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on
EYMD
2008
Peace is an old story
page 2
European Parliament in Motion
page 8
Where are the news
born? page 12
2
EDITORIAL
Orange.
17 strangers which have
never worked together
before,
from 10 different
countries with 10 different
backgrounds,
following 200 participants,
spread all over European
Parliament and Brussels,
representing 27 EU member
states,
60 hours to catch the EYMD
spirit
and transmit to 1 magazine.
0 blank pages and very
concrete editorial
Jakub Gornicki and Anna Sulewska
Editors-in-chief
“Peace is an
old story”
The European Dream is in need of makeover
– the question is however, in which direction should we go? This was the theme of
opening panel discussion of the EYMD 2008
BY DAVID MICHAEL BARNWELL
s one of the participating MEPs
said, we are by now all dancing
to the same music. But does
this mean that there aren’t any
dissonances to be found
in this common European
tune? During Thursday’s discussion the
aging paroles about a united Europe,
brought together by peace itself, were
questioned by a new generation of
young Europeans. Instead, the visions
for a New European Dream quickly
became the order of the day.
New times - new
prerogatives
Some fifty years ago Europe rose from
the ashes of World War ll with an
agenda of change. Rising nationalism,
economic despair and geo-political
ambitions twirled the European nation
states into hostilities and atrocities that
rang an all too familiar bell. With the
ending of the War, the time had come
for radical change. In this context
The European Dream saw daylight
3
European Youth Media Days 2008
15 · 17 October 2008 in European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium)
for the first time, a dream of a united
Europe, marked by peace, prosperity
and progress.
This, however, was fifty years ago and
Europe has come a long way since
then. For a whole new generation of
rapidly integrating young Europeans,
peace has become normality itself.
European peace and unity is surely
important – few would say otherwise
– but it is also an old story. Instead,
a whole generation of young Europeans is now struggling to find a new
common prerogative in a time of rapid
change and disappearing borderlines.
A New European Dream, suitable
for the needs of our generation and
capable of further uniting Europeans
everywhere, seems to be looking for
its articulation.
independence from Russian oil- and
gas reserves, the Georgian question,
vanishing national identities and the
infamous democratic deficit were all
matters that split the waters between
both listeners and MEPs. But where
in all this do we find the much needed
dynamics for the New European
Dream? What should be the glue that
will bind future generations of Europeans together?
Communication,
unification and a bit
of shine
Where do we turn?
As Project Coordinator of the EYMD
2008 Linda Poppe is heavily involved
with young Europeans on a daily basis,
and not surprisingly, she sees the streaming, borderless communication as
one major component of The New
European Dream:
As Thursday’s discussion revealed
this will be no easy task. European
- To me, it has a lot to do with communication. So many people, speaking so many
different languages, and yet they speak which
each other. To me, that’s a New European
Dream coming true.
Anna Sulewska is a board member of
the European Youth Press and was the
head speaker at Thursday’s opening
discussion. Born in Poland, living in
Germany, and now working as a facilitator in one of the EYMD’s many
workshops in Bruxelles, she dreams of
a truly united Europe of the future:
- My New European Dream is that this will
one day become simply “Europe” rather that
“a European Union”. Many still see this as
a union of individual nations, more than a
united Europe. My dream is that we overcome
this and become Europeans in the very sense
of the word.
Others like Robin from England who
is attending the EYMD for the second
time are slightly more pragmatic:
- Very simple. I want shiny happy people!
In sum, it appears that the European
youth of today have at least one big
challenge ahead of itself. Few disagree
that Peace, Prosperity and Progress are
all important components of the truly
unique structure that is the European
Union. But on the other hand, this is all
old news. Working towards a consensus
of what exactly should constitute the
next leap forward in this way appears
to be an obvious task for today’s European Youth in search of a common
dream. Peace can no longer do it this
alone – in too many ways we’ve simply
made it too far.
„We all have our
place in this game.
You should never
quarrel with journalists. It is just a
lost batTLE...“
Alejo Vidal-Quadras,
European Parliament VicePresident during Opening
Ceremony
4
NUMBER CRUNCHING
20 268
Citizens of the EU represented by the
European Parliament
21
Percentage of the budget that goes on
MEPs‘ expenses, including costs for travel,
offices and the pay of personal assistants
A POLICY OVER
A FRYING PAN
Is it easy to talk about an EU policy for cutting vegetables? Do
you think that the food on your plate can't be a political matter?
By Karolina PRZYBYSZ and Tressia BOUKHORS
Beef, lamb, a delicious tomato sauce...
