taz Panter Stiftung

The taz Panter Stiftung is a non-profit, legally independent foundation based in Berlin, Germany. It was established in 2008 to organise and award the taz Panter Preis, a prize that had been presented since 2005. Its stated goals are to strengthen independent journalism, to train and internationally network journalists, and to reinforce civil society. The foundation grew out of the self-understanding of the daily newspaper taz, die tageszeitung, which has always seen itself not merely as a publishing business but as a political and social project. By adopting the legal form of a foundation, taz was able to separate its charitable activities from its commercial operations and expand them with the help of supporters. In 2008, 800 founding donors answered the call "Vom Wort zur Tat!" ("From words to deeds!") and provided 700,000 euros as the seed capital. Within a year the foundation had doubled its endowment through donations and other contributions and began building structures to start its work. To date, more than 6,000 donors have contributed roughly 8 million euros to enable the foundation's projects. The taz Panter Stiftung pursues several objectives. It regularly holds international workshops to qualify foreign colleagues, especially from countries where press freedom is under threat. It supports journalism education and further training, particularly for younger people, awards the taz Panter Preis for civil-society engagement, and organises events designed to convey civil rights and encourage their exercise. A particular focus lies on the climate crisis and the fight against a societal shift to the right. Between 2013 and 2024 the foundation received approximately one million euros from the German federal government as a "contribution to strengthening quality journalism and media competence." Its international exchange work began in 2011 with seven young journalists from Belarus, followed by seminars with participants from eleven successor states of the former Soviet Union as well as workshops with media makers from Turkey, Cuba, Asia and Africa. Since 2016, in cooperation with Reporters Without Borders (Reporter ohne Grenzen e.V.), the "Refugium Stipendium" programme has offered journalists who are threatened in their home countries a period of respite. More than 1,500 journalists from various regions have taken part in the foundation's international workshops. A central programme is the taz Panter Volontariat, which aims to bring people into the media landscape who are underrepresented there, especially young talents from non-traditional, non-bourgeois-educational backgrounds. Since 2011 the foundation has trained eleven volunteers with migration backgrounds, eight of whom now work in the taz editorial team. Over an 18-month period, the volunteers learn the journalistic craft in the taz newsroom while taz itself benefits from their experiences. Since 2009, more than 500 young people have taken part in the taz Panter Workshops, in which special pages for taz are usually produced under the guidance of taz editors. The foundation is governed by a board (Vorstand) and a board of trustees (Kuratorium). The first foundation board consisted of Konny Gellenbeck and Karl-Heinz Ruch. Since 1 January 2024, Gemma Terés Arilla has led the foundation and manages its operations; she and Andreas Maggraf form the board. The Kuratorium decides on all activities of the foundation, appoints and discharges the board, approves the business plan and makes recommendations on the management of the foundation's assets and the use of its funds. It currently has eleven members, including Bascha Mika, Michael Sontheimer and Barbara Junge. Some trustees are appointed by the taz cooperative, some by the Kuratorium itself.

