“Creating the future” was the motto at the Magazine Days of the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) in Berlin. In light of the financial crisis and its effects on the advertising and media industry, VDZ President Hubert Burda warned against spreading panic: “Despite all dire predictions, the media—and this obviously includes magazines—are a staple of society. And this will not change in the future,” said the publisher in his opening remarks.

In the initial discussion, all publishing managers agreed that print would remain a permanent fixture in the increasingly fragmented media markets. However, publishing houses would have to meet the challenges of digitalization head-on, evaluate costs and cooperate with wholesalers to optimize sales channels. The VDZ elected several new board members, among them Burda’s designated Board Member Publishing Houses Philipp Welte for the area of popular magazines.

The highlight at the traditional Publisher’s Night with around 1,000 guests from the media community, politics and the business world was the presentation of the association’s award, the Golden Victoria to Mercedes CEO Dieter Zetsche as the "Entrepreneur of the Year" as well as to Turkish media mogul Aydin Dogan.

Hubert Burda honored Aydin Dogan for his contributions to furthering integration and German-Turkish understanding. German Secretary of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble held the laudation. On the occasion of the European Championship’s semifinal between Germany and Turkey, Dogan—whose portfolio includes the high-circulation daily newspaper “Hürriyet”—initiated a huge media campaign together with German publishers.

The VDZ supports integration issues and the according government initiative through its own foundation: Demonstrating media responsibility, the foundation “Deutschlandstiftung für Integration” (German Foundation for Integration) is supposed to raise awareness for the issue and bridge the wide range of integration projects.