Everybody likes tasty dishes. But who
thinks about legal regulations while
eating lunch? The participants of EU
Cookbook - A Europolitical cooking
talk show workshop exchanged their
opinions about genetically modified
food, discussed their attitudes towards
the ban on it, learnt about agricultural
subsidies ... and did all this in the kitchen of European Parliament between
the pots, frying pans and plates. They
all agree that cooking together brings
people closer and makes it easier to
talk about policies. “When we are
looking at a plate full of tit-bits, the
only thing that comes to our mind is
pleasure. But it is worth remembering
that everything that we eat is regulated
by law,” said Dominika Petrova from the
co-ordination team of the EYMD and
the facilitator of the workshop. Heard
the joke about straightening of bananas?
Quiet down, fortunately the EU won't
be quite so strict!
Discussing regulations, however,
was only part of the workshop. The
second part was a meeting with the
Belgian TV star Piet Huysentruyt.
The chef, very famous in Belgium, is
known as the master of the cooking
TV show, the king of "real fast food"
and his name has become synonymous
with delicious natural cooking. He has
written many culinary books but above
all he is known for presenting two daily
cooking programs on Belgian national
television, called Lekker Thuis (Delicious at home) and De Perfecte Keuken
(The Perfect Kitchen).
So you will guess that the eight participants of the smallest workshop were
well waited on. “Piet Huysentruyt came
to the kitchen of the European Parliament and offered them a special private
show by cooking them a delicious 'fillet
of beef with autumn garnish, Belgian
beer and mousse line'. I was really
impressed by the show - I’m interested
in TV production so I really enjoyed it.
He is a real master,” said Ania Kielczyk
from Poland. His assistant for this occasion was Frederika Brepoels, a Belgian
politician and Member of the European
Parliament for Flanders (EPP-ED).
The European Cookbook workshop
definitely stayed true to one slogan:
having fun while talking about a serious
topic. Bon appétit!
5
European Youth Media Days 2008
15 · 17 October 2008 in European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium)
496 million
Citizens of the EU represented by the
European Parliament
€ 118 000
Cost per day of translation in 2006 (for
21 languages—Romanian and Bulgarian
having not yet been included)
Rainy day parade
It’s happening every day in our lives indirectly and since from
a while we’re just ignoring this “phenomenon”. They are living
within us, they are part of our daily life. The “roma problem”
should not be seen as a problem. The problem are those people
who aggress them and on the other hand those people who gave
them to many attention by Andrei Epure
The European Youth Media
Foto Team were on the
streets to “catch” some
real life moments through
a lens. Most of those who
are living in the street are
not local citizens. They were coming
from Eastern Europe from countries
that can not offer them a life, country
in witch they are aggressed daily by
normal citizens or authorities. They
just want to have a regular job and
earn some money to assure a fine life
to their family, but no one trust them
because the media has created a bad
image around them. Asked who can
solve this problem, mr. R, answered
most simply : “no one.. because we do
not trust anybody anymore and we just
prefer to live our life in the most easiest
way possible, in the streets, singing
or dancing..or just begging. What we
do is not illegal. We don’t stole from
anybody and the money we have are
earned in the most honest way possible.
We don’t care anymore about what the
authorities think about us. For us is
just a way of life. If they want to do
something for us they should just leave
us live our life”. It wasn’t a shock that
they don’t trust anybody.. the shock
was coming from the authorities that
are not listening to them, to their problems. They want not to be ignored
anymore and to have a place to live.
An apartment it would be great, and
the rent should be paid half from the
state resources and the other half from
their income.
“Let’s just make an imagination test.
We are living in the streets, sleeping
in the park or in a train station, we
just sit down and beg for a penny, we
accept all the injuries from anyone, we
don’t repost and after all, everybody
thinks that we are thiefs. We want to
work honestly somewhere but no one
trust us. Those who stolen are people
who don’t like to work and because
of them we are accused for what we
never do. This can not be called life.”
Told mr. R also.
Where are the human rights?.. What
about the “no discrimination story?..
it’s in a different movie, one with
fairytales and tooth fairy.
6
Breaking into
Radio news in the making
of EU immigration policy
by Agnes Emri
head and a microphone – these are
the signs leading us downstairs, all the
way beneath the European Parliament
to the recording studios. Thursday
afternoon, EYMD radio workshop participants were deeply in
concentrated in Radio Studio 1,
over audio levels and the words
of Gjovalin Nonaj. Nonaj,
a virtuoso accordionist
and now a Belgian citizen
shared his past as an illegal immigrant
in Brussels for 5 years, first playing
music at the metro station Botanique,
then at cafes. Nonaj was the so-called
“human aspect" of the radio news
show in the making, challengingly
called Breaking into Europe.
