Media in Conflict – The Press Freedom Situation in Ukraine 2.0

Press freedom is an essential component of everyday life – not only for journalists. A free press is the basic requirement of a functioning democracy, and it is rooted in the fact that the freedom to report critically and independently enables opinion formation within society.

Organization like Reporters Without Borders state that there is a perceivable increase in the danger facing journalists while reporting. This is also an issue in European countries.

Ukraine – torn between Russia and Europe – is of particular interest when looking closer at the media rights situation. Ongoing political events – such as the election of president Volodymyr Zelensky, or the conflict in Eastern Ukraine – are shaping the political discussion, and are widely visible in the international media response.

Project
Through the project „Media in Conflict – Press freedom in Ukraine“ we are gonna research the topic of press freedom in Ukraine. We will produce media pieces for the blog of politikorange.de in cooperation with the Center for Civil Liberties in Kiev.

Program
For the first part of the whole workshop program, we have been meeting in September 2019 in Berlin for five days with young media makers from Ukraine and Germany. For the next part of the workshop we are visiting Ukraine from 1st to 8th May 2020. The workshop consists mostly of the same media makers that already participated in the workshop in Berlin. Due to the fact that few participants are unavailable for the second workshop part, we are looking now for new participants that are interested in joining uns in the seminar in Kiev to research and work on stories together.

The workshop focuses on the still very present difficulties that journalists have to face when it comes to reports on more controversial issues like corruption in a conflicted country. Furthermore we would like to open up a discussion about personal experiences with the particular press system in Ukraine and Germany. It is important for us to debate on explicit equal terms of both countries which will entail critical questioning of the media situation in Germany.

Program in Berlin
General topics to be discussed: the Eastern Ukrainian conflict, the LGTBQI scene, Europe, climate change, corruption, feminism, etc. – issues especially of interest to a young, progressive youth in the context of a slowly democratizing country. We’ll invite Ukrainian experts on these topics to provide background information and open up the discussions. politikorange maintains a zero-tolerance policy on discriminatory utterances, promotes awareness and gender-neutral usage of language. Discussions will be held in a safe and explicitly discrimination-free environment.

The participants will publish their articles and media from their time on our online blog – politikorange.de.

Participation
Good command of English is necessary as it will be the working language of the whole project. Language skills in Ukrainian and/or Russian will be taken into account positively. If you’re at least 18 years old and not older than 27 years old, interested in media and Ukraine, you should sign up until 6th of March latest. Travel costs to as well as accommodation and meals will be generally covered.

Please note that the overall trip might cost around 250 EUR participation fee per Person (including flights, accomodation and meals).

We are looking for…

…editors: You already gained some experience in journalism and you would like to improve your skills? You’re interested in Ukraine as well as international relations and the issue of press freedom? You’re confident in communicating and writing in English? Sign up HERE until 15th of March latest!

Your tasks:
• Preparation for the workshop
• Researching topics together with the other young media makers in advance and participating in a Skype call in preparation for the workshop
• Doing Interviews together with the other young media makers
• Working together with young media makers from Ukraine
• Producing media pieces for the politikorange blog
• Participation in the workshops

Travel costs, accommodation and meals will generally be covered. Please note that the overall trip cost around 250 EUR participation fee per Person (including flights, accomodation and meals).

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…one editor-in-chief: You already gained some experience in journalism and in managing groups? You have some knowledge about the Ukraine and would like to dig deeper? You’re familiar with WordPress? Sign up HERE until 15th of March latest!

Your tasks:
• Being responsible for the content produced by the young mediamakers
• Preparation for the workshop
• Supporting the duos in finding and choosing topics
• Preparing and leading editorial meetings
• Supporting the editorial work of the young mediamakers
• Editing and uploading articles (WordPress)

Travel costs, accommodation and meals will be covered. The editor-in-chief will be exempt from the participation fee.

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Please don’t transfer the participation fee before receiving a confirmation from politikorange – even if the application platform ahoi asks you to do so.