Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum ended in Bonn Germany with a strong message that Europe needs to live up to its own values.
In his closing remarks at the ninth consecutive Global Media Forum this week, DW director general Peter Limbourg drew attention to European values.
“In discussing our values with others, we receive an important reflection on those values that we, in Germany and in Europe, consider worth protecting and sharing.” said Limbourg.
According to Limbourg, Europe does not always live up to its own values citing examples of the sale of arms, the pollution of the environment and cooperation with corrupt regimes, which he said are strong reminders that EU needs to live up to its own values before it can start preaching them to others.
During the opening of the forum German President Joachim Gauck had an inspiring message for the participants of the conference and reminded the journalists from around the world of their shared responsibility.
During the forum editor-in-chief of the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet, Sedat Ergin, received the Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award for his stand of publishing investigative news in a tough environment.
In a response to Ergin’s feat, fellow journalist and publisher of the German newspaper BILD, Kai Diekmann said freedom of the press is a valuable and noble good and asked journalists around the world not to stop addressing the terrible state of the freedom of the press and opinion in Turkey.
The important role of bloggers and activists in societies without true freedom of speech was on the agenda of the Global Media Forum.
International speakers on several panels at the conference made it clear that the media is at a turning point.
They said the shift to an ever more important role of direct dialogue with people around the world through social media opens new opportunities for journalism.
More than 2 000 participants from 110 countries came together in Bonn for the ninth annual Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. Challenging subjects were addressed under the banner of “Media, Freedom Values.”
The theme was selected due to the difficult situations journalists are facing in countries around the world.
Some of the issues that were discussed at the conference are the role of the media, freedom of expression and the values that need protecting. n
