Speakers: Zahra Nedjabat, Head of International Relations and Diversity, Deutsche Welle; Patrick Leusch, Head of European Affairs, Deutsche Welle
Moderator: Graham Griffith, Media Strategist
December 8th, 2020, 16:55 – 17:25 CET
This discussion was organized in cooperation with the Czech-German Future Fund.
Written by Inel Shalabayev
Keywords: Media, Journalism, Diversity, Differences, People
Short annotation, summary
Zahra Nedjabat presents the approach of Deutsche Welle company that aims to provide unbiased information for free minds. It also aims at providing a forum for presenting a German, European and other point of views on various topics. Another essential aspect of DW is reinforcing diversity not only in Germany but worldwide.
The project or approach to be discussed in the session
Zahra Nedjabat discusses in great details the vision and fundamental structure of the Deutsche Welle company. The main goal of the company is to minimize prejudice on the information that is broadcasted to the audience. The company is founded on the moral principles that strive to reinforce diversity. The diversity management of DW is implemented at three levels: People (HR/Recruiting), Processes (Corporate Culture), and Products (Programming).
Evidence of impact
The company has managed to reinforce diversity in many ways. The employees of the company are coming from all over the world which sums up to143 nations. The journalistic content is provided in 32 languages. Moreover, DW is developing its resources by establishing media development projects around the world to broadcast information to audiences from all continents. Currently, DW's global reach is 249 million weekly user contacts from all over the world.
Limitations, risks of the approach provided by the speaker
The most significant limitation of DW diversity project is that it is still undergoing developments and changes. Zahra Nedjabat mentioned that there are a lot of "growing pains'' but they help the company only to get stronger, as "Constant changing and constant adaptation is the key of success" (17:20).
Takeaways
1. DW is a media company that envisions to provide unbiased information for free minds
2. The structural frame of DW is based on the reinforcement of diversity in all HR processes, from recruiting to personnel development
3. It is not about blaming people when talking about privilege but rather raising awareness and cautiousness on the issue.