From 24th to 27th of April, twelve journalists from eleven countries learned from the trainers Antje Pfeiffer and Florian Schmitz how to shoot, edit and produce a video report with the mobile phone.
Mobile journalism is becoming increasingly important in today's world. Television and radio are no longer the only platforms offering news, reports or documentaries. The internet and the associated social media platforms serve as one of the main sources for obtaining information and news. However, not all sources are trustworthy. Disinformation is mainly spread via the internet and reaches millions of people. Therefore, it is especially important to do quality journalism. In order to support the production of well-researched and informative reporting, the KAS Media Programme South East Europe offered a workshop on this topic for the fourth time.
The seminar was opened by Hendrik Sittig, Head of the Media Programme. He talked about the advantages of mobile journalism and how it gained importance in the recent years. After that a round of introductions has followed as well as a presentation of the topic by the trainers, Antje Pfeiffer from the German public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) and Florian Schmitz, foreign correspondent for Deutsche Welle in Thessaloniki.
In the first two days, the participants learned the basics of mobile journalism and were able to try what they had learned into the practice by creating their own storyboards and videos. Afterwards, they were discussed in the plenary. The two trainers as well as the participants commented on the videos and gave suggestions for improvements. An important part of the workshop was also a discussion on ethical and legal aspects in mobile journalism. During the discussion, the participants gave impressions of their daily work and discussed how they act and report in different difficult situations. Dr. Christopher Nehring also gave a lecture on the topic of disinformation in today's world. He is a guest lecturer of the KAS Media Programme at Sofia University.
These introductory days were followed by the main shoot. The participants had to produce a portrait of about two minutes length about a person in Tbilisi. Despite some language barriers, twelve very nice videos were created at the end of the workshop about graffiti artists, Bitcoin bar owners, cooks or dancers, among others.