How can new media promote democracy?
8th M100 Youth Media Workshop comes to a successful end
The 8th International M100 Youth Media Workshop for young journalists came to an end in a festive atmosphere at Medieninnovationszentrum Babelsberg (MIZ) in Potsdam on the evening of August 23. As every year, the participants of the workshop – this year there were 20 young journalists from 19 countries – presented the work they had produced during four days. This year's topic was “After the Web 2.0 Revolutions: New Media as an Instrument for Change and more Democracy?”
“Here, during these four days, the participants may learn more from each other in direct conversations than if they theoretically read about a different culture”, says Jann Jakobs, Lord Mayor of Potsdam. “ This is exactly the idea of the workshop: Giving the youth who will decisively shape public opinion due to their profession as journalists a platform to look beyond their own cultural horizon and exchange their experience with colleagues their own age.”
The Web 2.0 Revolution
The 20 participants who were selected from 130 candidates addressed complex questions such as: What does the Web 2.0 revolution mean for politics, the media and society? What can we learn from it? How do social networks influence developments in politics, culture and society; what can new media achieve as political infrastructure? How can sustainable use be made of social networks? And: What similarities and differences are there in the various countries? Because one thing is absolutely essential for the young journalists` work: the global perspective.
This year again, the basis for selection were the application texts that came from 34 different countries. Many expressed their hope concerning the potential role new media can play. 24-year-old Ibrahim Fayad from Syria is currently a project manager at Association de Soutien aux Médias Libres in Paris. He has also been working with the biggest Syrian revolutionary news network, Shams News Network and writes, „Now I can confidently say that we have uploaded hundreds of thousands of videos. Soon, we’ll be talking about millions of videos belonging to the Syrian Revolution. Sham News Network for instance has more than one hundred thousand videos on its channel. YouTube is the window of the world on Syria. All major news networks used YouTube videos in its news and programs. For months, not a single journalist was allowed into the country. News networks needed footage and YouTube was there for them. Full of videos and free. YouTube footage was improving constantly. Better cameras were sent to the activists with better zoom capacity that resulted in better videos. Up till now, YouTube is essential and the major source for videos for international media“.
Nonetheless, the young international participants are also well aware of the risks social media may imply. 24-year-old Wiem Melki, journalist at Tunisia Live the first Tunisian news website written in English criticizes, „Social media can also hide another face, it can be full of rumors. It has become easy to believe rumors and spread them like fire. Citizens are exposed to different truths. Anyone can publish anything. The quality of the material published has become equivocal. It is true that social media can spark attitudes and behaviors that enhance public life and civic action. Yet, it can spawn rumors panic and mass "idiotization".“
(for further application texts please click here).
In Potsdam, the participants had the opportunity to share their experiences with each other, network and actively launch a crossmedia campaign. The modules held in the newly built Medieninnovationszentrum Babelsberg (MIZ) were led by experienced professionals.
The Workshops
Monday morning (August 20) began with Jaafar Abdul Karim, journalist and host of the youth show “Shabab Talk“ on DW-TV. After a welcoming round there was a live-Skype call with Egyptian journalist Rebecca Chaio who supports “Harassmap”, a project that takes aim at sexual harassment in Egypt. It allows victims to report incidents of harassment and maps them by type and location. 30-year-old Abdul Karim gave valuable input for the following days based on his own experience: During the battles in Libya and the revolution in Tunis and Egypt he reported live on-site for Deutsche Welle. Here is an interview with him recorded during the workshop.
The afternoon was led by Moran Barkai, who works as Social Media Researcher at the European Journalism Center in Maastricht and has recently published the book “Revolution: Share! The Role of Social Media in Pro-Democratic Movements“. As researcher she gave the participants an extensive and detailed presentation on the most important media theoreticians and their theses, thus giving the journalists an excellent overview of the state of the art. She hereby covered a wide spectrum of countries including Russia, China, as well as the Arab region and Europe among others. Please click here for an interview with here, recorded during the workshop.
On Tuesday morning the participants had a guided tour through Deutsche Welle in Berlin. After three participants of the workshop were interviewed in the show “Shabab Talk“ hosted by Jaafar Abdul-Karim, which offers a platform of discussion between German and Arab guests on a weekly basis. Please click here to watch the show.
Afterwards, the German Foreign Ministry invited the group to a visit and discussion round with Dr. Heinrich Kreft, Director for Public Diplomacy and Dialogue among Civilizations. Please click here for a summary of the discussion.
There were two parallel modules on Wednesday. Dr. Asiem El Difraoui, Researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin used the example of water issues to interactively create an effective political awareness and information cross media campaign with the participants. By illustrating the experiences and difficulties of the water problematic, the workshop helped create general conclusions for web 2.0 applications as an infrastructure for political and societal issues. The campaign “Not Just Drops – Water 4 All” aims at discussing water related problems and sharing relevant information all around the world. The young journalists created a video, a google map, Tweets and wrote a blog with articles.
At the same time, a module took place of EMAJ, an intercultural magazine that is produced by a network of young journalists from the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and the EU. Led by Sophia Pfisterer, currently freelance editor for online newspaper ZEIT ONLINE and editor-in-chief of EMAJ magazine, and Letizia Gambini, Communications Coordinator for the European Youth Forum and member of European Youth Press, a mixed group of two European and two MENA journalists worked to produce multimedia news (web articles, videos) using social media as tools for research and reporting on “East or West – home is best” and “Berlin – free and tolerant?“ (and here).
Thursday was used to produce the material for the presentation which took place in the presence of Jann Jakobs, Lord Mayor of Potsdam and further guests at the Medieninnovationszentrum Babelsberg (MIZ).
The four intensive days in Potsdam were a full success story. The young journalists worked on the possibilities social media offer as instruments for positive change both in theory and practice. At the same time they made excellent new contacts from which they will benefit personally and professionally in the future.
Media Covering
The workshop was also highly covered in the media such as ARD Tagesschau at noon, in the ARD Night Magazine, DeutschlandradioKultur, Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, Potsdam TV, Inforadio, EMAJ Magazine and Young Germany.
One thing became very clear during the discussions between participants from different countries such as Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, Syria but also Germany or Greece: The young journalists are highly motivated to contribute to positive change in their countries through their work. Realizing that they are not alone with their commitment, but embedded in an international network of people thinking alike will surely have a positive impact on their future work.
Funders, Sponsors, Partners
The M100 Youth Media Workshop would like to thank its funders, sponsors, and partners. The workshop is an initiative of the City of Potsdam and Media International e.V., and supported by the Federal Foreign Office, Medienboard Berlin-Brandeburg, and the ZEIT Foundation; co-operation partners include the Medieninnovationszentrum Babelsberg (MIZ), Deutsche Welle, the European Youth Press, and Intajour - International Academy of Journalism.
