Just a few days after launching the Mike Koedinger Foundation at Mudam, I found myself at a friend's birthday party having yet another conversation about populism, democracy and media literacy. (Incidentally, the friend I was talking to had just become one of the Foundation's very first donors.) Once again, I was explaining how this journey started for me almost ten years ago. Around 2016, the world saw the election of Donald Trump, the United Kingdom voted for Brexit, and

(Welcome note from the launch event at Mudam, extracts) Let me start with why I have decided to set up a foundation, and what we are going to do. And why we need you, and many others, to get involved. Simply put: This is an act of resistance and civic engagement. We live in a time where media integrity, independent thinking, and democratic dialogue are under increasing pressure. Over the last decade, two parallel developments have profoundly reshaped our societies an

Official launch of the Mike Koedinger Foundation as pressure on the media grows The Mike Koedinger Foundation was officially launched at Mudam Luxembourg on Thursday evening, 25 June, with a speech by its founder, Mike Koedinger, followed by a fireside chat between researcher and author Dr Ayala Panievsky and RTL journalist Caroline Mart. The conversation examined the growing pressures facing journalism, from populism and digital manipulation to new forms of censorship and