#GLCtoDC

Last Thursday we left for Washington, D.C. to give our final GLC presentations. Everyone was nervous since this year’s projects were very complex and far-reaching, and because representatives of the State Department and the international think tank Salzburg Global Seminar had announced to be there. Five groups covered the hot spot countries Ukraine, Nigeria, Afghanistan and the respective conflicts within.

My group

My group had covered Ukraine’s media landscape, which is stricken by corruption and self-censorship. This is due to the fact that many media outlets in Ukraine have to rely on government subsidies, dubious offshore funding, or funding from influential business magnates, which then leads journalists to not report on unfavorable topics in fear of losing their funding. The NGO Freedom House declares Ukraine’s press status as “not free” and reports over 500 harassments of journalists since 2013.

The Jefferson Memorial

To provide media outlets with reliable sources of funding, besides the before-mentioned ones, we recommended a solution that would monetarily incentivize advertisements and thus revitalize the weak-performing advertising market. Having diverse, independent sources of funding, would then allow journalists to report the news free and unprejudiced. This goes hand in hand with our second recommendation: A large-scale awareness campaign in all major national media outlets. Data from the Ukrainian-based NGO, the Institute of Mass Information, has shown that while Ukraine has very progressive, protective media laws, those laws are often not enforced. The institute reported that in the first six months of 2013 only three of the 117 cases filed under Article 171, a new criminal code prohibiting the interference with the professional activities of journalists, were heard in court. The awareness campaign was designed to start a democratic movement and eventually put pressure on those responsible for enforcing the law. Our audience provided us with valuable insight and comments about Ukraine’s current situation and our recommendations.

The Washington Monument

Well, enough talking about politics! After our presentations we enjoyed the absolutely beautiful weather in Washington (around 25°C!) and looked at all the famous sights and monuments the city has to offer. The White House is surprisingly small (people told me before but I never believed it), the Washington Monument surprisingly high, and the ubiquitous cherry blossoms in the city unsurprisingly beautiful! Some of us (those that stayed until Sunday) were even lucky enough to see a free concert on the National Mall. To support the Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day, many artists, such as Usher, Mary J. Blige, No Doubt, and Train came to perform on that day. By the way, if you want to see more from our trip, look for the hashtag #GLCtoDC on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!