Marie-Christine Saragosse, CEO of France Médias Monde, and Barbara Massing, General Director of Deutsche Welle, presented their joint “Shield for Information” project on Monday, May 18 in Berlin, during the 71st plenary session of the Franco-German High Cultural Council.
As part of their long-standing cooperation, which has continued to grow stronger in recent years, the two international public media groups are reaffirming through this “Shield for Information” their determination to promote, with even greater impact, multilingual, free, independent, balanced, and field-based journalism in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in the rest of the world, in order to combat manipulation and disinformation originating from Russia.
Marie-Christine Saragosse, Chair and CEO of France Médias Monde: “We are living through a ‘hybrid’ war, with the information war playing a major role. This hybrid war poses a direct threat to democracies. In this context, our international public media serve as tools of democratic resistance and resilience. It is in this spirit that we are working with Deutsche Welle on the ‘Information Shield’, which aims to improve the coordination and the reinforcement of our activities, particularly in Europe and its peripheries.”
Barbara Massing, General Director of Deutsche Welle: “The elections in Hungary and the Republic of Moldova have clearly shown how extensively disinformation is being used to influence democratic processes. Anyone seeking to defend democracy in these turbulent times must ensure free access to information and facts through independent media. Together with our French partner broadcaster, we therefore aim to redouble efforts at the European level to counter disinformation.”
As part of this “Shield for Information,” an initial project was launched as early as summer 2025 around the radio program Moldova Zoom on RFI România, with the aim of strengthening coverage of Moldovan current affairs in Romanian, alongside co-produced digital video content with Deutsche Welle. In December 2025, a further milestone was reached with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle in Bucharest, intended to formalize and strengthen cooperation between the two groups. Deutsche Welle’s Romanian-language correspondents were thus welcomed into France Médias Monde’s “Central and Eastern Europe Hub” in the Romanian capital, making it the first shared location hosting teams from both organizations.
The collaboration between France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle on the “Shield for Information” project is intended to continue and intensify through the development of new initiatives.
After presenting this initiative before the Franco-German High Cultural Council, Barbara Massing and Marie-Christine Saragosse took part in the annual re:publica event, dedicated to new technologies and digital issues. They also addressed a large audience gathered at the French Embassy in Berlin on the theme of Franco-German media cooperation against disinformation.