The taz Panter Stiftung was founded in 2008 as a non-profit, legally independent foundation based in Berlin. Its immediate purpose was to organise the taz Panter Preis, which had been awarded since 2005. More broadly, it was created to carry forward the idea of taz — a newspaper that has always understood itself as a political and social project rather than merely a publishing business — independently of changes in the media landscape. The legal form of a foundation allowed taz to separate its charitable activities from its commercial operations and to expand them with the help of supporters. In 2008, 800 founding donors answered the call "Vom Wort zur Tat!" ("From words to deeds!") and provided 700,000 euros as the foundation's seed capital. Within a year, the foundation had doubled its endowment through donations and other contributions and developed structures to begin its work. Over time, more than 6,000 donors have contributed roughly 8 million euros to enable the foundation's projects. The foundation's international engagement began in 2011 with seven young journalists from Belarus. Further seminars followed with participants from eleven successor states of the former Soviet Union, as well as workshops with media makers from Turkey, Cuba, Asia and Africa. Since 2016, in cooperation with Reporters Without Borders (Reporter ohne Grenzen e.V.), the "Refugium Stipendium" programme has offered individual journalists who are threatened in their home countries the possibility of a period of respite. More than 1,500 journalists from various regions have taken part in the foundation's international workshops, and a large proportion remain networked with one another and with taz. The approach of bringing people from different, sometimes hostile countries together to foster dialogue and mutual understanding has proven to be a successful model. Current regional focuses include Africa, Eastern Europe, and Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. In the context of the Africa workshops 2021/22 and 2023/24, the magazines "trans.continental – African-European Reflections" and "trans.continental – Africa's Future and the Competition of Global Powers" were published in both German and English. In 2022, journalists from Eastern Europe met in Berlin and Riga at the invitation of the taz Panter Stiftung and the German Federal Foreign Office. Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, authors have written about the effects of the conflict on their lives and home countries, leading to the publication of the diary "Krieg und Frieden" in German. In 2023, the "Climate Journalism Handbook" appeared in English and Arabic, published as part of the "Her Turn II" workshop with journalists from the MENA region. Journalism promotion and education form another core area. The taz Panter Volontariat aims to bring people into the media landscape who are underrepresented there, seeking to place young talents in newsrooms who do not come from traditional, bourgeois-educational contexts. Since 2011, the foundation has trained eleven volunteers with migration backgrounds, eight of whom now work in the taz editorial team. Over 18 months, the volunteers learn the journalistic craft in the taz newsroom while taz itself benefits from their experiences. Since 2009, more than 500 young people have taken part in the taz Panter Workshops, in which special pages in taz are usually produced under the guidance of taz editors. Between 2013 and 2024, the foundation received approximately one million euros from the German federal government as a "contribution to strengthening quality journalism and media competence." The foundation is governed by a board (Vorstand) and a board of trustees (Kuratorium). The first foundation board consisted of Konny Gellenbeck and Karl-Heinz Ruch. Since 1 January 2024, Gemma Terés Arilla has led the foundation and manages its operations; she and Andreas Maggraf form the board. The Kuratorium decides on all activities of the foundation, appoints and discharges the board, approves the business plan and makes recommendations on the management of the foundation's assets and the use of its funds. It currently has eleven members, including Bascha Mika, Michael Sontheimer and Barbara Junge. Some trustees are appointed by the taz cooperative, some by the Kuratorium itself; those appointed by the cooperative carry a piece of taz in their biographies and are long-standing supporters of taz.

• 2024

  Gemma Terés Arilla takes over the leadership of the foundation on 1 January; she and Andreas Maggraf form the board.

• 2023

  The "Climate Journalism Handbook" is published in English and Arabic as part of the "Her Turn II" workshop; the Africa workshop 2023/24 leads to "trans.continental – Africa's Future and the Competition of Global Powers".

• 2022

  Journalists from Eastern Europe meet in Berlin and Riga at the invitation of the foundation and the German Federal Foreign Office.

• 2021

  Africa workshops 2021/22 lead to the publication of "trans.continental – African-European Reflections".

• 2016

  The "Refugium Stipendium" programme is launched in cooperation with Reporters Without Borders.

• 2013

  Start of federal government funding; between 2013 and 2024 the foundation receives approximately one million euros.

• 2011

  International engagement begins with seven young journalists from Belarus; the taz Panter Volontariat is launched.

• 2009

  The taz Panter Workshops begin; more than 500 young people have taken part since.

• 2008

  The taz Panter Stiftung is founded in Berlin; 800 founding donors respond to the call "Vom Wort zur Tat!" and provide 700,000 euros as seed capital.

• 2005

  The taz Panter Preis is first awarded.

Non-profit foundation of the taz newspaper dedicated to independent journalism, journalist training and civil society, with a focus on press freedom, the climate crisis and resisting right-wing shifts.

• taz Panter Preis

  Prize for civil-society engagement, awarded since 2005 and organised by the foundation since 2008.

• taz Panter Volontariat

  18-month journalism traineeship aimed at people underrepresented in the media landscape; eleven volunteers with migration backgrounds trained since 2011, eight now working at taz.

• taz Panter Workshops

  Workshops for young people, usually producing special pages in taz under the guidance of taz editors; more than 500 participants since 2009.

• Refugium Stipendium

  Fellowship programme run with Reporters Without Borders since 2016, offering threatened journalists a period of respite.

• trans.continental magazines

  Publications resulting from the Africa workshops 2021/22 and 2023/24, in German and English.

• Climate Journalism Handbook

  Handbook published in English and Arabic in 2023 as part of the "Her Turn II" workshop with journalists from the MENA region.

• "Krieg und Frieden" diary

  German-language diary publication by authors writing about the effects of the Russian war against Ukraine on their lives and home countries.

• "Vom Wort zur Tat!"

1. 1Taz Panter Stiftung – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
2. 2taz Panter Stiftung – official sitetaz.de
3. 3taz Panter Stiftung – Wikidatawikidata.org