Dr. Tobias Endler, M100SC participant and Research Associate/Ph.D. & Research Coordinator at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies offers a sneak preview to the Sanssouci Colloquium on Thursday in Potsdam. Here you can find his article on CARTA (language: German).
Follow here the Liveblog from this year’s #M100YEJ from September 8 – 11 and the Liveblog of the #M100SC on September 14!
“The last years – the grim years in the history of contemporary Russia – were marked with the growing alienation between Russia and the West. Do we still have a chance to keep the dialogue working? After the times of joint work and fruitful exchange we’re facing disillusionment and disintegration – but that is also something that can be seen as a new challenge. In the dark times it is becoming even more important to continue the mutual work of understanding, to withstand the logic of alienation and incomprehension.”
Maria Stepanova, Editor-in-Chief, Colta.ru, Russia
“Democracy in the West faces various challenges, but it is a normal ongoing process, subject of open discussion. What is amazing is how dark powers manage to use democracy advantages for their purposes. Presenting pure propaganda and disinformation as an “alternative opinion”, trolling and mobbing in news websites and social networks, distorting the truth, trying to influence election results in other democracies. All this brings new challenges – how to limit the effect of dishonest attempts to undermine our core values and protect these values, like freedom of speech, at the same time.”
Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė, Editor-in-Chief, Delfi.lt, Lithuania
Potsdam, 4 September, 2017. Greek journalist and author Dr. George Tzogopoulos has written an essay “Dealing with Fake News: Challenges and Opportunities” exclusively for this year’s M100 Sanssouci Colloquium “Democracy or Despotism? The Renaissance of Dark Powers” on 14 September in Potsdam-Sanssouci. Based on numerous studies, Tzogopoulos states that recent shifts in the media landscape and the technology sector have raised concerns about the vulnerability of democratic societies to fake news. Risks are apparent, because trust in traditional media continues to fall and the power of social media is gradually expanding while being considered a facilitating factor for the spread of false stories. Causal connections cannot be proven, but case studies, such as the UK referendum or the US presidential election, suggest that fake news might have an increasing influence on electoral behaviour. However, it is certain that fake news have a great impact on journalism due to new algorithms by social media platforms to sort and target content as well as due to the emergence of social bots being significant in the spread of fake news. Tzogopoulos concludes that existing counter-measures by relevant technology companies and traditional media organisations as well as an ongoing awareness of people for the danger of despotism and fake news raise new hope for the maintenance of strong democracies.
Dr. George Tzogopoulos is Senior Research Fellow at CIFE (Centre international de formation européenne) and Advisor on EU-China Relations as well as founder of chinaandgreece.com, an online platform analyzing Sino-European relations in Greece.
Please read his complete essay here:
“In this new Europe, there will also need to be space for processing genuine political disagreements – rather than searching for consensus at all costs. The way that the biggest parties in Europe have come together in the European Parliament and the European Council has sometimes created a sense that there is a “Europe Cartel” that is trying to sideline dissent. This is one of the things that has helped populist parties rally against European elites.”
Co-Founder and Director, European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), UK
1 September, 2017. Just one week from now, the M100 Young European Journalists Workshop will begin! We look forward to inspiring workshops by our Trainers on the topic of “How to finance Independent Journalism – Education, Platforms, Business Models”. Our 15 participants from the Eastern Partnership countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, as well as from Russia, face challenges with freedom of press and independent journalism in their home countries. We therefore aim to support them and provide them with information about the financing options available in their home countries and on models that are suitable for their ideas and potential readers, enabling them to realise their journalistic projects and support democratic processes. For more information, find here the agenda of the #M100YEJ.
For a long time, Europe was not much more than a bureaucratic monster for many people – far removed from their own real lives. But suddenly the confederation has become an emotional theme for a growing number of young people, a cause for which some regularly take to the streets. We have felt this newfound enthusiasm at the Huffington Post by the strong response we had received to our ‘Voices of Europe’ section. Using a representative questionnaire, we found out that every third German citizen could imagine swapping their German passport for a European one. I’m excited that this theme has been given a broad platform for discussion at the M100 Colloquium.
Sebastian Matthes, Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post Germany
“In the era of globalization, authoritarian regimes have become adept at using state power to exploit the openness of democratic systems. By insinuating themselves into the financial, political, and media systems of the democracies, these authoritarian powers have identified an area where they have a competitive advantage. In this new environment, the autocrats are playing to win. By ceding the field, the democracies only will allow the authoritarians to dictate the rules of the game.”
Christopher Walker, Vice President for Studies and Analysis, National Endowment for Democracy, USA
The extensive text, published in the “International Reports” of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, can be read here.
“Creating new business models to support journalism is more necessary than ever. That’s the reason I created Politibot along with a group of developers, journalists and political scientists. Finding new business models for journalism is essential to contain the dark forces that are threatening democracies all over the world but it is not enough. I covered the Brexit referendum for ‘Politibot’ and the US Presidential election for ‘Univision’. I covered dozens of Donald Trump events from Iowa to Maine and talked to some of his voters. Some of their answers helped me understand why he won and what other societies could do to defeat illiberal populism.”
Eduardo Suárez, Co-Founder, Politibot, Spain
