Draft:CIVIS Media Foundation

The CIVIS Media Foundation is a company based in Cologne..

The shareholders of the non-profit foundation are Westdeutscher Rundfunk WDR, representing ARD, and the Freudenberg Foundation.

The foundation aims to contribute to intercultural understanding and European integration by supporting the work of the electronic media in these areas. It is responsible for the organisation and implementation of the European CIVIS Media Prize for Integration and Cultural Diversity in Europe. Every year, the CIVIS Media Prize honours European programme achievements addressing these issues in film, television, radio and the Internet. CIVIS aims to raise awareness in the electronic media in Germany and Europe for integration, cultural diversity and social cohesion and to promote peaceful coexistence in the European immigration society.

The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, SRG SSR, Deutsche Welle, Deutschlandradio, the Franco-German cultural channel ARTE, 3sat, Phoenix and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are media partners of the CIVIS Media Prize.

The Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the WDR mediagroup, the Collecting Society of Film and Television Producers and the Alliance of German Producers - Film & Television are co-operation partners of the CIVIS Media Prize.

The European Parliament is the patron of the European CIVIS Media Prize. With media and programme conferences, CIVIS offers an important forum for debate. The independent, non-partisan and non-profit foundation is based in Cologne. As a media network for migration, integration and cultural diversity in Europe, it supports opinion-building in the media on relevant socio-political issues in the European immigration society.

The founding Managing Director of the CIVIS Media Foundation is Michael Radix. Ferdos Forudastan has been Managing Director of the CIVIS Media Foundation since 1 April 2020.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is the Director General of Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Tom Buhrow. The members of the CIVIS Board of Trustees are responsible for representing the organisation's interests to the public.

The Chair of the CIVIS Programme Advisory Board is the Programme Director of Deutschlandradio, Jona Teichmann. The Programme Advisory Board has an advisory role.

History
In 2003, the CIVIS Media Foundation for Integration and Cultural Diversity in Europe was founded and merged the CIVIS prizes that had existed since 1987 into the "ARD Media Prize CIVIS for Radio and Television". The partners are Westdeutscher Rundfunk and the Freudenberg Foundation. The founding Managing Director of the CIVIS Media Foundation is Michael Radix. Ferdos Forudastan has been Managing Director of the CIVIS Media Foundation since 1 April 2020.

The CIVIS Media Prize was founded in 1987 as the "ARD Television Prize for Understanding with Foreigners" by the Federal Government Commissioner for Foreigners' Issues together with ARD under the auspices of Westdeutscher Rundfunk and the Freudenberg Foundation. The prize is sponsored by the Freudenberg Foundation. WDR takes over the organisation for ARD. From 1997, a separate CIVIS office is established outside WDR.

The CIVIS Prize has been awarded annually since 1988 - initially as a television prize, followed by a radio prize in 1989 and a youth video prize in 1995. At the end of the 1990s, the prize was named "Living in cultural diversity - respect for others"].

From 2000, the previously exclusively German prize was given a European dimension with the "CIVIS Europe" and the expanded "CIVIS Youth Video Competition"

In 2003, the prizes were merged to form the "ARD CIVIS Media Prize for Radio and Television", which was renamed the "European CIVIS Media Prize for Integration and Cultural Diversity" in 2007. Until 2014, there was also a national evaluation in the form of a "German CIVIS Media Prize".

The prizes will be continuously developed and awarded at an annual awards ceremony. The TV gala is broadcast on television, radio and the internet.

Since 2003, the award ceremonies have been held at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, the European Parliament in Brussels, the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Ljubljana Castle, the German Bundestag (Paul Löbe House) and the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

In view of the coronavirus pandemic, the CIVIS Award Ceremonies 2020, 2021 and 2022 are recorded as part of a TV programme in Cologne. The events are broadcast via livestream and linear on television.

CIVIS Media Conferences and CIVIS Dialogues
The CIVIS Media Foundation first organised media conferences and meetings in 1999 and has continued to do so since 2005. It sees the debates as "instruments of self-reflection for media professionals and their dialogue with society as a whole."

The first European media conference was jointly organised by CIVIS, WDR and the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), "Cultural diversity - against racism", took place in Cologne. The media conference was complemented by the television discussion "In the midst of war", which addressed the problems of war reporting in Kosovo.

The CIVIS Media Foundation has been organising international media and programme conferences since 2005.


 * 1999 Media conference "Cultural diversity - against racism" (Cologne)
 * 2005 Presentation and perspectives of the immigration society (Berlin)
 * 2006 EBU media conference on migration and integration in Europe (Essen)
 * 2007 Celebration event "20 years of CIVIS" (Weinheim)
 * 2008 Programme for All! The Immigration Society in the Media (Bonn)
 * 2009 Religion, Democracy and Media (Vienna)
 * 2011 Integrative social urban society (Basel)

The new German WE


 * 2016 The new German WE | Germany is changing (Berlin)
 * 2017 Celebration event "30 years of CIVIS" (European Parliament Brussels)
 * 2017 The new German WE | German Angst (Berlin)
 * 2018 The new German WE | Breaking out of the crisis? (Berlin)
 * 2019 The new German WE | MEDIA REVOLUTION: Who's talking? (Berlin)
 * 2020 "Dare to be more me?" On the importance of identity in journalism (Online)
 * 2021 "Trust matters" On the influence of established media on their acceptance (online)
 * 2022 Journalism and social media: Operators or driven? (Online)

Structure
The CIVIS Media Foundation is organised through three bodies: the Shareholders' Meeting, the Board of Trustees and the Programme Advisory Board. The shareholders are Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), representing ARD, and the Freudenberg Stiftung GmbH