#DWGoesToCampus: Bringing Solution Journalism close to students
Deutsche Welle (DW) Indonesian service (DW Indonesia) chose the Communications program, Binus University International, as its first university partner to conduct #DWGoesToCampus 2022.
The #DWGoesToCampus is a collaborative event initiated by DW to provide workshops and training to university students on constructive journalism, the practice of journalism that is particular to DW.
The event that took place on November 17, 2022, at Binus International FX Campus, successfully attracted around 60 participants, consisting of lecturers and students across programs in Binus University.
Some big names present at the event included Peter Limbourg, the Director General of Deutsche Welle; Debarati Guha, the DW’s Director of Programs for Asia; Vidi Legowo-Zipperer, the Director of DW Indonesia Service, and a number of correspondents for DW Indonesia.
At the beginning of the event, a welcoming speech was delivered by Samuel Mahatmaputra, the dean of the School of Computing and Creative Arts, followed by an introduction of DW by Debarati Guha.
The event continued with a zoom lecture on Solution Journalism by Aida Sofic, the solution/constructive journalism expert working for Deutsche Welle (DW) in its headquarters at Bonn, Germany.
Aida explained that “solution journalism is part of constructive journalism that tries to answer some problems by asking what a specific solution to the problem is, why is it important, and how the solution works.”
Right after the lecture, students were given a chance to create a framework of constructive journalism through group work that was supervised by coaches from Binus International and DW Indonesia.
A short coffee break took place in between the schedules where the participants could enjoy refreshments and try the 360-camera provided in the venue. Deutsche Institute and DAAD were present too to promote their programs to the attending students.
The most anticipated session came after the coffee break as the Director General of Deutsche Welle, Peter Limbourg gave a talk show with Vidi Legowo-Zipperer acting as the moderator.
In his talk, Mr. Limbourg gave his view on the phenomenon of young people being content creators. “It is fine to be a content creator, learning storytelling, providing entertainment. But, if it is about journalism, inform people [with something good] because people need the information to make a good decision. Journalism is not just about negative stories, or crises. It is something more with constructive journalism which means journalism not only shows the problems but also tries to bring the solution, not with a finger-pointing approach,” he pointed out.
Students were enthusiastic to ask questions to Mr. Limbourg and the show ran so vigorously. At the end of the event, Mr. Limbourg presented the present for the winner of group work.
The event ended with a gift exchange between DW Indonesia and lecturers of the Communications program, Binus University International.
Contributor: Lily El Ferawati
Editor: Lily El Ferawati