YoungPress eu. – Youth Ideas for Progressive Journalism
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Author: Ruzica Despotovska
The development of the latest technology in addition to the social media development gives opportunities for presenting certain event at the exact time and from the exact place where the journalist is located. Moreover, it gives opportunities to the ordinary people to share true and first-hand information (mostly video recording or photo-taking). In that manner, the investigation of information has become more impartial (having the opportunity to go through several sources) and, when it comes to reporting, there is also a possibility to break geography borders.From 27-30 October, 2011, the first conference for young European reporters Young Press.eu took place in Antwerp, Belgium. Organised by Stamp Media, a Belgian youth press agency, for the period of three days, as it lasted, the young people had a chance to investigate the current situation in the fields of journalism and reporting, as well as their perspective in future, through discussions, workshops and other interactive methods. There were 84 participants at the conference, all young reporters from Europe, working in various spheres of reporting (from classical reporting to completely alternative journalism). The event was launched the night of October 27th and the opening night was located at Arendbergschouwburg in Antwerp. The ceremony was original, not being overburdened by glamour and spectacles, but rather filled with fresh and young energy. The opening night finished with the inspirational speech of Paul Lewis, investigative editor of The Guardian, who presented a quite positive outlook for the future of journalism. The two following days were the core of the conference. The Friday (October 28) was a rather busy day, when all the discussions and workshops were held. There were four major questions, divided into four workshops:
· The omnipresence of the media
· The spread of biased information
· New models and experimentation
· The future of high-quality investigative journalism
However these workshops and questions raised many others, consequently, provoking various answers, predictions and expectations, seen through the prism of the young people coming from completely different backgrounds, from all over Europe, united in the idea to create high quality stories.
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