Julian Assange to open Berlin media confab

BERLIN --- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will hold the keynote
speech at this year's International Media Congress in Berlin, which
runs Sept. 5-6.Assange, who remains under house arrest in the U.K.
pending a court decision on whether to extradite him to Sweden on
allegations of sexual assault, is to give the speech live via
satellite. Assange will discuss the future of the digital public
sphere, transparency and their significance for the world. The
embattled journalist and Internet activist is currently fighting
extradition to Sweden and has claimed that it could lead to a further
extradition to the U.S. if he's charged with crimes related to
Wikileaks' release last year of secret U.S. diplomatic cables , a
move that enraged Pentagon and U.S. State Department officials and
embarrassed diplomats around the world.The International Media
Congress is part of Berlin's annual week-long Medienwoche@IFA confab,
which also includes the IFA, the biggest consumer electronics trade
fair in the world.According to organizers, this year's confab is more
international and future-oriented than in previous years and will be
more devoted to start-ups and the integration of innovation, science
and research.The event's theme this year --- "Digital is now!
Opportunities and Risks Facing the Content and Media Industries in the
Age of Digitalization" --- will run through all presentations and
podium discussions, said Elmar Giglinger, managing director of the
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, which is organizing the confab.Other
keynote speakers include Bernd Neumann, Germany's federal commissioner
for media and culture, and Mathias Doepfner, CEO of the Axel Springer
media group. Also attending as speakers and panelists will be David
Rowan, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine UK, ZDF program director
Thomas Bellut, Rene Schuster, CEO Telefonica Germany, and Daniel P.
Glasner, head of Groupon in Central Europe. Contact Ed Meza
at
staff@variety.com