The title speaks for itself: the issues
at hand were policies on refugees and
illegal immigration. Only a day before
the workshop, on October 15th the
European Council endorsed the
European Pact on Immigration and
Asylum, making the issue as fresh as,
well, the EYMD reimbursement.
In a spirit of solidarity, the act aims
for a better protection of Europe by
controlling its borders, for the organization of legal migration in harmony
with the capacity of each member
country to receive immigrants, for the
selective repatriation of illegal immigrants, and for building a Europe
of asylum by 2010. In the planning
phase of the radio project, the
positive and negative aspects of the
issue were to be presented alongside
commentaries and input from those
not involved in the issue.
Up in the glass room of the press
area, the words of Nonaj, and other
two previous interviewees were being
edited by focused workshop participants deep in discussion on where to
press the right key combinations to
make the cut. Not all of the material
is used, in one version - only those
sentences of the speaker that started
with an emphasized “so,” were kept,
said workshop participant Oscar
Moreno Fernandez, “with amusing
results.”
The topic itself is not so amusing.
For an issue such as this, Oscar believes written media would be a better
You should be creative.
Now!
Just the facts very brefly: The topic is the future
of europe. We have to produce a one our radio
program for tomorrow. Seven groups with two
persons and three minutes to do. Ok? Let’s start. You
should be creative. Now! By Christian Brahmann
For our orange magazin we follow two
participants of the radio workshop
“United we stand” and have a closer
look how they realize their program.
Andrew
Farrel
tries to
explain
the irish
No to
Europe
The goal of this workshop is to create
a mini-documentary for the official
partner of the YEMD Euradionantes
in France. How do the european citizens see the EU in the next five, ten
or even twenty years? And what are
their feelings about Brussels? What do
they expect?
Thierry Backer from Germany
and Andrew Farrel from Ireland are
working together. Their subject is the
to deal with the defeat of Lisbon in
Ireland. What does this mean for the
future of the EU? Because with their
vote against the treaty the irish people
caused a big problem which the union
has to deal with.
But creative?! Ok. Let’s try it like
that. Andrew is irish and he votet No,
but he is not against the EU. Why
don’t let him explain his thougts about
that. Nice idea. But where could you
do an interview with an Irish about
an european subject? In an irish pub
in Brussels, for sure. Thats it. In the
right atmosphare just a few minutes
later Andrew tries to explain why
he and the majority of his country
said no to this important contract.
In this short interview he says that
he is definatly pro europe and he is
sure that his compatriots are, too. But
obviously there are some problems to
face right now.
Two hours later it is done. Five
minutes material which can easily be
cut down into three.
Satisfied? Yes, we tried to do something creative. Now!
7
European Youth Media Days 2008
15 · 17 October 2008 in European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium)
Europe!
medium than spoken, because 10-20
minutes is not enough to properly
tackle an issue as complex as illegal
immigration. He is worried the program will be too dense.
Workshop facilitator Carmen has
ideas supporting just the opposite.
The way she sees it, radio is a proper
platform, because unlike print, radio
portrays emotions through people's
voices, bringing issues closer to the
listeners personally. "On paper it
seems too far" said Carmen. On
the radio, the speaker's voice reveals
more.
Besides Nonaj, the news program
will reveal two other voices, MEP
Simon Busuttil and legal expert Philippe de Bruycher. "He's flamboyant!"
said Andrew Fowler triumphantly and
typed the adjective into the introduction of the script. He and Marina
Ferhatovic from Sweden are hosting
the news show. “I explain what I want
to say and he finds the right words,"
Marina said about working with
Andrew, who, coming from London,
has the benefit of having English as
his native tongue. Even so, that is not
the reason he volunteered to co-host
the show. "I like the sound of my
voice," he confessed.
As for Marina, she herself is an
immigrant to the EU, having moved
to Sweden with her family when she
was 12 years old. “My father was a
political refugee from Bosnia, not illegal, but an immigrant nevertheless.”
These two young Europeans were
just one part of the dynamic team.
There was more going on in the halls
of the building, there were reporters
were getting people's opinion for the
vox populi section of the show. In the
press room itself, texts were being
typed up to be read out on air, or
maybe not. “It depends," said Oscar
“there will be a commentary, but it
might be too radical. In this show,
we will not take sides, we will only
present the case.”
