Welcome to the First Year Students at the International Academy of Journalism

Mr. Eggert,

Ms. Gärtner,

Mr. Harbaum,

Students in the first academic year of the International Academy of Journalism,

Members of the team,
 

I am very happy to welcome you to Hamburg today. And I am equally pleased that Bertelsmann has decided to establish its International Academy of Journalism Intajour here in our city.

As a media metropolis, Hamburg is an ideal location for an academy like this one.

Hamburg has been one of the major European press centres for centuries. And this is not surprising. After all, this is a port city, where not only ships arrive and depart every day. In fact, not only merchandise changes hands here, but information, as well.

So it was perfectly logical when, as early as the 17th century, the first printers and postmasters came up with the idea of writing up this information, printing it, and selling it. The first newspapers thus came into being, leading to the development of a flourishing market for the press.

Again and again, Hamburg has been the driving force behind the development of media in Germany. When the press needed to be rebuilt after the end of the Second World War and Nazi domination, Hamburg again established itself as a style-defining media centre with the Axel Springer Verlag, with Spiegel,” Zeit” and Stern.” Up to the present day, these titles have remained key vehicles for political and social debate in Germany.

Hamburg also plays a major role in the digital revolution that has been taking place in recent years. Many new companies have been founded. Google and Facebook have set up their German offices here in our city.

As you can see, anyone who wants to know something about the German media and journalism landscape simply must come to Hamburg.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is another reason that I am so pleased that you are here with us. For there is so much that we can and want to learn from you.

Today, you don’t have to be much of a hero to work as a journalist in Germany. But some of you come from countries in which this was recently the case or still is.

It is said that Thomas Jefferson, the father of the American Declaration of Independence, stated that, if he had to decide, he would rather do away with governments than with newspapers.

Even today, in some of your native countries, the old governments would have had to be or still must be done away with for new newspapers to be established. I imagine that you will far better understand what Jefferson meant than we can.

For us in Germany, the freedoms of speech and of the press are now taken for granted to the extent that we are sometimes careless about how we use them.

We need to remember that an institutional guarantee of our right not only to express our own opinions, but also to disseminate them without hindrance , is one of the greatest accomplishments of modern times. Without this, in fact, democracy would not be possible.

Widespread social discussion of topical issues is essential in a democratic society. And journalists are the guardians of this discussion. They guarantee the conversation of democracy” which lays the groundwork for modern politics. They bear the responsibility for ensuring that societies are able to make themselves understood. And they have total freedom in how they do this, because, in their articles and broadcasts, they are responsible only to the country’s public.

I hope that you will be able to reap a great deal of strength and inspiration from your stay here in Hamburg, and that you will be able to pass on some of the very idealism that is needed in journalism all over the world.