Free community radios are vital spaces for democratic counter-publics and provide a voice to marginalized perspectives. Yet financial uncertainty and digital transformation present major challenges for many stations.

Together with practitioners from the field, we will discuss technical infrastructure, funding, new forms of reach, and the political significance of free community radio in the taz panter foundation’s “lost & found” format.

Host: Moritz Martin, program coordinator at the taz panter foundation. Additional guests to be announced.

Register here.

Event link.

In this interactive workshop organized by the tazpanterstiftung, we bring together journalists (specialists or emerging professionals), festival attendees (the general public), and alumni of the panternetworks. The starting point is a current local or national issue. Through dialogue with journalists from other countries or representatives of civil society, participants broaden their perspective: How is this issue being covered? What solutions are being discussed? For example: As a major city, Berlin is increasingly grappling with the consequences of heat waves. Low-income neighborhoods are often particularly affected. What solutions exist—ranging from neighborhood initiatives to municipal measures? And how are similar challenges being addressed in Cusco, Barcelona, or Baghdad? Which experiences, perspectives, and potential solutions can be compared?         In the spirit of constructive journalism, the focus is on shifting perspectives, finding solutions, and engaging in constructive dialogue. The workshop creates space for collaborative learning, new journalistic questions, and international networking. This exchange can spark ideas for research, reporting, or other journalistic formats—or simply foster a deeper understanding of different points of view.       As a live journalism format set in the “engine room” or “kitchen” of a newsroom, the workshop invites participants to engage in an open conversation on equal footing. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at journalistic work: Together, participants gain insight into how an idea, an observation, or a question can evolve into a journalistic story—and sometimes even a new format—through shifts in perspective, research, and discussion.

Speakers:

Gemma Terés Arilla – Taz Panter Stiftung / Executive Director

Htet Htet Khine – Freelancer

Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki – Kameme FM & Kameme TV / Journalist

Johanna Czech – Freelancer

Lena Schubert– Loky* / Freelance and writer at loky*

Experts and participants in a workshop organized by the taz panterstiftung debate their continent’s relationship with the world’s major powers – and present their jointly produced magazine.

taz panterstiftung | Today, Germany’s economic output alone is roughly 1.5 times larger than that of Africa – even though 20 times as many people live there. Europe’s economic and technological resources offer huge potential for fair partnerships with the African continent – tackling poverty, driving the green transformation, and promoting sustainable development.

Yet Europe’s highly anxious societies are currently consumed primarily with themselves: fearing Russia, feeling abandoned by the US, divided by the rise of the far right, overwhelmed by the climate crisis, and strained by migration.

Many of these issues are directly linked to Africa. However, there is a lack of courage and will for a neighborhood policy that shapes Europe’s and Africa’s future together. Other actors are filling this void: Russia through military cooperation, China through infrastructure, and the Gulf monarchies through investment. Or they are turning away – like the US. African states are trying to leverage the competition between these powers to gain new room for maneuver in a changing world order.

Since April 2026, print, TV, and radio journalists from 16 African countries have been examining how their continent’s relationship with global powers is shifting as part of the 5th taz Panter Africa Workshop. This effort produced a 64-page, bilingual magazine.

At this taz talk, they will present the magazine with spotlights on their respective countries and debate global powers and their influence on Africa’s future with experts.

In conversation:

🐾 Dr. Karoline Eickhoff, “Megatrends Afrika” research project, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)

🐾 Dr. Andreas Grünewald, Bread for the World

🐾 Claire Mom, reporter for the daily newspaper The Cable, Nigeria

🐾 Mildred Pedun, TV journalist for NTV, Uganda

🐾 Prof. Anja Osei, Otto Suhr Institute at Freie Universität Berlin (invited)

Spotlights on their countries by African journalists:

🐾 Geopolitics and War in Sudan – Ismar Idris, Sudan Bukra media platform, Darfur/Sudan

🐾 Ethiopia’s Green Revolution – Dabia Nesredin, Al Jazeera, Ethiopia

🐾 Africa’s Recruits for Russia’s War in Ukraine – Saleck Zeid, Mauritania

🐾 The Billion-Dollar LNG Business – Samuel Comé, Mozambique

Moderation:

🐾 Christian Jakob, taz editor and editorial director of the Africa Workshop