Foundations and Democratic Publics

The different forms of publics are an important factor for the functioning of democratic systems. Here, the media in particular play a key role. By disseminating content on a huge scale, they are capable of criticizing and controlling the political, cultural, and economic system. While the legal safeguards for that are in place in Germany, high-quality journalism currently faces other challenges: On the one hand, it meets with competition from the Web 2.0’s “citizen journalism,” on the other hand, its business model comprising advertising revenues, kiosk sales, and subscription fees is in the process of unraveling, thus limiting the media’s scope of action.

As a result, foundations and civil-society organizations, especially in the United States, have begun to support the media in order to strengthen professional, high-quality journalism.

A dialogue forum entitled “Foundations and the Democratic Public,” organized by the BMW Stiftung Herbert Quandt in cooperation with the Hamburg Foundation of Business Ethics and the Volkswagen Foundation, aims to explore the possibilities for supporting high-quality journalism. Initial ideas were developed during the 2011 Berlin Foundations Week. The current plan is to have three workshop days (“Akademietage”) of constructive dialogue to identify areas and collaborations where foundations might get actively involved.