United against disinformation Culture and media ministers of the G7 countries meet in Bonn
Bonn · The culture and media ministers of the G7 countries have met in Bonn. In a communiqué, they said that they wanted to make more joint efforts to preserve freedom of the press and freedom of opinion and to combat disinformation.
The culture and media ministers of the G7 countries want to strengthen freedom of the press and freedom of opinion, and at their meeting in Bonn on Sunday they adopted a communiqué to this effect. There is a lot of agreement to work towards strengthening the freedom of the press and supporting initiatives against disinformation and propaganda, said the German Minister of State for Culture and Media, Claudia Roth (Greens), after the conference in the Kameha Hotel.
The meeting took place a few days before the major summit of the seven leading industrial nations in Elmau, Bavaria. It is not the first congress under this year's German G7 leadership to be held in Bonn and the surrounding area: in May, the finance ministers of Germany, the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Italy and Japan had already met at Petersberg.
Strengthening the press and freedom of expression
On Sunday, the media ministers focused on strengthening the press and freedom of opinion as well as protecting and improving working conditions of journalists - also against the background of the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Media, Oleksandr Tkachenko, was connected to the meeting digitally.
The war has shown that disinformation is a dangerous weapon, as it is used to manipulate people, Roth had told the news agency dpa before the conference. Russia had been doing this perfidiously since attacking Ukraine. "Disinformation, propaganda and the creation of enemy images have become a dangerous weapon in the attempt to win this war by other means. Especially now, we as democracies must not sit back," Roth said. Putin's war is also a war against the culture of democracy. Especially in times when there are worldwide conflicts between the idea of democracy and authoritarian states and regimes, it is important to make clear the importance of a free press and the protection of journalists.
The Minister of State and her Canadian counterpart Pablo Rodriguez drew a positive conclusion on Sunday. Roth said she was pleased that it had been possible for the first time to introduce the topic of media policy as a separate thematic area in the G7 process. "We want media policy to continue to be an independent field of work. Both at G7 and at international level." The two described the consultations as intensive and fruitful. "We realised that we are working on the same things and can learn from each other," Rodriguez said.
Evasive answers to the Assange case
The Canadian went on to stress that commitment to a free press serves to protect democracy. A democratic society depends on a "vibrant and independent media landscape", he said. For this reason, an initiative has been launched in Canada to make internet companies such as Facebook and Google pay more for the use of media content.
Concrete joint measures or sanctions were not agreed in the communiqué. However, one topic that was discussed is how media competence could be promoted as a kind of "immunisation boost". Propaganda works with insecurity and the question of who can be trusted, said Roth.
In the case of the threatened extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US, the Minister of State avoided a straight answer when asked but expressed her expectation that Assange would receive a "very fair trial in the US". Assange had disclosed information that was "quite relevant for the public and for democracy".
In the evening, Roth and Lord Mayor Katja Dörner invited the ministers to a joint dinner. Afterwards, they visited the Bonn Opera together, for a performance of Li-Tai-Pe.
Original text: Benjamin Westhoff
Translation: Jean Lennox
