Michael M. Thoss, CEO Allianz Cultural Foundation: “Freedom of press and information are cornerstones of a democratic civil society. Therefore, the Allianz Cultural Foundation fosters the networking of journalists from all over Europe and their participation at the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium.”

Thomas Krüger, President of the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung BpB (Federal Agency for Civic Education): "As we can see now and again and again, freedom of press is an important requirement for a vibrant and disputatious civil society. It contributes to the support of the political understanding of citizens and enables them to participate politically and socially. Therefore, the Federal Agency for Civic Education supports the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium and this year‘s M100 Media Award for Charlie Hebdo.“

The M100 Sanssouci Colloquium is hosted by the registered association Potsdam Media International e.V., whose members act in an honorary capacity. The association is concerned with the organisation and funding of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium and the Young European Journalists workshop. Both is financed by fundings, sponsorships and donations.
You or your company can also support the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium and/or the M100 Young European Journalists Workshop and therewith contribute to a qualified education of young journalists and the defense of democratic values as well as freedom of press and opinion in Europe.
The association pursues statutorily non-profit purposes; you will receive a donation receipt for your donation. For more information please click here.

Conference followed by presentation of the M100 Media Award to Charlie Hebdo.

Potsdam, 17 August, 2015. Former German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Hans-Dietrich Genscher will open the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in the Orangery of Sanssouci on 17 September. His speech will address the question of “Potsdam 1945 and the 70 years since: Opportunities – used or wasted?” 

Throughout his political career, Hans-Dietrich Genscher has helped to decisively influence and shape German and European policy. During his many years as Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany, he campaigned for détente between East and West and was instrumental in bringing about both the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification.

Since 2005, the international media conference M100 Sanssouci Colloquium has invited leading media and opinion makers to Potsdam to discuss socio-political issues and the role of the media. Some 60 participants from around the world will engage with these topics against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of the Potsdam Agreement, its lasting effects and the current situation in Europe. The Potsdam Conference, where the agreement was negotiated and signed on 2 August 1945 by the Allied leaders Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Josef Stalin, dealt with the political and geographical order in Germany, its demilitarisation, reparations to be paid by Germany and the handling of German war criminals. The agreement is considered the cornerstone of the European order that led to the founding of the EU.

The participants of this year’s conference include Klaus Brinkbäumer (Der Spiegel, Hamburg), Stephan-Andreas Casdorff (Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin), Ulrich Deppendorf (former director ARD capital Berlin studio, Berlin), Anna Diamantopoulou (“DIKTIO” – Network for Reform in Greece and Europe, Athens), Alexandra Föderl-Schmid (Der Standard, Vienna), Kai Diekmann ( BILD Group, Berlin), Sven Gösmann (dpa, Berlin), Ulrike Guérot (European Democracy Lab, Berlin), Pawel Gusew (Moskowskij Komsomolez, Moskow), Hans-Jürgen Jakobs (Handelsblatt, Dusseldorf), Matthew Kaminski (Politico, Brussels), Xenia Kounalaki (Kathimerini, Athens), Anne McElvoy (The Economist, London), Merit Kopli (Postimees, Tallin), Richard Martyn-Hemphill (The Baltic Times, Latvia), Mathias Müller von Blumencron (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt), Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy (Belsat-TV, Warsaw), Andrea Seibel (Die WeltN24, Berlin), Dr. Jamie Shea (NATO, Brussels), George N. Tzogopoulos (analyst, journalist, author, Athens), Dr. Uwe Vorkötter (HORIZONT group, Frankfurt), and Christopher Walker (National Endowment for Democracy, Washington).

This debate will be followed by the M100 Media Award ceremony to the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Gérard Biard, editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, will receive the award on behalf of the entire editorial team. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will deliver the political keynote speech.

"Press freedom is under pressure. Also in Europe, journalists are being harassed, threatened and killed. Therefore supporters for press freedom will never be too many. We are glad, that the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium fosters freedom of the press once again. The M100 Media Award for Charlie Hebdo is a worthy honor for the important work of courageous journalists.“

Matthias Spielkamp, Member of the Board Reporters without Borders, Germany

Young journalists from Eastern Partnership countries are dealing with propaganda in journalism this year and what it specifically means to them.

