for the youth. Gangs, crime and prostitution are common ways to make money. Learning how to dance ballet is probably the last thing you would expect to see here. Daniel Ajala founded the school as a selftaught ballet teacher to give the youth a perspective, keep them off the streets and out of trouble, he explains. Olamide was one of his first students in 2017 and comes to practice twice a week. The very same Olamide I met at home in the morning, in tears, and with a face marked by worries, seemed so different as she was dancing with grace and elegance. “When I come to dance, I forget about everything, dance makes me feel happy and makes me to express my feelings too. Just forget about the past and now I am in the future.” Putting Nigeria on the international map Olamide dreams of putting Nigeria on the map for international ballet and opening a shop where she would sell costumes for ballet students. She recently started to learn how to sew. While she does so, she keeps moving her feet. “I always practice ballet. I don’t care what other people think of me because I know what I want for myself.”

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For now Olamide performs with her class in the neighborhoods of Ojo, for some people a welcome distraction, others are skeptical. “Due to the religious believes in Nigeria it is seen as indecent for a woman to lift her leg up,” her teacher says. Olamide is poised to continue. She may never dance on big international stages of the world, but ballet gives her strength to overcome the difficulties she faces. When she jumps up from the dirty ground to perform a difficult step, one cannot help but wonder where she gets all her strength from. “Before ballet I was a shy person, now I can express myself and move on”, she says and continues with practice.

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Alexandra von Nahmen on assignment in front of the White House in Washington D. C.

42 Weltzeit 2 | 2020

Reporting from the Capital Alexandra von Nahmen reported from the U. S. capital Washington D. C. from 2017 to mid-July 2020. As DW’s Washington bureau chief she covered defining moments in the recent history of the United States. She now heads the DW bureau in Brussels. by Ivana Drmić, DW editor

Alexandra von Nahmen arrived in a highly polarized country when she took over as DW’s bureau chief in Washington, D. C. in 2017. These were the last days of Obama’s presidency awaiting the incoming Trump administration. “My first assignment was a report about one of the district’s famous African American churches. Just a few days before President Trump’s inauguration, I spoke with members of the congregation about their expectations and their fears with regard to his presidency. At this moment, none of us could have imagined what was to come, and how the anger over racial injustice and police brutality would erupt in the streets across the country,” she recalls her first days in Washington D. C.. One of the biggest challenges covering the U. S. during the Trump presidency is the fast moving news cycle, she says. “It is difficult to keep up — with his tweets, his distraction maneuvers, the personnel carousel within the administration.”

get a lot of money for writing, but they pay alright for photographs,” a friend told her. For her first story on the opinion of the youth on the upcoming election, she interviewed her friends and fellow students. “I was so proud. I actually had been thinking about becoming a writer, but this might have been the moment that convinced me to try my luck as a journalist,” Alexandra von Nahmen says. Later she worked for the WAZ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) newspaper, the local radio station, and as a TV reporter at the public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). The direct feedback from the audience shaped her the most. Having studied at the American University in Washington, D. C., she was drawn to DW for its international focus and multinational staff. DW offered her much more than she was hoping for, she says. She worked as a reporter at the parliamentary studio, traveling with then-President Johannes Rau and Ger-

The protests after the death of G eorge Floyd were the most monumental and telling events I witnessed in the U. S. As DW’s Washington bureau chief she has reported on the Mueller investigation, the summits with Kim Jong Un in Singapore and Hanoi, the impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives and the impeachment trial in the Senate, the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests. Every time she thought: “Wow, I never expected to cover such an event! This is a real highlight — hard to top!” And every time, it took just a few weeks or even less for the next unexpected huge event to happen. Alexandra von Nahmen got her first journalistic experience through a part-time student job at a local newspaper in her home town of Recklinghausen. “You won’t

man Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and was a reporter on the ground when Poland and the Czech Republic became members of the European Union. “And that’s why I am so excited to enter the next phase of my career now — as DW’s bureau chief in Brussels,” she says. In the U. S., she was elected president of the White House Foreign Press Group as she focused on covering the administration and the president himself. “I was often in the Oval Office and the East Room. I asked President Trump questions — well, actually, you have to scream them at him as every other reporter does.” What struck her most was how Donald Trump — who has been repeatedly described as “erratic” and as a

“stunningly uninformed” commander in chief — was able to profoundly change the priorities of U. S. foreign policy, alienating allies and friends, and to what extent he was able to challenge the system of checks and balances in the U. S.. “I think it will be difficult if not totally impossible for the country to recover from this presidency which has deepened long-existing divisions and put on display challenges and problems the U. S. has been facing for decades.” However, she felt that the protests after the death of George Floyd were the most monumental and telling events she witnessed in the U. S.. “During my time in Washington, I covered many protests. But this time — the anger paired simultaneously with the hope for change — was an amazing experience. I was among the people gathered at the White House on that infamous Monday when the authorities decided to clear the streets by using tear gas on peaceful protesters and on us reporters so that the president could have a photo op in front of a nearby church. This was a moment I will never forget — a moment that may define Donald Trump’s presidency.” While living abroad, her perspective on Germany has changed. During her time as DW’s bureau chief in Moscow between 2007 and 2012, she learned to appreciate Germany’s rule of law, its health system and its press code. “Having covered the political debate about health care and education in the U. S., I appreciate the universal health care, tuition-free education and welfare system in Germany more than I did before. On the other hand, I will certainly miss the freedom you feel in the U. S. — a freedom to be accepted the way you are. And last, but not least: the Americans’ proverbial kindness, paired with taking it easy, is something that we could use more in Germany.”

Deutsche Welle 43

20.8.–10.9.2021

ANTICIPATION IS THE GREATEST OF ALL JOYS! We invite you to join us in counting down the days to the Beethovenfest Bonn 2021. Unfortunately, many concerts and events scheduled for this year’s festival had to be postponed due to Corona-related restrictions. The complete 2021 programme, supplemented by other top-class concerts, will be announced on September 6, 2020. Advance booking will start at the end of November. Should you wish to secure tickets in advance, we would be pleased to welcome you as a “Friend of the Beethovenfest”. More information on www.beethovenfest.de!

KING E BOO C N A V END AD AT THE S T R A ST R VEMBE OF NO

Weltzeit 2-2020 | Freedom. Information. Empowerment.

Articles inside

WHCA’s Jonathan Karl: ‘Journalism is widely appreciated right now’

Can free press in Hong Kong survive the national security law?

Editorial

Outgoing DW Washington bureau chief: Reporting from the Capital

A Nigerian teenager finds strength through ballet

Amazon indigenous communities: ‘Without the earth we cannot exist’

Beethoven’s music a true reflection of humanism

Digital Global Media Forum

Murder and intimidation: threats against environmental activists

Diversity and Inclusion

Interview: DW’s new Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge

Jérôme Boateng: ‘No child is born a racist’

CPJ’s Courtney Radsch: ‘A dangerous time to be a journalist’

Spike Lee: ‘Change has to happen in how policing is done in the U.S.’

Media in Central and South-East Europe: Danger level yellow

Press freedom in Turkey — light at the end of the tunnel?

Tackling disinformation online

Encounters

Kenya: A pandemic meets an infodemic

Věra Jourová: ‘Threats and intimidation should have no place in Europe’

India: The long shadow of digital darkness

Freedom in Brazil gradually eroded

DW Freedom of Speech Award 2020