News – Page 11 – M100 SANSSOUCI COLLOQUIUM

“The media industry needs to talk more openly about mental health”

by Denise Brechbühl

Denise Brechbühl is a freelance journalist from Switzerland. This year she participated in the M100 Young European Journalists Workshop in Berlin and Potsdam about disinformation, fake news and journalistic impartiality in times of war and crisis. In a side-kick, the 21 participants from 17 European countries also discussed the important issue of “mental health in journalism”.

Pictures of war on the photo desk, precarious working conditions, reporting in conflicted war zones – many journalists suffer from psychological stress. Often, they feel alone with it and one is more susceptible to mental illnesses such as depression or burnout or a reason for an increased number of absences. The media industry needs to talk more openly about mental health. At the M100 workshop, participants were able to discuss openly about it over the course of an afternoon.

The Role of the Media: We need more Media Literacy

Potsdam, 26 October 2022. The Strategic Working Group III was dedicated to the topic “How we respond to information warfare: Can we reclaim information as a European public good?” and was moderated by Prof. Dr Alexandra Borchardt, senior journalist, book author, lecturer, media consultant and member of the M100 Advisory Board. She also presented the outcome of the discussion. The introductory impulses were given by Meera Selva, CEO for Internews Europe, UK, and Roman Badanin, founder and editor-in-chief of Proekt and of Agentstvo, an association of journalists targeted by the Russian government for their investigative reporting.

Europe in a new World Order: Desire for Reforms

Potsdam, 24 October 2022. The results of Strategic Working Group II “The Role of Europe in a New World Order” were presented by Dr Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Political Scientist, American Council on Germany & American University of Beirut. The working group was introduced by impulses from Dr Julia De Clerck-Sachsse, EU diplomat and researcher, visiting scholar GMF, and LTG (Ret) Ben Hodges, Senior Advisor, Human Rights First. The discussion emphasised that Europe is falling short of the role of the army and the military in becoming a fully-fledged world power. The question is how a new world order could be defined. What is a post-unitary world order with decentralised economic gravity that shifts from the Atlantic to the Pacific and does not translate into geopolitical power shifts?

European Digital Strategic Autonomy: “China is not a model to follow”.

Potsdam, 21 October 2022. In the changing international security and economic landscape, the notions of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘autonomy’ have been acquiring an unprecedentedly central role in EU political and policy agendas. ‘Strategic autonomy’ has already become the dominant conceptual framework setting the EU’s long-term development. Another critical field is the digital domain, which is a lever for the fourth industrial revolution, while at the same time an international battlefield of its own.
The increasing digitalisation of our societies, affecting both private and public interests, is a major factor in shaping Europe’s future.

At the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, Strategic Working Group I addressed the question of how the EU can develop a long-term Digital Strategic Autonomy (DSA) strategy to strengthen its position in the international digital domain of tomorrow, complement the security aspect of “strategic autonomy” and redefine its relations with allies and rivals.

The working group was introduced by impulses by Huberta von Voss, Managing Director ISD Germany, and Prof. Dr Paul Timmers from the Oxford Internet Institute. Dr Antonio Nestoras, Head of Policy & Research, European Liberal Forum, moderated the working group and summarised the results of the discussion.