Stephan Scherzer new member of the M100 Advisory Board

13 March 2024. We are delighted to welcome Stephan Scherzer as a new member of the M100 Advisory Board!
Since 2012, Stephan Scherzer has been CEO of the MVFP (former VDZ), the umbrella trade organization representing the interests of 350 German Magazine Media Publishers.
Between 2007-2011 he worked for IDG in San Francisco as Executive Vice President, running the digital business of the consumer group. He started his career as journalist, was editor-in-chief of Macworld Magazine, later Group Publisher and member of the board of IDG in Germany. He is the Vice President of the European Magazine Media Association, has a seat at FIPP steering committee and is a member of the Executive Board of “Stiftung Lesen” – German Literacy Foundation.
As a graduate of Ludwig Maximilians University Munich he holds an M.A. degree in Political Science, History, Economics. He loves Mountaineering and lives with his family in Berlin.

War is one of the most horrible things that you can possibly adapt to

By Olena Kuk

What had changed since the full-scale Russian war began? To answer that question, I want to show you one of the almost regular mornings in Kyiv nowadays:

February 7th, 2024

5:55 AM – Air Alarm.
6:57 AM – Explosion in the distance. That sound woke me up because the warning alarm before didn’t. I took my phone to check the monitoring telegram channels to understand – what was that?
“Cruise missiles are flying toward Kyiv”, – the message from Air Defence I overslept.
“The air defense is working in Kyiv”, – current statement.
“Rockets heading west”, – next information.
7:05 AM – I put down my phone, turned on the other side, and went back to sleep. The day before I had to work until 00:00, came home, and went to bed at 2:00 am. Because of the exhaustion, I couldn’t even hear the air alarm and decided to risk and continue sleeping.
7:40 AM – Loud explosion sound. My windows shook. One more strong explosion.
7:41 AM – I took my blanket and went to the hall to hide behind two walls. You cannot ignore such a powerful strike.

read more War is one of the most horrible things that you can possibly adapt to

Russian propaganda is a crucial human rights violation

By Anastasiia Ivantsova

Russia is not only a threat to Ukrainians. Russia is also a threat to you. And this threat is slower and more insidious, because their war is already going on in your minds.

I am writing a part of this text from bombshelter. Today, the threat comes from cruise missiles launched by Tu-95 strategic bombers. They are fast and heavy, but thanks to Western weapons from our partners, they we can shot them down. Nevertheless, we are hiding in the underground parking lot of our own apartment building at 5 a.m., because even the fragments of a missile can cause a lot of damage. Ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles and Iranian kamikaze-drones are also flying towards our peaceful cities. And as a civilian Ukrainian woman living a few hundred kilometers from the front line, I feel only a small part of the war. But it is here nonetheless. I can take pictures of its consequences and show them to you, I can describe it to you.
But disinformation is more difficult.

read more Russian propaganda is a crucial human rights violation

This war had implications for us all

By Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws KC

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was and is a criminal act under international law. Despite Russia’s purported claims that Ukrainian territory is a historic and integral part of Russia, Ukraine remains a sovereign nation, and Russia’s invasion constitutes a Crime of Aggression.

Since the beginning of the invasion, the Russian state has committed numerous war crimes and atrocities. The Russian military has carried out a sustained campaign of targeting civilians and other non-military targets, ranging from schools and hospitals to crucial infrastructure. Notable among these was the attack on the Kakhovka Dam, which was destroyed on June 6th, 2023, unleashing a flood which led to the wholesale devastation of the affected area. Additionally, the shelling of the Zaporizhian nuclear power plant and the consequential disruption of its operation could have, if not unchecked, resulted in a nuclear disaster. Russia has also engaged in the repeated and continuous use of chemical weapons against Ukraine in clear violation of the Geneva Convention.

read more This war had implications for us all

It is our duty not only to mourn, but to act

By Mike Schubert

It has been two and a half years since we honoured Alexei Navalny with the M100 Media Award for his unwavering commitment to democracy and transparency. His political companion and friend Leonid Volkov accepted the award on his behalf in Potsdam, as he was already in prison for his fight against Russia’s unjust regime. The news of his death reached us last week. We are deeply shocked.
And we are shocked that two years after the Russian army invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the war is still going on. Every day we receive new reports of people who have fallen victim to this war. Thousands have already lost their lives, millions have been forced to flee and are now seeking protection and a new home in countries like Germany. These figures are not just statistics; they represent individual fates, shattered dreams and the immense suffering of families torn apart.

