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DW
07-07-2025
- Politics
- DW
GMF25: Tamar Kintsurashvili receives Freedom of Speech Award
Tamar Kintsurashvili accepts the 2025 DW Freedom of Speech Award at the Global Media Forum in Bonn for her fight against disinformation and promoting media literacy amid threats to press freedom in her country. The award ceremony was streamed live on YouTube . Photos from the ceremony available here . In her laudation for Tamar Kintsurashvili, Anja Osterhaus (Reporters Without Borders) highlighted the courage required to expose disinformation in Georgia today. "Tamar stands as a resolute champion of independent journalism. She defends the truth and the public's right to be informed, arming the next generation with the tools needed to navigate the complex media landscape. Her organization is a cornerstone for credible information and media literacy and is an enormous contribution to press freedom. And for this contribution, Tamar pays a high price. Her dedication embodies the very values this award embodies. She is a voice for those at risk to be silenced. Her work represents the invincible spirit of journalism under fire. Tamar, you give truth a face and many a voice." Kintsurashvili, executive director and editor-in-chief of the Media Development Foundation and fact-checking platform Myth Detector, has been a leading voice exposing corruption and strengthening independent journalism in Georgia. She has dedicated herself to educating young people and journalists alike about the dangers of disinformation and the importance of a free press. Accepting the award, Kintsurashvili expressed solidarity with her colleagues and the broader pro-democracy movement in Georgia: "This honor is not mine alone; it belongs to a team of professional journalists, fact-checkers, and disinformation researchers who are on the front line of hybrid warfare," she said. "It also belongs to all freedom fighters in Georgia who believe in free society and liberal democracy and have been protesting for more than seven months, since the government announced the decision to postpone EU accession talks until 2028." Georgia has seen growing pressure on media freedom following disputed elections in 2024 and new restrictive media laws in 2025 that limit foreign funding and increase state oversight. International watchdogs warn these moves threaten the independence of the press and free expression. Kintsurashvili described the disturbing escalation of threats and harassment since the passing of the Foreign Agent Law: "It coincided with a wave of intimidation: threatening phone calls to us and our family members, also abusive emails, including rape threats, against fact-checkers after the elections. None of these cases have been investigated by law enforcement bodies, which clearly illustrates the intentions behind the new laws and further proves that institutions are not protecting us from state-orchestrated brutalities." She highlighted the cost of accountability in an increasingly hostile political climate: "The only 'crime' I and my colleagues commit is … holding the government accountable in order to ensure the basic principle of democracy. Publicly criticizing the government and receiving Western funding for research, education, resilience building and empowering the public by informing them are considered crimes only in dictatorships and autocracies." She ended with a call for resilience and unity: "I strongly believe that through our united efforts and consistent actions, we can safeguard democracy and resist the creeping authoritarianism that seeks to silence us." This is the 11th occasion on which DW has bestowed the award, honoring outstanding commitment to human rights and, above all, the defense of free expression. The DW Freedom of Speech Award recognizes those who courageously stand up for press freedom in the face of adversity worldwide. Second from left: Anja Osterhaus (Reporters Without Borders) delivers the laudatory speech for awardee Tamar Kintsurashvili (second from right) Image: Florian Görner/DW GMF panel: International broadcasters rethink reach amid funding challenges Ahead of the award ceremony, leaders from BBC, DW, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) addressed the impact of international funding cuts – most notably to the USAGM program – which have jeopardized RFE/RL's future and led to large-scale layoffs at Voice of America (VOA), with ripple effects across independent media ecosystems worldwide. RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus addressed the direct fallout of the USAGM funding cuts on his organization, calling for new strategies to work around these financial limitations and continue reaching audiences behind censorship and firewalls. "The forces we're facing are something we're all going to be grappling with. We intend to survive, we tend to find ways to diversify our funding. We do not intend to yield any ground," he said. Joining the panel discussion, Senegalese journalist and Founder & Editor of E-jicom / Ouestaf News, Hamdou Tidiane Sy, emphasized the need for global support for independent journalism. "Journalists are taught not to be advocates, but I think that is working against us. We need advocates for free media around the world. We need advocacy for journalism globally," he said. TVP World Director Michał Broniatowski added: "Radio Free Europe was like oxygen; it was like fresh air. You needed this radio to get real news, facts. Without it, you'd be in darkness." Jonathan Munro, BBC News Global Director, stressed that resilience against fake news "requires heart, but it also requires funding. We as an industry have to be incredibly resilient, and resilience requires digging deep. When we [the BBC] were kicked out of Russia and set up a newsroom in Riga – this was resilience, but also very costly. It's not just an act of spirit or the heart of journalists." DW Director General Peter Limbourg stated: "Investing in free, independent media amid this information war goes further than buying tanks." On the key to staying relevant to audiences, Limbourg suggested collaboration with local and regional media, citing DW format Eco Africa as an example – an approach that, he said, "convinces our audience that we're not going in there with a colonialist agenda." Day 2: What to expect Day two of the DW Global Media Forum 2025 will continue with a packed program of high-level discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities. Key topics include media innovation and diversity, platform regulation and safeguarding press freedom amid rising disinformation. For real-time updates, highlights, and behind-the-scenes impressions, follow @DW_GMF and the hashtag #GMF25 across all major social media platforms.