As for presenting the finished
news show, Oscar hopes he will get
this opportunity on Friday night, at
the final closing ceremony of the
European Youth Media days, when all
workshops will display their finished
media products. He feels the need to
be challenged.
This seems to be the attitude of
most of the workshop participants.
The European youth have indeed
broken into Europe. Like the talented
accordian player Nonaj said approvingly upon leaving the recording
studio “the future belongs to the
youth."
NUMBER CRUNCHING
23
Number of official languages following the accession of Bulgaria
and Romania, Irish having also become
an official language on 1 January 2007,
506
Possible combinations of languages, since each language
can be translated into 22 others
80 000
Number of young European aged
between 10-20 who submitted suggestions for the European motto. The
winner was United In Diversity.
Present from Cartoon
Workshop
8
EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT
IN MOTION
Fast. Busy. Colourful. Boring. Or even funny. That
is how the members of the photographic workshop
“Brussels at work” saw the life in the European
Parliament (EP) through their lenses
BY Martina Topinková AND Petr HrnCíR
“We have tried to present what daily
Brussels looks like,” says workshop
participant Jaka Polutnik from Slovenia. His Bulgarian facilitator Marina
Tsekova adds: “I really like the deal
and the outcome of my group.” They
agreed that it was a pleasure to observe
the employees at work, but at the same
time they felt that it is really difficult to
show everything in just a two-minute
presentation. After all, their workshop
was a big challenge for them.
Twelve members of the team were
divided into four groups. Three of
them were following MEPs – Members of the European Parliament. The
vox pops
fourth was trying to find out how the
rest of the EP employees “function”.
“We were trying to show the life of the
Parliament also from the perspective of
the cleaning ladies or shop assistants,”
explains Marina.
Describing his day, Jaka said: “I spent
about one and a half hours with the
Bulgarian MEP Mariela Baeva and
Hannu Takkula of Finland. I was surprised how hard it was to capture all
the work that’s going on in those small
offices.” They all had the opportunity
to speak directly with the MEPs as
well as with the Euro bureaucrats. And
all their research – according to their
facilitator Marina – leads to one quite
surprising conclusion: “They have noticed that they are just normal working
people, that their life is not that extraordinary. Everyone is really busy. They
have no free time.” In spite of this,
however, Jaka says: “The good thing
is that they seem to be quite relaxed.
And together with their assistants, love
their work, they enjoy it a lot”. “They
were very open and kind,” adds Anna
Morawiec from Poland.
One of the MEPs – Mariela Baeva –
completely agrees with her. “It was a
real pleasure for me,” she says. “They
all behaved very professionally.” She
The European Parliament is a buzzing organism of vibrant individuals that
together make events like the EYMD possible. Ever wondered what the faces
behind this impressive European machinery look like? Here are a few of the
people that make things happen in Bruxelles.
“THE BOSS”
Name: Linda Poppe
Age: 26
Nationalty: German
Status: Single
Title: EYMD Project
Coordinator
Best part of the
job: The people I
work with
“THE SECURITY AGENT”
Name: Ludwig
Willems
Age: 42
Nationality: Dutch
Status: Divorced
Title: Security Agent
Best part of the job:
Working at night
“THE HALLWAY PLANT”
Name: Althaea
Officinalis
Age: 4 years 6 months
Nationality: Belgian
Status: Single, but in
love with the vending
machine down the hall
Title: Hallway Plant
Best part of the job:
The view
9
European Youth Media Days 2008
15 · 17 October 2008 in European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium)
also explains how interesting it was
to talk to young people: “I wanted
to exchange views with them. We
discussed some economic issues including the global financial crisis and the
models of economy. I was surprised
how educated they are.”
The access of the workshop participants was not limitless though. “The
only shortcoming was that we were
not allowed to take pictures in the
canteen,” says Anna, explaining that
the European Parliament prohibits
photography in restaurants, cafeterias,
and no shooting is allowed of security
equipment and entrances. “Unfortuna-
tely we couldn´t go to the sport facility
too because you need some kind of
subscription there,” adds Anna.
Alfhild Böhringer, a moderator from
Germany, says: “I would just say that
the EP is colourful – thanks to the
people who are in a constant rush in
here. In contrast, the architecture of
the building is horrible – everything
is just grey and you can find the long
corridors with all the small rooms
everywhere.” Even worse is trying to
orient oneself in this splendid maze.
