Sprachrohr at the Mainpost

"How the student newspaper could become even better" or something similar is how one might title the recent outing of the Press Department. On Monday, 21 October 2019, the Sprachrohr team was a guest at Würzburg's largest daily newspaper. In doing so, we gained a wealth of information and thus had the opportunity to gain exciting insights into the world of journalism. We report:

After the authors of Sprachrohr had already been able to familiarise themselves individually with the subject of journalism in the course of an information seminar at the Main-Post last semester, we were now invited to the media house of the Main-Post as part of a comprehensive and specially tailored taster day with workshop character. Despite rough advance planning, we were very keen to see what would await us in the course of the workshop. We arrived at 09:00 at the reception of the main building, where we were promptly welcomed in a friendly manner by a trainee and his older colleague. In a meeting room specially made available to us, on whose tables fresh fruit, coffee and numerous refreshments were already laid out for us, we were to conduct exciting conversations and smaller projects over the next few hours with the help of the two specialists. You could already tell from the initial round of introductions that the two editors wanted to take plenty of time for us. In doing so, the two seemed at least as interested in us as we were in them. The combination of the two colleagues proved to be extremely profitable for us. On the one hand, the aspiring trainee Jonas Keck, who had just recently entered the profession fresh from his studies, and on the other hand his experienced colleague Andreas Jungbauer, who has now been working as an editor in Würzburg and the surrounding area for many years. As a former student of JMU Würzburg, he still maintains contact with his former university today and is responsible, amongst other things, for reporting on university topics.

After an intensive question-and-answer session, we discussed not only the craft and working environment of a journalist, but also the subject of the newspaper medium itself. Here an extensive discussion unfolded, which included not only the print medium but also online, radio and television. Through the experience of some former interns, we exchanged extensively about the similarities, but also the differences in the world of media. This also led to an exciting examination of the future of the print medium and the newspaper itself, and the question of how digitalisation and the resulting structural change will continue to influence journalistic work in the future. Common clichés were dispelled piece by piece, with the editors sharing both personal information and experiences with us.

That journalism, especially local journalism, has a future is beyond question. But how its work will change and ultimately adapt through digitalisation and media change in the future remains an extremely exciting matter.

That the local newspaper observes and analyses these changes very closely became apparent at the latest during the detailed tour of the media house. Here we were able to get to know not only the various editorial departments, such as sports and culture, but also the task force of current events, which is responsible as a flexible "unit" for current events. It was exciting here to observe current topics and take a close look at upcoming events. The highlight of the day was then finally participation in an editorial meeting, where we were able to sit at a table with various editors and examine their reports from recent weeks in more detail. But the tour of the other departments was also quite interesting. Here it became clear how many different career paths lead into journalism and ultimately come together in a media house. Back in the seminar room, the two editors had prepared some exercises for us. In addition to practical exercises, such as writing a teaser, fundamental issues also came up for discussion. We also discussed specific areas such as topic selection and magazine organisation. Our editor-in-chief Sarah brought some older issues of Sprachrohr with her in preparation so that we could then analyse them in detail with the experts. For a fitting conclusion, we then found ourselves, at the invitation of the company, at a shared lunch in the in-house canteen, where we were able to have another chat in a convivial atmosphere.  

In conclusion, it can be said that we were granted an extremely exciting insight into the world of local journalism here. In addition to the practical tasks of an editor, the two colleagues extensively addressed our questions and curiosity. Particularly noteworthy is the enormous commitment of all those involved and the friendly manner towards one another. It was also nice that the editors fully engaged with our work and the thematic priorities we had set. We would also like to thank them for the invitation to dinner and the many other amenities. In addition to the opportunity to gain an insight into the working life of a possible future career field as a student, the willingness of those involved to cooperate is also a great opportunity to exchange not only knowledge and advice but also one or two contact details. This workshop thus gave us the opportunity to further our own work and ourselves.

Sprachrohr would like to expressly thank the two editors Jonas Keck and Andreas Jungbauer, who guided us through the day with great commitment. We would also like to thank the other staff members of the Main-Post for the friendly reception. We are already looking forward to further cooperation with the Main-Post. 

Marcel Dinkel