The Media Initiative "You Have the Power"
Politics is a topic that often hardly interests young people (if at all), as it seems to have little in common with their own lives and frequently appears incomprehensible and abstract. With this initiative, our aim is to primarily reach young people who are not targeted by the conventional offers of political education and, in turn, to motivate them to give more thought to topics of a political nature. In this context, political education will be given using forms of media that young people use frequently - above all, the Internet and social networks.
For the most part, the young people themselves will be responsible for the initiative’s implementation: a young editorial team will design a website and, together with celebrities who act as role models for the younger generation, they will develop and prepare relevant content. This content will be added to the online platform gradually, and it will serve as the center of all of the project’s activities in both the virtual and real worlds. As a result, the website’s users will constantly be confronted with new content prepared specifically for young people as well as with new ways to get involved in political issues. An accompanying PR campaign will spread the word about the initiative to the public.
If the project is successful, the results of the project will be presented to an even wider public. The iniative’s most important aspects are to confront politicians with the issues that affect young people as well as to initiate a transfer of the results to institutions offering political education to young people.
“You Have the Power” is a media initiative to promote the political education of young people developed by UFA Film & TV Produktion in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
For the most part, the young people themselves will be responsible for the initiative’s implementation: a young editorial team will design a website and, together with celebrities who act as role models for the younger generation, they will develop and prepare relevant content. This content will be added to the online platform gradually, and it will serve as the center of all of the project’s activities in both the virtual and real worlds. As a result, the website’s users will constantly be confronted with new content prepared specifically for young people as well as with new ways to get involved in political issues. An accompanying PR campaign will spread the word about the initiative to the public.
If the project is successful, the results of the project will be presented to an even wider public. The iniative’s most important aspects are to confront politicians with the issues that affect young people as well as to initiate a transfer of the results to institutions offering political education to young people.
“You Have the Power” is a media initiative to promote the political education of young people developed by UFA Film & TV Produktion in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
Partner
"You Have the Power" at the Youth Media Days 2011 in Stuttgart
Journalist Anna Mauersberger reports:
Our car packed to the brim, Elias, our cameraman, and I set off on the road to Stuttgart. We had banners, flyers, a camera, a tripod - and, of course, our mobile "Talk Box" (a box that also serves as a table and contains four colorfully printed folding chairs) with us, which we use when we’re traveling around the country inviting young people to speak to us about political issues. Our mission was to find young media makers for our project - ideally, both writers and producers.
"You Have the Power" is an online platform with a purpose to convey - primarily to young people neither interested nor involved in politics - that politics can be exciting and that it pays to get involved in social projects. Most of the participants at the Youth Media Days in Stuttgart have long known that being political, however, is "the new cool." At the beginning of our discussion group on Friday morning, I asked the audience how many of them were interested in politics - and every single hand went up. Afterwards, we had a discussion that brought forth numerous exciting suggestions.
Being Well Received by a Critical, Young Audience
The goal of our discussion group was to find answers together to the question of how to convey political issues to a young audience that is not really interested in them. The young participants had a wide variety of different ideas. In fact, we never expected this discussion to be as fruitful as it turned out to be! Which is why we were even happier that "You Have the Power" was extremely well received by this critical, young audience. They praised our format and preparation, laughed out loud at our survey on the European bailout fund in Frankfurt’s financial district, and nodded in approval at our suggestion to actively participate in "You Have the Power."
The response we received in the afternoon was very similar. Our info booth in the lobby of the Stuttgart Media University was also hard to miss - videos from "You Have the Power" played in a loop on two huge screens, our "Bloggers Wanted" flyers went like hotcakes, and small queues even formed next to the camera we set up. There our cameraman Elias recorded questions from the young visitors directed toward the political elite - and promised to demand answers from the politicians in question. This was something that today’s politicized youth did not want to pass up.
Video: "Your Questions"
Journalist Anna Mauersberger reports:
Our car packed to the brim, Elias, our cameraman, and I set off on the road to Stuttgart. We had banners, flyers, a camera, a tripod - and, of course, our mobile "Talk Box" (a box that also serves as a table and contains four colorfully printed folding chairs) with us, which we use when we’re traveling around the country inviting young people to speak to us about political issues. Our mission was to find young media makers for our project - ideally, both writers and producers.
"You Have the Power" is an online platform with a purpose to convey - primarily to young people neither interested nor involved in politics - that politics can be exciting and that it pays to get involved in social projects. Most of the participants at the Youth Media Days in Stuttgart have long known that being political, however, is "the new cool." At the beginning of our discussion group on Friday morning, I asked the audience how many of them were interested in politics - and every single hand went up. Afterwards, we had a discussion that brought forth numerous exciting suggestions.
Being Well Received by a Critical, Young Audience
The goal of our discussion group was to find answers together to the question of how to convey political issues to a young audience that is not really interested in them. The young participants had a wide variety of different ideas. In fact, we never expected this discussion to be as fruitful as it turned out to be! Which is why we were even happier that "You Have the Power" was extremely well received by this critical, young audience. They praised our format and preparation, laughed out loud at our survey on the European bailout fund in Frankfurt’s financial district, and nodded in approval at our suggestion to actively participate in "You Have the Power."
The response we received in the afternoon was very similar. Our info booth in the lobby of the Stuttgart Media University was also hard to miss - videos from "You Have the Power" played in a loop on two huge screens, our "Bloggers Wanted" flyers went like hotcakes, and small queues even formed next to the camera we set up. There our cameraman Elias recorded questions from the young visitors directed toward the political elite - and promised to demand answers from the politicians in question. This was something that today’s politicized youth did not want to pass up.
Video: "Your Questions"
An outstanding final event brought the Youth Media Days to a close - and, with it, our presentation of "You Have the Power." But in a way, this final day was also a beginning for us - the beginning of our exciting collaboration with young people who showed a great desire to work with us on our project. In fact, after the event was over Konstanze Scheidt, 18, didn’t even hesitate to throw her stuff into our car and come with us: "If I have the chance to get in front of a camera, I’m taking it!," said the recent high school graduate, before speeding off with us into downtown Stuttgart to film a street poll.
You can read about how she did in her first on-camera appearance, what the other young media producers from the 2011 Youth Media Days are now up to, as well as how our small editorial office in Berlin is doing by visiting:
You can read about how she did in her first on-camera appearance, what the other young media producers from the 2011 Youth Media Days are now up to, as well as how our small editorial office in Berlin is doing by visiting:
