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Since 1990, the World News Day to draw attention to the fact that good journalism spreads credible and correct information in order to help people and democracy. This is probably also why the media are often referred to as fourth estate bezeichnet.
But regardless of whether it is the “fourth estate” or not, good journalism is essential for any functioning society, because it helps ensure that citizens are informed transparently — a good support so that they can develop into responsible citizens themselves.
In the meantime, 3 media outlets - a small drop in the ocean - have come together to further promote the idea behind World News Day. In a world where fake news and conspiracy theories are taken for granted and where science is becoming increasingly skeptical, journalists and media are increasingly being threatened and persecuted, especially when they continue to feel committed to serious news and information.
For Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (Zeit Online, September 28, 2024, 10:37 a.m.) this day is "a good opportunity to make it clear: the greatest threat to the fulfilment of this task comes from the political side, and the best way to protect independent journalism from this threat is for the public to support it. The public is the last line of defence."
Here in Heilbronn, too, there is an increasing lack of transparency, secrecy and hocus-pocus. This only encourages cliques and backroom politics, and worse still, it ultimately destroys the public sphere and, as a result, our democracy.
I have used today to prepare the 2025 European Ball with other interested parties. Unfortunately, our political parties do not want to take part this time, although the ball would have been a good opportunity to present one or two Bundestag candidates to an interested public.
In any case, we have once again put together a really good supporting programme, and dance enthusiasts can now look forward to the European Ball.
And by the way, I found an article about my hometown. Even though I'm not convinced that people can buy cities, I think this article is quite well researched; the most obvious mistakes were immediately highlighted in the comments.
But the really exciting thing is that although Dieter schwarz turned 85 four days ago and has already done a great deal for Heilbronn without a doubt, there is no proper retrospective on his life and work by the local media, as if we were dealing with a phantom.
I certainly respect the privacy of my fellow citizens, but one must also acknowledge that people of public interest have to live with restrictions in this regard, especially if they themselves want to exert a great deal of influence on their fellow citizens!
Even as a billionaire, you can't have everything in an open society. And if you do, you have to ask yourself whether you really still live in an open society and how much you are contributing to its end.
"The naivety with which some people in this country make politics is only surpassed by the naivety with which some people then write about it."
Robert Lembke, Stone Throwing in the Glass House (1973: 67)