read more It is our duty not only to mourn, but to act

It’s getting harder to hope

By Olga Rudenko

This Saturday, February 24, millions of people in Europe will wake up and go about their usual weekend business. They will be having brunches with friends, driving kids to playdates, and doing grocery shopping.
Here in Ukraine, millions of people will have a heavy heart this Saturday morning. This day, February 24, marks two years since Russia launched an all-out invasion of our country.
I was asked many times what that first day of invasion was like. I recounted it in my opening remarks at the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in September 2022. I still remember it in all its details, hour by hour. One doesn’t forget hearing an air raid for the first time.
Are you still with me? If you are, thank you. Two years in, the stories of what Ukrainians go through don’t capture people’s attention as they used to. It’s human nature to grow more blunt about suffering after hearing about it again and again.

read more It’s getting harder to hope

A genocide of the population is taking place in Ukraine

By Kai Diekmann

The brutal war against Ukraine has been going on for two years now. 24 months with many thousands of deaths, rapes, torture, the destruction of lives, livelihoods and homes and the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia. Two years in which families have been separated from their sons, husbands, brothers and friends because they are fighting on the front line without a break. Two years in which I worry about Ukrainian friends and colleagues covering the war.

To date, this genocide has cost the Ukrainian people more than 10,000 civilian victims, including nearly 600 children. Over 19,000 civilians have been injured, including over 1,000 children. I use the word genocide deliberately because that is what the Russian dictator wants to achieve: the extermination of the people of Ukraine. He will use any means to achieve this.

read more A genocide of the population is taking place in Ukraine

Ukraine will never become part of Russia

By Olesia Tytarenko

Once a week I take Spanish classes. My teacher is a native speaker, who lives in a Spanish-speaking country, “consumes” local news, and knows a lot about geopolitics and international relations. Every Sunday we begin our lesson by discussing the situation in Ukraine, the political turmoil in Latin America, and the global battles of the superpowers. One day, after asking “how are things going?” and answering “as usual. We’re hanging in there,” my teacher disarmed me. “If Ukraine loses, will you become part of Russia?”, she asked.

As a journalist, I understand that such a question has the right to exist. At the same time, I remember that a year ago, when we first met, my teacher was absolutely convinced of Ukraine’s victory and rightness. Should I stop the conversation? Stop communicating? Look for a new teacher? Learn the language on my own? In February 2024, two years after the start of a full-scale war, Ukraine is asking itself similar questions, the answers to which are certainly not unambiguous. There is no doubt about only one thing: Ukraine will never become part of Russia. At least because it has never been.

read more Ukraine will never become part of Russia

It seems that the world and Ukrainians are teetering on the brink of chaos

By Olga Konsevych

Since April 2022, I have been working from Germany, and even though I am safe, my life has changed many times. But whenever I face difficulties, I think of my colleagues who rush to the scene of shelling immediately after the air alarms die down or assist veterans and military personnel in raising funds for their most basic needs. Understanding the importance of not comparing suffering and not devaluing my own emotions doesn’t make this perception any easier.

Recently, Reporters Without Borders released updated statistics announcing that more than 100 journalists were injured in Ukraine during the war. Russia is actively targeting journalists who refuse to cooperate, and the fate of colleagues in the occupied territories remains uncertain.

read more It seems that the world and Ukrainians are teetering on the brink of chaos

The West is at peace because the Ukrainians are fighting

By Anna Romandash

On February 24, 2024, it will be two years since Russian full-scale invasion. Yet, the Russian war started much earlier – back in the winter of 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea by sending its “green men” into the peninsula as well as Eastern parts of Ukraine. Back then, Russia denied its involved in the Donbas region. Its misinformation campaign worked – half the world believed in some ludicrous notion of the civil war in Ukraine and that Russia was simply protecting its citizens in our country. Democracies looked away while Ukraine was largely left to its own devices – and had to fight off Russian invasion on its own.

read more The West is at peace because the Ukrainians are fighting