For the Record
Dean Wright on Ethics, Innovation and Values
Honoring free expression online
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Breaking Borders event in Berlin that marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event, at which I spoke, took the anniversary as an opportunity to explore how the Internet is playing a role in advancing participatory democracy and free expression around the world.
The media of 1989–television and satellite technology–played a role in bringing down the wall by connecting people and empowering them with information. Now, 20 years later, vastly more powerful information and communication technology is connecting people online, making it more possible to get around efforts at censorship and the suppression of information.
As a result of discussions at the Breaking Borders conference, Google and Global Voices, the international network of bloggers, have established the Breaking Borders Award to honor those who are fighting for free expression.
The award, which is supported by Thomson Reuters, will honor and support outstanding Web projects–by individuals or groups–”that demonstrate courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression.”
You can make nominations for the award by going to www.breakingborders.net.
There will be three $10,000 prizes; one each in these categories:
The fall of the Wall–and the media’s role
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
It was 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall, the most iconic symbol of the Cold War, fell, on Nov. 9, 1989.
In recent days, there have been a number of commemorations of the event and news organizations around the world have taken note of what was one of the most important stories of the latter half of the 20th century.
I had the privilege of attending and speaking at one Berlin event organized by Google and Reporters Without Borders. The event, Breaking Borders, took the anniversary as an opportunity to explore how the Internet is playing a role in advancing participatory democracy around the globe. Twenty years earlier, television and satellite technology helped play a role in the fall of the Wall, by connecting people and empowering them with information.
Among those appearing at the event, either as speakers or panelists, were Thorbjørn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe; Jean-François Julliard, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders; Rachel Whetstone, Google’s vice president for public policy and communications; Andrew Puddephatt, director of Global Partners & Associates; Rita Sussmuth, former president of the German federal parliament; and Sami Ben Gharbia, advocacy director for Global Voices.
The session was recorded and the presentation is on YouTube.
A common theme at the conference was that, yes, the Internet provides a vastly more powerful way to obtain and share information, giving voice to many who had been muzzled. However, there was also a consensus that the Internet also presents myriad challenges and potential barriers.
I lived in Germany at this time and one thing I remember is the part of the Wall in front of the Brandenburg-Gate. It was hard to get anywhere near it because of the crowds and the crowds of reporters with their cameras. There were so many flashes, it felt like fireworks going off. But watching the crowds standing and dancing on top of the wall sent chills up and down my spine. The air around the wall was always one of quiet, sort of like being in a library or a church. Now with the parties going on in front of the wall and on top of the wall, the atmosphere was more like a huge outdoor concert. No more reverence, it was time to party.
It is ironic that the wall came down on November 9. The fall of the Berlin Wall is not the only historic event that happened on November 9. Germany was defeated in World War I on Novermber 9, 1919; November 9, 1938 is known as Kristallnacht. This is the night when Nazis throughout Germany destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues. The amount of broken glass is what gave the name to this night. It was an eerie suggestion that this night go down in history as a German holiday to commemorate the Fall of the Wall and of communism in East Germany. The Germans came to their senses and chose another date to mark the reunification of Germany But no newspaper, except for the essay by Elie Wiesel in the New York Times, mentioned this fact. Was it ignorance? I don’t know but, I find is strange that all the newspapers quoted JFK’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech over and over again; they mentioned the DM 100.00 and the shopping sprees at least once a day. But no one felt the necessity to draw the historical comparisons. I find that to be poor journalism. We rely on television to show us the moods of the events and moments that shape our lives but, it is the written media’s responsibility to bring these events into their historical contexts. Both newspapers and the magazine failed to do just that. The book also failed to draw the comparisons.
All in all, I feel the media could have done a better job of covering this historic event. Although, I’m not sure anyone who had not lived in Berlin before the wall came down and then actually lived in the city to see it fall, could actually sum up the true feelings of the people at the time. It was one of the moments where you had to be there to feel the true significance of the event. I truly feel blessed to have lived through that moment with all the other citizens of Berlin, both East and West. It is a moment I will never forget.
