Mathias Müller von Blumencron, member of the Board of Tamedia (Switzerland) and member of the M100 Advisory Board, on the decision to honour the people of Ukraine with the M100 Media Award:
“The value of freedom: no nation on earth has so passionately made this clear in the past six months as Ukraine. The country is fighting a heroic battle for its values: independence and freedom. Values that it defends day after day, hour after hour under deadly fire. What we take for granted, Ukrainian men and women have been risking their lives to preserve for themselves for months. They deserve our respect, our esteem and our utmost support. And therefore also the M100 award.”
The award ceremony will take place on 15 September in Potsdam. Wladimir Klitschko will accept the award on behalf of the people of Ukraine.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz holds the political keynote. The laudationes will be delivered by US Ambassador to German, Dr Amy Gutmann, and Donald Tusk, Chairman of the Civic Platform, Poland.
Stephan-Andreas Casdorff, Publisher “Der Tagesspiegel” and member of the M100 Advisory Board:
“Brave. Persevering. Enduring. A people who, in their darkest hour, became a nation. That strives for democracy in the toughest of times. That is worthy of all honour – and certainly the M100 Media Award.”
Sabine Schicketanz, editor-in-chief of Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten and member of the M100 Advisory Board, on the decision to honour the people of Ukraine with the M100 Media Award:
“The Ukrainian people are bravely defending not only their country and their democracy, but our Europe against the aggressor Russia. Putin’s brutal war, everything points to it, aims at annihilation. The Ukrainian people are threatened with genocide. We have a special duty to say so clearly and must prevent such a major crime. The M100 Media Award for the Ukrainian People is a sign of solidarity and an acknowledgement of our responsibility.”
Potsdam, 6 September 2022.The people of Ukraine have been resisting Russia’s brutal invasion with stoic fortitude for months and defending their freedom and sovereignty on European soil. The M100 Advisory Board therefore decided to honour the people of Ukraine with this year’s M100 Media Award. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion Dr. Wladimir Klitschko has been vocally calling on the international community to take a stand against the injustice of this war. He will accept the award on behalf of his fellow citizens.
Dr. Wladimir Klitschko is one of the most prominent and influential voices in Ukraine. He gave up his life as a successful entrepreneur and coach in Germany at the beginning of the Russian invasion and has been fighting for independence, democracy and freedom in his home country ever since. Uses his international contacts to tirelessly lobby political and business leaders worldwide to support Ukraine. Stands by his people together with his brother Vitali, mayor of Kyiv , who was awarded the M100 Media Award in 2014 as the representative of all democratic movements in Ukraine. “We will defend ourselves with all our strength and fight for freedom and democracy,” said Wladimir Klitschko. “We will fight as long as we live.”
The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, 15 September at 7:00 pm in the East Wing of the Orangerie Palace Sanssouci.
The laudations will be held by the American Ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann, and the Chairman of the Civic Platform and former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk(via video). The main political speech at the award ceremony will be given by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
21 young journalists from 17 European countries at the M100YEJ on Fake News and Disinformation
Potsdam, 29 August 2022. “Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have seen more horrors in Telegram chats than I could have ever imagined”, writes the Latvian journalist Paula Anna Koškina in her application essay. In it, she gives insights into her day-to-day work in the foreign editorial department of the public broadcaster Latvian Television: “The obligation to report on the events there has also affected me. In the beginning, I didn’t have much time to process the information that was coming in – my work took priority. It was only when I went home that the emotions of the daily events swelled up inside me. At night, I woke up about every hour and checked to see if the Ukrainian president was still alive”.
Paula Anna is one of 21 young journalists from 17 European countries who are participating in this year’s M100 Young European Journalists Workshop (M100YEJ), selected from more than 70 applicants. It takes place from 10 to 15 September 2022 at the premises of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Berlin and Potsdam-Sanssouci.
25 August 2022. “We at the MBB support the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, which is dedicated every year to important social issues such as democracy and freedom of opinion. What challenges do politics and the media face as a result of the Russian war of aggression? With “War and Peace. A New World Order”, M100 is again sending an important signal this year: for democracy and freedom of the press.” Helge Jürgens, CEO Medienboard
We thank the Medienboard for its support and long-lasting partnership!
18 August 2022. At this year’s M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz will give the keynote speech at the M100 MEDIA AWARD ceremony. The international media conference will take place on 15 September at the Orangerie Sanssouci in Potsdam.
Russia’s military attack on Ukraine, the resulting consequences for Europe and the role of the media are the focus of this year’s M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in Potsdam. The brutal invasion is the largest armed conflict on the European continent since the end of the Second World War, with enormous consequences for geopolitics, the economy, democracy, society and the environment. How does Europe, how does the Western world want to defend and strengthen democracy, freedom, freedom of the press and freedom of opinion?
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “It is basically constitutive for a functioning democracy: the free and independent press. Especially in times of disinformation like we are experiencing, it is indispensable. Because the bitter truth is: disinformation works. And where disinformation is total, where no dissenting information can be perceived, the outrageous becomes sayable and horrific crimes possible. Russia’s cruel war of aggression and annihilation against Ukraine proves this. It is therefore all the more important that we come together in Potsdam within the framework of the M100 Media Award to honour those who, with their work, often also dedicate their lives to strengthening freedom of opinion and freedom of the press, and thus always also to democracy.”
