“Migration and the Media”

How do European media report about migration and immigrants? How do immigrants influence the media?

September 3 - 7, 2009 in Potsdam

The M100 Youth Media Workshop is part of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, an international media conference that takes place every year in Potsdam. Currently in its fifth year, the workshop is geared toward young journalists and editors between the ages of 18 and 26 from all over Europe.

In its first year, the colloquium focused on the topic of “Europe and the Process of European Unification.” In 2006, it dealt mainly with the developments and changes associated with the emergence of Web 2.0. In 2007, the workshop raised the issue of “Dialogue between the Cultures” and had the Herbert Quandt Foundation as a cooperation partner. Among other topics, the 41 participants from 14 countries discussed ethical and moral principles in Europe, freedom of the press after the Danish cartoons controversy, religious matters and globalization. In 2008, 30 participants from 21 countries, including Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldavia, Montenegro, Croatia, Latvia, Ukraine, Hungary, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Spain, Poland and Germany, came together to discuss the differences, commonalities and current status of journalism training in Europe: How does one train to become a journalist in different countries? What different approaches to democracy are found in each nation and what effect do these ideas have on the work of journalists? What role do blogs and the Internet play in the individual countries of the participants? During the workshop, participants worked in different groups to create videos, radio clips, photos and texts, all of which were presented at the closing celebrations attended by the mayor of Potsdam, Jann Jakobs.
These presentations were also published on www.orangelog.eu and www.m100potsdam.org.

2009 will see the continuation of the successful format of the past five years. A call already went out in May via the European Youth Press’ newsletter inviting young journalists from all over Europe to submit texts and applications to the M100 Youth Media Workshop. The announcement was also sent out via platforms such www.cafebabel.com, foreign embassies, Goethe Institutes, Germany’s Foreign Office and to a comprehensive list of invitees. The application deadline is July 6, 2009 (click here to view the application call).

Roughly 25 to 30 applicants will be invited to attend the workshop in Potsdam from September 3 to 7, 2009. Drawing on the topic of this year’s M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, which will be focusing on “Muslim Media and Muslims in the Media,” participants will be asked to deal with the following line of questioning: “Migration and the Media. How do European media report about migration and immigrants? How do immigrants influence the media?”

Among the topics to be covered are the ways in which the media in different countries report on migration and integration. How is media reporting made specifically for migrants different from the “mainstream media” in each respective country? What would migrant media have to do in order to reach a larger target group? Why does conflict occur time and again, especially between the Islamic and the Western world, and what role does the media plays in this dynamic? To what extent do the experiences and perceptions of participants with migrant backgrounds differ from those of participants with no migrant background? Young journalists in a variety of groups will be asked to create short blog, radio and video reports on these topics and more. The workshops will be guided by experienced journalists and educators and are set to take place at the Electronic Media School (EMS) in Potsdam-Babelsberg. As in the past five years, there are also plans to tour the offices of a major broadcaster and/or editorial department.

As part of the final celebrations, the participants’ reports will be presented to an audience that includes the Mayor of Potsdam, press representatives, invited guests and many others. The reports will also be posted online. The goal of the Youth Media Workshops is to promote networking among the participants, to enable them to build sustainable links with each other, to create contacts to important organizations, such as the European Youth Press, to institutions, such as the Institute for Media and Communication Policy (IfM), as well as to journalists and editors, to showcase the opportunities offered by continued training and to facilitate their entrance into professional journalism. The workshop will be held in English.