DW, RTL Deutschland, Rheinische Post Mediengruppe and Constructive Institute founding members of Bonn Institute

Deutsche Welle, Rheinische Post Mediengruppe, RTL Deutschland and the Denmark-based Constructive Institute of Aarhus University have come together to establish the nonprofit Bonn Institute for journalism and constructive dialogue. This unique alliance of private, public and nonprofit stakeholders aims to make a stand for journalism that focuses on people and that takes on its social responsibility. Studies and user analyses show that many people would like to see the media take more of a solution-oriented approach and foster more constructive debates.

With the Bonn Institute, the founding partners have created an organization that is setting new impulses and seeks to drive knowledge transfer in the media industry. The State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia provided start-up funding. The members of the Board of Trustees include Professor Jay Rosen (New York University), Wolfgang Blau (Co-Founder Oxford Climate Journalism Network), Astrid Maier (Editor-in-Chief Xing), Professor Christina Elmer (Technical University of Dortmund), Kübra Gümüşay (Author), Sham Jaff (Journalist), David Schraven (CEO Correctiv), Melanie Stein (Co-Founder Wir sind der Osten [We are the East]), Ursula Ott (Editor-in-Chief Chrismon), Professor Volker Kronenberg (Dean University of Bonn) und Susanne Amann (Head Strategy & Operations Der SPIEGEL).

Ellen Heinrichs, Founder and CEO of the Bonn Institute: "It becomes especially clear in times of crisis how important it is for newsrooms not to leave their audiences alone with their problems, but rather to provide real added value through fact-based and constructive journalism. We will launch a broad range of practice-oriented offerings to fulfill the needs of editorial teams for more exchange and constructive impulses."

Gerhard Kohlenbach, Editor-in-Chief, RTL News: "We at RTL have been focused on constructive journalism for a long time. That is why we decided to support the Bonn Institute as founding partners. We are convinced that the Bonn Institute will be a driver for constructive, societal dialogue. It will provide media professionals with a place to exchange best practices, the results of which will benefit both the media and society."

Gerda Meuer, Managing Director Programming, DW: "If there is one thing that our global audience appreciates and expects from us, it’s quality journalism. DW is considered a reliable voice in an agitated digital world. The Bonn Institute can help us to maintain and reinforce this standard, for example with solution-oriented journalism. Our offerings and our audience will benefit from the work of the Bonn Institute. I am happy to see it get started."

Moritz Döbler, Editor-in-Chief, Rheinische Post: "We see enormous opportunities for digital media in substantive local journalism. Working together with the Bonn Institute, we first want to start a pilot team of editors to test how we can make ourselves more solution-oriented and focus more on the needs of our users."

Ulrik Haagerup, Founder and CEO, Constructive Institute: "In a time when great journalism is needed more than ever, I'm very proud to be part of the new Bonn Institute in the heart of Europe. The launch of the Constructive Institute in Denmark in 2017 was fueled by the ambition to create a global movement for constructive journalism, and the insights, talents and energy of the German media industry is essential to making this happen. Polarization is the next pandemic, so the future of journalism has to focus on facts, truth and trust."

Nathanael Liminski, Head of the NRW State Chancellery and State Secretary responsible for media: "Especially in times of misinformation and fake news, we need strong quality journalism. Our free society needs free media and strong journalists. At the Bonn Institute, media and academia work hand in hand for independent, critical and high-quality journalism. This is something we support as a state government."