Potsdam, 27 June 2019. On 17 September, the future of the European public sphere will be discussed at the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in the Orangery in Potsdam. For 15 years, M100 has been bringing together international thought leaders from the worlds of media, politics, and academia to assess the role and impact of the media in international affairs.
In its anniversary year, the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium looks back to the theme of its first event 15 years ago: “Quo Vadis Europe?”. In 2005, under the impression of EU enlargement and the trajectory of a seemingly “ever closer union”, journalists and media makers were still optimistic. Today the existence of the European project is at stake. The spectre of disintegration on nationalistic grounds looms, European values are being called into question – and the European public sphere which many consider a prerequisite for European democracy remains wanting.
Against this background – and in light of the transformations that technological developments are bringing about in journalism and democracy worldwide – the anniversary edition of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium “From Pipedream to Reality – Democracy & the European Public Sphere” will deal with the future of the European public sphere.
About 60 editors-in-chief, academics and politicians will participate in the unique M100 roundtable discussions, including Dr. Alexandra Borchardt (Director of Strategic Development, Reuters Institute), Stephan-Andreas Casdorff (Publisher, Der Tagesspiegel), Nikos Chrysoloras (Bureau Chief Brussels, Bloomberg News), Kai Diekmann (Founder, storymachine and DFG), Can Dündar (Editor-in-chief, Özgürüz), Sven Gösmann (Editor-in-chief, dpa), Espen Egil Hansen (Editor-in-chief, Aftenposten), Tanit Koch (Executive Director, ntv), Martin Kotynek (Editor-in-chief, DER STANDARD), Dr. Stefan Leifert (Brussels-correspondent, zdf), Rasa Lukaityte-Vnarauskiene (Editor-in-chief, DELFI), Christian Mihr (Executive Director, Reporters without Borders Germany), Almut Möller (Head of ECFR Berlin), Mathias Müller von Blumencron (Editor-in-chief, Der Tagesspiegel), Niklaus Nuspliger (Brussels-correspondent, NZZ), Natalie Nougayrède (Columnist, The Guardian), Bruno Patino (Director for TV, ARTE France TV), Christian Rainer (Editor-in-chief, profil), Dagmar Rosenfeld (Editor-in-chief, DIEWELT), Stephan Scherzer (CEO, VDZ), Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel (President, United Europe e.V.), Prof. Claes de Vreese (Professor for Political communication, The Amsterdam School of Communication Research), Dr. Veselin Vačkov (Director, Lidové Noviny), Mary Wilkinson (Head of Editorial Content, BBC World News) and many more.
The conference ends with the M100 Media Award ceremony for a person who has rendered outstanding services to the protection of freedom of the press and democratic values. Previous awardees include Lord Norman Foster, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, Bob Geldof, Ingrid Betancourt, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Kurt Westergaard, Charlie Hebdo, Roberto Saviano, Natalia Sindeeva and Deniz Yücel. This year’s laureate will be announced soon. Find here the list of previous laureates.
M100 will also host the M100 Young European Journalists Workshop in the run-up to the conference and award ceremony. 25 young journalists from Europe, the countries of the Eastern Partnership and Russia will be invited to Potsdam and Berlin for an intensive 9-day training on “Reading in the Digital Age – Innovative Journalism”. Finally, the participants of the workshop will take part in the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium.
M100 is an initiative of Potsdam Media International e.V. and is mainly financed by the State Capital of Potsdam. Other supporters include the Federal Foreign Office, medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Federal Press Office, Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy. United Europe e.V. is our partner. Cooperation partners include the Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten, Reporters without Borders and the Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger (VDZ).
