The three-day Media Convention Berlin (MCB) and re:publica ended with a total of 25,000 visitors over three days.
In 63 sessions with 216 speakers, the sixth MCB devoted itself to the topic Playing for Keeps: Now it’s getting serious, the enormous economic and social changes brought about by digitisation. The Media Convention Berlin (MCB) is organised by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) and the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (mabb) and took place again this year in cooperation with re:publica in the Station Berlin.
“We take stock of a successful Media Convention 2019! We all have to deal with the rapidly changing digital media landscape and, if possible, play an active role in shaping this change. All areas of life have long been digitally influenced. The development cycles of the past are no longer a yardstick for the future and the speed of change. The media industry is undergoing radical change and so is society. With MCB 2019, we are delighted to have contributed to the debate about the best possible digital future,” said Helge Jürgens, Managing Director of MBB.
“We must not leave the users alone with the challenges of digitisation. Ensuring media diversity is a task for society as a whole. One of our goals was to make it clear within the framework of the MCB how important modern regulation is for our society. In order to ensure diversity of opinion, clear rules of the game are needed, which are then enforced. Just as important is the promotion of local journalism and media education. Those who can deal with the media in a competent and self-determined way can use digitisation as an opportunity. I am pleased that we discussed all these topics at the MCB. Only together can we develop ideas on how to secure a diverse media future,” added Anja Zimmer, director of mabb.
The #MCB19 and the #rp19 were opened by a greeting from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who stressed that these times should not be about “digitizing democracy”, but “about democratizing the digital”. The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, and Malu Dreyer, Minister President of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and Chairwoman of the Broadcasting Commission of the Federal States, agreed on the opening of MCB19 on stage 7: “It takes courage. In his welcoming address, Michael Müller emphasised that politics must stand up for media competence and diversity. Malu Dreyer asked how we want to shape a digital society.
“As I speak, Google and Facebook have collected billions of data and added it to the old data. And the algorithm is working.” Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, spoke clearly for the major platforms in his keynote speech on “Big Tech in Check: Competition for Data and Equal Opportunities on the Net” and explained the Bundeskartellamt’s Facebook decision. It is high time, according to Mundt, to take up the topic of data utilisation and to work for more equal opportunities on the web.
The opening panel “Point of no Return – Going All In with Digital”, on which Holger Enßlin (Sky Deutschland) discussed strategies for TV with Manuel Uhlitzsch (PANTALEON Films, PANTAFLIX), Eun-Kyung Park (ProSiebenSat.1 Media) and Nadine Bilke from ZDFneo. (To the video “New Players on the Streaming Market”) In the session “Game of VoDs: New Challengers for Netflix and Amazon?” the current shifts on the international streaming market were discussed. Nicole Agudo Berbel (ProSiebenSat.1), Tanja Hüther (ARD and BR), Florian Kerkau (Goldmedia), Eric Scherer (France Televisions) and Tobias Schiwek (Divimove). Philip Pratt, Head of Deutsche Originals in the talk “Auf der Jagd nach der Prime Position”, explained the priorities Amazon Originals Germany sets with regard to attractive content. Zeljko Karajica (7Sports), Dirc Seemann (SPORT1), Roman Steuer (Sky Deutschland) and Stephanie Struppler (Discovery Deutschland) discussed the question “All sports, all leagues, all countries: sports streaming on the verge of a breakthrough”.
On the second day of the event, Stage 7 discussed measures to ensure media diversity, for example in rural areas. In this context, the Media Innovation Centre Babelsberg (MIZ) launched its funding programme “Media utopia for Berlin and Brandenburg”. The aim is to develop ideas on how an innovative, digital and equal opportunity media future can look like. In the discussion “Doing Utopia! Setting the stage for an innovative media future”, Frederik Fischer, Rebecca Ahlen, Tabea Grzeszyk, Jon Hill and Manouchehr Shamsrizi explained how they shape the topic with their projects. State Secretary Hendrik Fischer (Ministry of Economics and Energy of Brandenburg) emphasized in the session “Rural, digital, searches: The session also emphasised that only with a modern digital infrastructure can the opportunities that digitalisation brings with it be fully exploited in rural areas. Various projects were discussed, including the mabb “Smart Village” project, which make local and regional news accessible to users* in different ways. “The demand for local information in rural areas is high. It is important that local journalism always remains independent,” says journalist and author Ursula Weidenfeld.
In the session “What’s in a Game? Game Engines as a Motor for Film, XR and Industry” Thomas Bedenk (Exozet Berlin), Andreas Suika (Epic Games) and Pascal Tonecker (CRYENGINE Enterprise Solutions) illustrated how games technologies can be used across industries. The session “The stuff dreams are made of” dealt with authentic storytelling for an increasingly diverse society: Diversity in Film and Television”. “More time and money must flow into the development of various stories,” says Skadi Loist (Film University Babelsberg), who discussed the topic with actor Tyron Ricketts (Panthertainment), Emrah Ertem (Casting Director) and Martina Zöllner (rbb). In the session “Fighting Disinformation Through Technology” Hazel Baker (Reuters) spoke with Sofia Diogo Mateus (DW News), Isa Sonnenfeld (Google News Lab DACH & Rolemodels) and Jenni Sargent (First Draft News) about “the challenge of not only filtering out fake news, but also identifying real news that has been taken out of context”.
How the promotion of media literacy can have an impact on media diversity assurance was on the agenda of Stage 7 on the third day of the MCB: “The pace of the digital world needs appropriate political and technical responses,” Alexandra Borchardt (Reuters Institute) emphasized in her keynote to the panel “The new abnormal. Hate, fakes, bullying. How do we make the net a better place? According to Borchardt, this also includes modern regulatory measures and media education that appeals to all age groups in order to counter knowledge deficits. Markus Heidmeier (Kooperative Berlin), Teresa Bücker (Edition F) and Marco Holtz (mabb) confirmed this in the subsequent discussion. Those who can deal competently with media can use digitisation as an opportunity.
(On the picture Ursula Weidenfeld (journalist), Michael Müller (Burgermeister Berlin), Malu Dreyer (Prime Minister Rheinland-Pfalz), Anja Zimmer (Director, Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg) and Helge Jürgens (Director, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg)