DW and FMM develop joint projects for the European elections
February 4, 2019
DW Director General Peter Limbourg and the director general of France Médias Monde (FMM), Marie-Christine Saragosse, presented their cooperation projects in the run-up to the European elections in May. Speaking to the Committee on Culture, Education and Communication in the French Senate in Paris, they explained the common interests of French and German international broadcasting in a highly competitive international environment.
Ahead of the European elections, the DW and FMM editorial teams are preparing a digital series featuring 28 portraits of young first-time voters in the countries of the European Union. These portraits will be broadcast in several languages on social networks and across websites. In the run-up to the elections, the two broadcasters are likewise planning a debate broadcast from Brussels and are undertaking jointly researched reporting. The cooperation will strengthen the two channels' focus on election reporting.
Saragosse and Limbourg also talked about their cooperation in the planned digital, multilingual and participatory project ENTER!, which is to be realised within the framework of the Franco-German Treaty of Aachen. Aimed primarily at young Europeans, the ENTER! platform aims to strengthen an active civil society of young Europeans as it offers information on topics relevant throughout Europe and encourages exchange.
With these extensive projects, the two foreign broadcasters are extending their cooperation into new subject areas. In 2017, FMM and DW, in partnership with the Italian news agency Ansa, launched the successful multilingual online portal InfoMigrants (infomigrants.net), which reaches around five million users per month.
Peter Limbourg: "It is important that politicians and citizens of our two countries understand the essential and unprecedented tasks of foreign broadcasters, especially in times when major powers, sometimes hostile to our democratic models, are investing billions to discredit these values. An innovative cooperation project like ENTER! is certainly an important part of the solution."
Marie-Christine Saragosse: "In a context that can be described as a 'Cold Information War,' characterized by intensifying competition, but also by hostile approaches to certain media and the manipulation of information, France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle are defending a concrete idea about information and are embodying democratic values. Our two international and multilingual news channels play a very important role, especially at a time of uncertainty linked to Brexit and on the eve of a very worrying European election."
DW and FMM reach 320 million people worldwide every week via TV, radio and their digital services.