12 August 2022.Olga Rudenko, Editor-in-Chief of The Kyiv Independent, will give the opening speech at this year’s M100 Sanssouci Colloquium on 15 September.
Olga was previously deputy editor-in-chief of The Kyiv Post. She has written for international publications and was a fellow at the Chicago Booth School of Business in 2021. In May 2022, Olga was on the cover of Time Magazine’s double issue.
The Kyiv Independent is a Ukrainian, English-language, multi-award-winning news platform founded in November 2021 by the former editorial staff of the Kyiv Post. They were previously fired by the Kyiv Post for defending their editorial independence.
The Kyiv Post, which until then had been the global voice of Ukraine, was shut down on 8 November 2021, a few days after celebrating its 26th anniversary.
11 August 2022. 5 weeks to go until the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium begins! Find out what makes the conference so special, so unique, in the video.
The 18th edition of the international media conference takes place on Thursday, 15 September 2022 from 9.30 a.m. at the Sanssouci Orangery in Potsdam. Under the title “War and Peace. A New World Order“, the discussions will focus on Russia’s military attack on Ukraine, the resulting consequences for European domestic and foreign policy, and the role of the media.
In the Special Talk “Left Alone?” (17.00) Wolfgang Ischinger, former Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, will talk to Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, President of the Republic of Kosovo since April 2021, about the tense political situation in the Balkans, what this means for the EU and Ukraine, what contribution the Western Balkans can make to a stable European Community in the face of a new world order and how Europe should shape its relationship with Russia in the future.
The presentation of the M100 Media Award starts at 19.00. Since 2005, the non-endowed prize has been awarded at the conference to personalities who stand up for democracy, freedom of opinion and freedom of the press. Previous recipients include Bob Geldof, Ingrid Betancourt, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Kurt Westergaard, Vitali Klitschko, Charlie Hebdo, Roberto Saviano, Natalia Sindeeva, Nicola Sturgeon and Alexei Navalny.
9 August 2022. Georgian journalist Vazha Tavberidze spoke to Gérard Biard, editor-in-chief of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, for RFE/RL about the difficulties of doing satire in times of war, especially in Russia’s devastated media landscape.
Biard is well aware of the enormous risks involved in publishing material that some consider problematic. On 7 January 2015, in a terrorist attack on the editorial office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, 12 people, including eight Charlie Hebdo staff including editor Stéphane Charbonnier, were murdered by two Islamist-motivated perpetrators. In September, Gérard Biard accepted the M100 Media Award on behalf of the editorial team in the presence of the then Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Asked about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he says the main problem with Putin is that he has managed to prevent any criticism in Russian society.
With the proliferation of social media, Biard says the risks have increased, making everyone – not just journalists and activists – a potential target. “Of course we stand with the Ukrainian people,” Biard says. “The biggest fear about the war is that it will degenerate into a Third World War. But I think a Third World War has already started; it’s a war between countries with democratic values and democratic systems and institutions on one side and those that don’t have them on the other.”
Vazha Tavberidze is former editor-in-chief of Georgia Today and a regular participant in the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium. The full interview is available (in English) here.
I am very moved, especially because I was not expecting to hear these words, which are like an embrace for me. So I want to thank you for this award, for the incredibly moving words of Giovanni di Lorenzo, for this wonderful sky that has welcomed me to Potsdam, and also to thank the Federal Chancellor for her touching words, and for her encouraging presence. Because the awareness raised heartens me a lot more than words. Roberto Saviano, M100 Media Award laureate 2016
It is a great honour for me to be here and receive this great price. It's a very big day for me. I thank Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dr. Joachim Gauck for the kind and strong words, and for their appreciation. Thank you, I will never forget this day! Kurt Westergaard, danish cartoonist, M100 Media Award laureate 2010
At the same time, today’s prize is an appeal to all persons who hold positions of responsibility in governments, in culture and in the media: be steadfast, value-oriented and also COURAGEOUS when irresponsible persons and powers undermine or relativise our values of freedom. It is a virtue to yield to a convincing argument, but it is cowardice to yield to a threat from enemies of freedom. Joachim Gauck in his laudation to Kurt Westergaard, 2010
I receive [this award] with an immense joy, happiness and humility also, because I think by being with you today here, I am receiving this price in the name of those who are still suffering in the jungle of Colombia and of those in the world that are living in similar conditions and who cannot speak for themselves freely. Ingrid Betancourt, M100 Media Award laureate 2008
But I have to say that in our modern society the media has a very, very particular responsibility, also for the European idea. And I hope that the event today – and the events which will follow – will help us to communicate better, to explain better and to convince people that Europe – and acknowledging all the problems, the mistakes and the deficits – […] that at the end of the day the idea of European integration is the best idea that we have ever developed in our history. Günther Verheugen, former EU-Commissioner, in his keynote speech 2005
