Panelists and speakers at the media law session ZOOM 2019

Nicolas Richter

Head of Investigations Süddeutsche Zeitung

Nicolas Richter was an editor in the research department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung from 2009 to 2012. Together with Klaus Ott, he unveiled the Formula-1-affair as well as the screenplay-affair in public television together with Hans Leyendecker. Together with Bastian Obermayer, he has headed the Investigative Research department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung since 2018. Since 2013, Richter has also been the Washington correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, reporting on US politics and society.

Richter studied law in Munich and Paris. He initially worked for Deutsche Presse-Agentur and ZDF in New York. Later he worked as a trainee at Süddeutsche Zeitung. Nicolas Richter wrote about international law in the foreign policy resort of Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Nicolas Richter will give the keynote speech at the ZOOM International Media Law 2019 event: "Protection of journalistic research and the source - what is necessary to be able to work investigatively?"

 

Prof. Dr. Stephanie Schiedermair

Professor for European Law, International Law and Public Law at the University of Leipzig

Prof. Dr. Schiedermair has held the Chair of European Law, International Law and Public Law at the University of Leipzig since 2014 and is Director of the Institute for International Law. She also heads the master programme "International Public Law" at the University of Leipzig and is the faculty's foreign and Erasmus representative.

In addition to her lectures in Germany and abroad, in particular on topics relating to international media and data protection law, she is an expert on media and data protection law issues. Prof. Dr. Schiedermair was the Federal Government's legal representative before the Federal Constitutional Court in the Google Spain case in 2018. 

Prof. Dr. Schiedermair will give a legal keynote speech on the topic "The Protection of Journalistic Work in International Law - A survey". 

 

Prof. Dr. Karl-E. Hain

Professor for Public Law and Media Law at the University of Cologne

Professor Dr. Karl-E. Hain received his doctorate in 1993 with the thesis "Freedom of Broadcasting and Broadcasting Regulations". In 1998, after completing his habilitation thesis "Die Grundsätze des Grundgesetzes" ("The Principles of the Basic Law"), he obtained the teaching licence for public law and philosophy of law. After representations in Göttingen, Freiburg and Bremen, he was Professor in the Department of Law and Economics at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz from 2003 to 2008. Since the winter semester 2008/2009, he has held the Chair of Public Law and Media Law at the University of Cologne and is Director of the Institute for Media Law and Communications Law at the University of Cologne.

From 2009 to 2011 he was a member of the Commission for the Determination of the Financial Requirements of Broadcasting Organisations (KEF). Since 2017 he has been a substitute member of the Commission for the Determination of Concentration in the Media (KEK).

 

William Horsley

International director of the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Freedom of the Media

William Horsley reported from Asia and Europe for many years as a BBC TV and radio correspondent and programme presenter. He is now the international director of the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM). He has advised UNESCO and the Council of Europe on their work for press freedom and better protections for journalists, and is the author of the Journalists Safety Guidebook published by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He is also the UK chairman and Media Freedom Representative of the Association of European Journalists, an independent professional association. The AEJ is a partner organisation of the Council of Europe’s online Platform for the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists, an early warning system to counter threats against media freedom.  He writes and broadcasts regularly on issues concerning media and democracy for media outlets including the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. 

 

Petra Kammerevert

Member of the European Parliament

Petra Kammerevert has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2009 and a member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. From 2017 to 2019 she was Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education.

She studied sociology and political science. From 2002 to 2009 she was a consultant in the ARD Programme Directorate and head of the ARD Programme Advisory Board office. Since 2009 she has been a member of the Presidium of the Media Commission of the SPD Party Executive Committee. Petra Kammerevert has been a member of the WDR Broadcasting Council since December 2009. For one year, from 2009 to 2010, she was vice-chairwoman of the WDR Broadcasting Council until October 2010, when she became chairwoman of the programme committee of the WDR Broadcasting Council.

 

Peter Limbourg

Director General Deutsche Welle

Peter Limbourg was appointed director general of DW (Deutsche Welle) in 2013 and in September 2018 was re-confirmed by the network’s Broadcasting Board to head the media organization for another six-year term. 

Peter Limbourg studied law in Bonn, where he passed his First State Examination in Law in 1987. He worked in the former GDR as a correspondent in Leipzig, then in London, before moving to Brussels in 1990 as a correspondent for SAT.1. In 1996 he took over the Bonn office of ProSieben, in 1999 he was involved in the founding of the news channel N24 and became its co-editor-in-chief. In 2008, Limbourg became the sole editor-in-chief of N24 and remained chief moderator of SAT.1 Nachrichten until 2013. In 2010, after leaving N24, he became Information Director of ProSieben Sat.1 TV Deutschland (Senior Vice President News & Political Information). 

 

Veysel Ok

Human rights lawyer

Veysel Ok was born in Diyarbakır, Turkey, in 1984. He graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Law in 2006. He headed his own law company until 2010 acting as legal counsel for writers, predominantly Kurdish journalists and political arrestees. Throughout his career, he has acted as legal counsel in more than 400 press freedom trials. Past clients include Ahmet Altan and Şahin Alpay. Currently, he defends many journalists including Deniz Yücel  Nedim Türfent, İdris Sayılgan and many jornalist. He is a co-founder and the Co-Director of Media and Law Studies Association.

 

Sejal Parmar

Assistant Professor Legal Studies

Sejal Parmar is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Legal Studies at the Central European University. Her main field of interest is international human rights law, with a particular focus on freedom of expression and media freedom. Parmar previously worked as Senior Adviser to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media (on secondment from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and as Senior Legal Officer at ARTICLE 19.

Parmar is currently writing a monograph on Freedom of Expression Under Pressure (under contract with Cambridge University Press) which looks at the significance of the UN human rights bodies’ approaches to the most pressing contemporary sources of pressure on freedom of expression.

 

Michaela Küfner

Chief Political Editor, Deutschen Welle

Michaela Küfner will present ZOOM 2019. She is Chief Political Editor at Deutsche Welle and since 2001 she works with German's foreign broadcaster. She has been co-director of Democracy Reporting International (DRI) since 2006. Michaela Küfner studied International Human Rights in Oxford and European Studies. She has many years of experience as an election observer in various OSCE and EU missions.