How can you reach people who do not want to be reached?

7th M100 Youth Media Workshop successfully completed

The 7th International M100 Youth Media Workshop for young journalists came to an end in a festive atmosphere on the evening of August, 25th. As every year, the participants of the workshop - this year there were 23 young journalists from 15 countries – presented the work they had produced during the workshop. The guests were shown one blog and three videos that were created in collaboration with the editors of  "Du hast die Macht!”, an internet platform funded by the Robert-Bosch-Foundation. This year's topic was "Reach the People! How can we encourage young people to read?"

"You have spent four days trying to find solutions on how to reach politically distant youths as a journalist - a subject the media, politics and institutions have been engaging with this topic for years, but as far as I know, this only happens rarely on a transnational level" said Dr. Iris-Jana Magdowski, Minister for Education, Culture and Sport of the city of Potsdam, in her welcome speech. "Therefore, it is all the more exciting to see what you found out in the past four days, how you have approached the topic, what happens when young people with different cultural backgrounds and experiences deal with this topic as opposed to scientists. Of course, they are just approaches, the time was simply too short for more, but I hope that these approaches will also be perceived outside of this room and your example will attract attention.”

Various Countries – The Same Problem
The 23 participants who were selected from 100 candidates tried to approach the difficult and complex subject in several groups. It is important for their daily work as well to find out and become of how they get young, poorly educated people to notice their journalistic work and to engage with the society in which they live.

This year again, the basis for selection were the application texts that came from 26 different countries. Striking was that, although they were submitted from countries as diverse as Spain, Great Britain, Romania, Hungary and Armenia, the problem is the same everywhere: young people no longer read - the level of education decreases.

20-year-old Roman Melnyk, who works for the Ukrainian press office svidomo.org wrote accordingly, "The problem to involve young people in the political life in my country, is quite dramatic. Journalism could be a way to solve this problem, as a way to create new interactive platforms for development, education and political enlightenment, but it can’t fill this role completely. In general, the problem lies in the poor, still very young civil society of Ukraine that can not just suddenly develop into a major force in people's everyday lives. The function of citizen journalists in the field of political education of young people is just as important as to role of professional journalists, but their number and the ability to reach the target group (e.g. young people) is not very high."

Mila Damjanowska, 20, writes that "one problem in having a good approach in the informational processes directed at socially distanced youth in Macedonia is also the lack of freedom the press and the media have. Much pressure is applied by state authorities over the contents and interpretation of news and political analysis. Therefore journalists from particular media corporations are not allowed to get into deeper researches and present hidden facts. Having that in mind, the journalists are failing to provide a realistic view of the political situation in the country to the young people, thus misinforming them (for further application texts click here).

In Potsdam, the participants had the opportunity to share their experiences with each other and broaden both their theoretical as well as their practical knowledge. The modules, which were held in the newly built Media Innovation Centre (MIZ) in Potsdam-Babelsberg were led by professional and reputable professionals.

The Workshops
Monday was used  for a first editorial meeting with Tino Kyre, project manager and Anna Mauersberger, editorial director of "Du hast die Macht!”. The participants introduced themselves, shared their experiences and expectations, discussed issues and ideas for projects, and formed teams they wanted to work in.

On Tuesday the first workshop was held by Jens Best, strategy consultant, lecturer and author in the fields of Digital Change, Social Media and eCommerce. Best gave a theoretical overview of the topic, presented websites and successful journalistic projects, devoted a part of the workshop  to financing and fundraising. He furthermore discussed different ways of how to make texts and websites more attractive to young people and make them searchable with the participants.

The next workshop was held by Henrik von Bodenhausen, senior content manager at MTV Networks in Berlin. He introduced the station’s strategies and discussed social media and paid-content  business models.

On Wednesday, the group met in the offices of UFA-Lab that is also host to the editorial office of “Du hast die Macht!”, in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. After a two-hour editorial meeting and discussion of topics and approaches, the participants went out on their own or in teams to produce texts or videos from their ideas.

The Thursday was used to produce texts of the collected material for the blog or video. In the evening the presentation of the results took place in the presence of Dr. Iris Jana Magdowski and other guests at Potsdam "Manège" place.

Of course, within the four intensive days in Potsdam no magic solution could be found, of how to reach all young, politically distant and poorly educated people as a journalist. But in numerous discussions between the participants with their different cultures and experiences, a plethora of ideas was born on how approach the issue and integrate it to the thoughts of their journalistic work. All participants were very positive at the end of the workshop and praised above all that they have had an input of many valuable suggestions and new ideas, they want to use for their future work.

The blog texts were published on the site orangelog.eu that was freshly launched in 2005 together with European Youth Press. Please find them here. Texts were also published "Du hast die Macht!", here and here. Videos can be found under results.

Funders, Sponsors, Partners
 The M100 Youth Media Workshop 2011 is sponsored by the City of Potsdam, the German Foreign Office, the ZEIT-Foundation, Bertelsmann AG and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, co-operation partners are UFA, "Du hast die Macht!”, Intajour - International Academy of Journalism, European Youth Press and the German UNESCO Commission. It takes place in Babelsberg’s Media Innovation Centre (MIZ).