DW
07-07-2025
- Politics
- DW
Global Media Forum 2025: Building bridges to beat populism – DW – 07/07/2025
DW has invited media professionals from all over the world to Bonn, where they will discuss strategies for solidarity in an age of polarization. All over the world, authoritarian regimes are gaining power through populism and the curtailment of free media. DW is seeking to counter the populist rhetoric with this year's Global Media Forum (GMF). The two-day media congress opens on Monday in the western German city of Bonn, and the motto this year is "Breaking barriers, building bridges." The presence of Steve Capus, the president of the US international broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is an indication of the pressure free media, such as public service radio, are currently under, even in the United States. Donald Trump's administration wants to stop funding the Prague-based broadcaster, which for decades has been a key pillar of the transatlantic partnership between Europe and the US. Like DW, RFE/RL also broadcasts uncensored reports to countries where the media landscape is dominated by propaganda. "We have got to survive. If we don't, it is a huge gift to Russia and China," RFE boss Steve Capus said in the run-up to the conference. In Bonn, Capus will be in discussion with Michal Broniatowski, head of the Polish international broadcaster TVP World, DW's Director General Peter Limbourg, and Jonathan Munro, Global Director for BBC News. "Political instability is on the rise in many parts of the world, and the consequences for all of our audiences are enormous," says Munro. "At the same time, colleagues from the United States have been forced either to close or curtail their free media. That's a worrying development, particularly as misinformation and disinformation are aggressively growing all over the globe." This year's Freedom of Speech Award, a prize given annually by DW for outstanding work in promoting freedom of expression and human rights, goes to Tamar Kintsurashvili from Georgia. She has similar concerns. "Under the aegis of the Soviet Union we had no say, and were completely dependent on a totalitarian system," she told DW. "But in a democratic country, all citizens must keep the government in check in order to preserve our freedom. The media have a particular responsibility to ensure the separation of powers." As executive director of the nongovernmental Media Development Foundation in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, Kintsurashvili shows people how to achieve this. She teaches journalists how to fact-check reliably and sensitizes them to hate speech. Many of the discussion forums in the 2025 GMF program offer practical tools and assistance for people in the media. For example, one is titled: "How authoritarian regimes build digital walls — and how to overcome them." Following on from an initial event on the subject of generative artificial intelligence in journalism at last year's forum, questions around the ethics of using AI in journalism will be central to the GMF 2025. To what extent is it acceptable for journalists to use AI for their work? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video One way for Europe to respond to division and populism is to expand, and admit more members. One of the most recent candidates for accession, Ukraine, is currently caught up in defending itself against Russia's war of aggression. There is therefore great interest in the keynote speech by the EU commissioner for enlargement, Marta Cos. Will the European community keep its word to the beleaguered country? This year, the GMF will also welcome Syria's minister of information, Hamza al-Mustafa. The future of the multi-ethnic country is unclear now that its long-time ruler, Bashar Assad, who was supported by Vladimir Putin, has been overthrown. Al-Mustafa will speak about the role of the media in Syria's reconstruction. How can the media help people overcome barriers, when so many, especially in the Middle East, are suffering wars that only entrench divisions? A documentary film, co-produced by DW, about the greatest war crime in Europe since World War Two seeks to provide an answer. "The Srebrenica Tape — from Dad for Alisa", directed by Chiara Sambuchi, will be screened by DW for the first time during the GMF. The protagonist, Alisa, was nine years old when her father was killed by Serbian troops in the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica 30 years ago. He was one of 8,000 men and boys who died in the Srebrenica massacre, which took place over several days. Today, Alisa lives with her mother and her daughter in the city of St. Petersburg, in the US state of Florida. At the start of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which lasted from 1992–1995, her parents took her to safety across the border with her maternal grandparents in Serbia. They then returned to Srebrenica. During the blockade of Srebrenica, which went on for more than three years, Alisa's father, a movie enthusiast and hobby filmmaker, filmed their daily life under siege in the small town. In these recordings, he often talks directly to his daughter. He managed to get a VHS cassette to her before Srebrenica was overrun by Serbian troops led by the Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic. For Alisa, the daughter of a Serbian mother and a Muslim Bosniak father, who was murdered by Serbs, overcoming barriers is a matter of existential importance. "Alisa decided, for her, not to take [sides]," the director, Chiara Sambuchi, told DW. The most important thing for Alisa was to make clear that she stands "against this terrible religious hate, ethnically religious hate, and what it implies."