Potsdam/Germany, 3 August, 2015. “Ukraine is an interesting case of apparent press freedom,” writes Stanislav Sokolov. The media is almost free, he says – particularly if today’s situation is compared with the last days of the Victor Yanukovych regime, in which the so-called dictatorship laws were adopted. However, he can discern very little professionalism at the national television broadcasters, and they depend entirely on the whims of their owners – mostly tycoons with clear political objectives and non-transparent sources of capital.

Sokolov is just 23 years old, but already works as a senior news editor and columnist for the Novoye Vremya website (www.nv.ua) in Kiev. In addition, he is one of 25 young journalists selected to participate in the M100 Young European Journalists Workshop in Potsdam from 12 – 18 September. Every year, the workshop invites young journalists from Europe to an intensive training seminar held in the days preceding the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, an international media conference.

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The participants of this year's M100 Young European Journalists Workshop have been selected! In co-operation with and supported by the Federal Foreign Ministry the workshop, encompassing all the countries of the Eastern Partnership but with a particular focus on Ukraine, examines the use of propaganda instruments and the manipulation and intimidation of journalists, as well as the effects on the reputation of the media, on the population at large, and on the relationships between the countries. The goal is to teach participants how propaganda functions and what its objectives are, how it can be recognised, how to verify information (including within social networks), and how as journalists they can defend themselves against propaganda, co-optation and manipulation by governments and lobbyists. For information about the participants please click here.

Brandenburg Minister-President Dr. Dietmar Woidke has assumed the patronage of this year's M100 Sanssouci Colloquium. Against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of the Potsdam Agreement and the 25th anniversary of reunification, this year’s Colloquium will focus on the present state of Europe.

The M100 Media Award will be presented following the conference, this year honouring the editorial team of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Through his patronage, the minister-president underlines the significance of the event, which for years has served as a forum for international media representatives, and is committed to the defence of democracy, press freedom, and the freedom of speech.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will deliver the political keynote speech at the conclusion of this year's M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in Potsdam. On September 17, in the Sanssouci Park’s Orangery, the international media conference will examine the present state of Europe against the background of the 70th anniversary of the Potsdam Agreement and the 25th anniversary of German reunification. The Colloquium, originally launched in 2005, will this year feature 50 to 60 top editors, historians, politicians, and representatives from policy-relevant institutions from across Europe.
Following the keynote speech, the M100 Media Award will be presented. This symbolic prize is awarded each year as a part of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium's international media conference to persons who have rendered exceptional services to the causes of democracy, press freedom, and the freedom of speech. This year's award honours the editorial team of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which was victim of a terrorist attack on January 7, 2015. The award encompasses by proxy all journalists, bloggers, and artists worldwide who are persecuted, threatened, imprisoned, tortured, or killed on political or religious grounds.

Prize ceremony on September 17 as part of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium

“If we stop it means, the others have won.” Gérard Biard, editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo.

Potsdam’s M100 Media Award will this year be awarded to the editors of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The (non-monetary) prize will be presented at the closing evening of the international media conference M100 Sanssouci Colloquium on September 17th in the Orangerie of the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. Gérard Biard, editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, will receive the award on behalf of the entire editorial team.

On January 7 2015, 12 people were killed in a terrorist attack carried out by two perpetrators with Islamist motives on the editorial office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris; the victims include 8 Charlie Hebdo employees and the publisher Stéphane Charbonnier. In 2011, the offices were also subject to an arson attack, following the publication of special edition on the electoral success of Islamists in Tunisia.
Yet, of the 520 Charlie Hebdo covers that have appeared over the past ten years, fewer than 20 have dealt with the topics Islam, Islamism or Mohammed. Charlie Hebdo – like every other satirical publication – targets all relevant social issues.                                                                                              
In 2006, however, the magazine was one of the few publications worldwide to re-print the Mohammed caricatures out of the Danish paper “Jyllands Posten”. The Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergard, who has since been under constant police protection, was the recipient of the M100 Media Award in 2010.

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