DW Akademie at World Press Freedom Day 2024

DW Akademie experts and partners participated in this year's UN World Press Freedom Day Conference in Santiago de Chile. Here's an overview of DW Akademie's contributions to the conference program.

(Dis)InfoTactics in the super election year: The scramble to rebuild trust in the media

On May 3, 2024, DW Akademie organized a breakout session in the conference's main program. The recording can be watched here:

Half of the world's population is being called to the polls in 2024. This super election year will test the strength and limits of some of the world's largest democracies. Massive disinformation campaigns using new content generation technologies are flooding the media ecosystem to mislead voters as they make important political decisions.

Panelists Patricia Mayorga (Periodistas de a Pie, Mexico), Swapneel Mehta (Boston University & MIT, India), Marcela Tobar Ríos (IDEA International) and Gwen Lister (founder of The Namibian and director of the NMT Media Foundation) discussed key approaches and solutions to holistically confront election disinformation. 

The breakout session was moderated by Carsten von Nahmen, DW Akademie's Managing Director.

"Cambia la historia": New narratives for the planet

On the panel (left to right): Edilma Prada (Agenda Propia, Colombia), Laura Aguirre (Alharaca, El Salvador), Patricia Noboa Armendáriz (DW Akademie), Amanda Martón (Revista Anfibia, Chile), und Pamela Carmona (Autonomías Podcast, Mexico)

On May 4, DW Akademie and Alharaca organized a panel on gender-sensitive reporting around environmental issues. Experts have long noted that women disproportionally bear the brunt of the environmental crisis. Simultaneously, there are many examples, where women have refused to accept violations and have successfully mobilized against them. Together, panelists Laura Aguirre (Alharaca, El Salvador), Amanda Martón (Revista Anfibia, Chile), Pamela Carmona (Autonomías Podcast, Mexico), and Edilma Prada (Agenda Propia, Colombia) looked at the intersection of feminism and the environmental crisis – from a constructive perspective.

During an interactive discussion with experts in the fields of gender, environmental reporting, and constructive journalism, Alharaca and DW Akademie invited participants to rethink narratives that dominate discussion on the environmental crisis. In a participatory game format, the audience was invited to exchange ideas about the potentials and limitations of a solutions-focused journalistic approach that puts a gender perspective at the center.

The Media Viability Manifesto: A Common Framework for Joint Action

Organized by DW Akademie and UNESCO IPDC, as representatives of the Media Viability Manifesto initiative, further consisting of International Media Support, Free Press Unlimited, BBC Media Action, Global Forum for Media Development, Sembra Media, Center for International Media Assistance, Internews, FT Strategies, Fondation Hirondelle, and IREX.

In this session, panelists Laura Aguirre (CEO and founder of Alharaca and SembraMedia Ambassador for El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), Gwen Lister (founder of The Namibian and director of the NMT Media Foundation), Mariana Alvarado del Real (journalist, Mexico, and Media Viability Ambassador), and Gaygysyz "Guy" Geldiyev, Managing Partner at Jnomics Media, Ukraine, and Media Viability Ambassador) joined audience members in discussing the Media Viability Manifesto, a joint framework on media viability for media development and media support actors. The aim is to put the manifesto into practice, generate tangible solutions, and foster strategic stakeholder collaboration.

This side event was moderated by Tom Law, Deputy Director of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD).

DW Akademie contributions to UNESCO panels

DW Akademie project director and Media and Information Literacy expert for Latin America, Patricia Noboa Armendáriz, discussed the importance of media literacy for freedom of speech and spotlighted concrete examples from DW Akademie's vast MIL project portfolio. In the side event by the UNESCO MIL Alliance, Noboa Armendáriz joined panelists Adeline Hulin (Chief of Unit for Media and Information Literacy and digital competencies at UNESCO), Rosa González (Regional Advisor for Communication and Information for Latin America and the Caribbean at UNESCO) and Silvia Bacher (Representative of the UNESCO MIL Alliance for Latin America and the Caribbean).

Watch Patricia Noboa Armendáriz' deep dive into the challenge of disinformation in Latin America's super election year and DW Akademie's new Tackling Disinformation Learning Guide: 

Carsten von Nahmen, Amb. Paula Narvaez Ojeda (United Nations Economic and Social Council), and Amb. Simona Mirela Miculescu (President of the General Conference of UNESCO) on the panel (left to right)

In addition, DW Akademie Managing Director Carsten von Nahmen moderated the launch of a joint declaration for press freedom by UN Bodies, the recording of which can be watched on-demand here:

DW Akademie partner organizations at the World Press Freedom Day

Luis Salazar from DW Akademie's partner organization in Bolivia, CEPRA, participated in the panel "What happened to media pluralism?", organized by OBSERVACOM. A recording of the session is available here.(In Spanish)

Jorge Guachamín from DW Akademie's partner organization in Ecuador,  CORAPE, spoke on the panel "What does journalism need to help save the Amazon?", organized by the Special Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression - Inter-American Human Rights Court and FLIP.