Open letter from the juries to these accountable on the Grimme Institute | EUROtoday

TDespite 50 years of the Grimme Institute (FAZ from November fifteenth), there’s at present little to have a good time in Marl. There isn’t any cash and jobs are being minimize. In an open letter, the nomination committees and juries of the Grimme Prize and the Grimme Online Award categorical their concern that the workers cuts are additionally weakening the institute’s “core mission”: “the prizes”. The “urgent appeal” to the shareholders and supervisory boards states that the information from Marl is “a shock”. Without a “strong Grimme Institute, there are no strong prizes, no Grimme Prize and no Grimme Online Award”. However, the institute’s prizes honor “high-quality media content”, that are contributions whose significance can’t be overestimated in instances of intentionally disseminated misinformation: “Anyone who weakens the prices is doing something fatal to society.”

The institute, which offers with “issues of media culture and education in the digital age,” has run into financial difficulties lately. This 12 months, the top of the institute, Frauke Gerlach, revealed in September that, with a funds of round three million, there was a “shortfall” of 323,000 euros. Next 12 months the loss needs to be round 430,000 euros. This is without doubt one of the the reason why round a 3rd of the positions now should be minimize.

The supervisory board and shareholders’ assembly need to meet on Wednesday and resolve particularly the right way to proceed. It must also be about the way forward for Frauke Gerlach, who had beforehand provided to run for a 3rd time period regardless of the downward development. She might have modified her thoughts: According to the Catholic News Agency, she introduced to the workforce on the finish of final week that she would now not be obtainable. There was no response to a question despatched to the Grimme Institute itself by the point of going to press.