From Information to Participation – Challenges for the Media

The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum now in its seventh year, brings together professionals from the fields of media, politics, culture, business, development cooperation and the academia. This year’s Global Media Forum (GMF), centered on the highly topical theme “From Information to Participation – Challenges for the Media”

The World Conference Center Bonn was the venue of the Global Media Forum that was held from 30th June to 2nd July 2014.

Mr Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe delivered the Keynote speech at the opening ceremony and one of the many points he made on the Internet was “Those who are not connected lose out. They lose out because they cannot fully participate in society. Access to the Internet therefore is a human right.”

Many prominent people spoke at the GMF, including Mr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister, Dr Gerd Muller, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mr Bassem Youssef, Egyptian political satirist, Ms Sarah Harrison, a confidant of Edward Snowden and Ms Auma Obama, founder of the "Sauti Kuu" foundation were amongst others.

This year’s attendance was a record with approximately 2,300 guests from 120 countries and regions as estimated by Deutsche Welle. Forty different parallel workshops with two plenary sessions and six keynote speeches. A very interesting and successful forum.

The Bobs Awards recognize outstanding contributions to international freedom of expression by honouring blogs, social media projects and websites. The 2014 awards in the following categories were won by – Best Blog, photo blog by Egyptian Mosa’ab Elshamy – Best Social Activism, Visualizing Palestine – Most Creative & Original, weicombo – Global Media Forum Award, Khabar Lahariya – Best Innovation, BanglaBraille project – Reporters Without Borders Award, YanukovychLeaks.

The Director General of Deutsche Welle Mr Peter Limbourg in his closing address said "We should make the most of the opportunities presented by digital communication in order to enact positive change all over the world." The GMF also had a lighter side to it with a reception at Deutsche Welle, Boat trip and dinner on the river Rhein and a reception hosted by the City of Bonn.

The Director General of Deutsche Welle Mr Peter Limbourg in his closing address said "We should make the most of the opportunities presented by digital communication in order to enact positive change all over the world."

The GMF also had a lighter side to it with a reception at Deutsche Welle, Boat trip and dinner on the river Rhein and a reception hosted by the City of Bonn.