“For me the life in the EP is fast and
boring, to be honest. It is just sitting
behind the computer – that is what our
guys saw,” says Alexander Mihaylov
from Bulgaria. “On the other hand, the
multicultural atmosphere is incredible,”
he adds. This is his second year taking
part in EYMD. Last year he was one of
the participants. This year, he got the
opportunity to be a media expert, helping the photographers. “I am trying to
guide them, but some of them are real
professionals and so they could guide
me as well,” he points out.
At last, the workshop seemed to please
everybody. “I like the idea of the meeting of the people from all across the
European Union to share visions,” says
Marina about EYMD. And Anna ads:
“It was a great experience and in fact
an adventure!”
vox pops
“THE BUSTBOY”
Name: Tabuyda
Age: 17
Nationality:
Marrocan/Belgian
Status: Single
Title: Kitchen
Assistant
Best part of the
job: Chatting with
my colleagues.
“THE BUREAUCRATE”
Name: Phillippe Kamaris
Age: 36
Nationality: German
Status: Single
Title: Administrator, interparliamentary delegations
for non-European countries, Dictorate-General for
External Policies.
Best part of the job:
Seeing how my work affects people in
countries far away.
“THE HARDRESSER”
Name: Sarah Luppens
Age: 17
Nationality: Belgian
Status: Single
Title: Shampoo girl
Best part of the job:
Customer relations
10
Is Parliament
corrupting
the media?
So here we are, at the Hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels to
observe the first Award Ceremony of the European Parliament Prize for
Journalism. Although the atmosphere of this meeting is pleasant, beneath the
surface the prize met with a huge amount of criticism from professional mediamakers. They say that we are facing an unacceptable situation when politicians
are courting journalists in a manner that clashes with a cardinal rule that
shapes relations between politics and the media. This golden principle is distance.
WINNERS:
Television– Shirin WHEELER
(BBC Record Europe), Nils
FELDBALLE PETERSEN
Internet – Finlandia Pete
PAKARINEN for an article
about illegal immigration to
EU
Print – dwa materialy: Niemcy
Kirsten, Austria - Kirsten
WÖRNLE – o pracy tlumaczy w EP, Wolfgang BÖHM
Austria
Radio – Mircea Radu LIPOVAN & Andreea MINZAT z
Rumunii
Up to 70 journalists who won
national stages of the competition came here to Brussels
for the ceremony hoping to
get the international award.
The prize is divided into
four categories: Print, Online, TV and
Radio, and it is intended to recognise
journalists who have dealt with major
issues at a European level or have
promoted a better understanding of
EU policies.
“The work of the European Parliament
has to be observed critically but also
objectively,” said Hans-Gert Pöttering,
President of the European Parliament.
“Pluralism and independence of the
media is an extremely important issue
for us who stand on the side of journalists. This system is essential for further
democracy existence,” he added.
This point of view differs from the
opinion of some journalists, who
say that such an award is like a bribe
used by politicians in an attempt to
influence the media. Chris White, a
British blogger and euro reporter here
in Brussels, said: “What the parliament
media awards are about is catching
journalists young and convincing them
to write positive things about Europe in
the hope of some sort of gain. Meanwhile the EU positively undermines the
infrastructure of a free media industry
and its economic base.” In his opinion,
using taxpayers’ money, the Parliament
conducts a “massive brainwashing
exercise”.
We asked Maria Laura Franciosi of the
European Journalism Center, one of
the Prize jury members, for her comment on such critical opinion. And her
answer is: no, it is not fawning or corrupting journalists. In her opinion, the
media are so extremely important for
the work of European institutions that
it is totally obvious to give an award for
the most talented and hard-working
journalists. Especially when they are
critical to European matters. Because
then politicians know what should they
improve in their work.
And the prize? Except fame and the
honour of being the first ever winner
of the European Parliament Prize
for Journalism, the winners received
€5,000 each. So will they stay critical of
European institutions? Shirin Wheeler,
the British winner in the TV category,
who works for BBC Record Europe
in Brussels, believes so. “As a journalist, I absolutely believe that being a
journalist it is not our job to provide
propaganda for the EU institutions.
It’s quite encouraging that the prize
was given to us even though we make
programs that are very critical of the
European Union. Don’t forget that the
judges were three MEP and the rest
were journalists. It won’t corrupt me,
but stimulate me to go further in this
direction,” she adds.
11
European Youth Media Days 2008
15 · 17 October 2008 in European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium)
Don’t mention
Macedonia
„We regret that our friends from Macedonia couldn’t participate in the European
Youth Media Days,“ said Anna Sulewska, board member of the EYP, in her welcome
speech in the European Parliament. This innocuous sentence, seemingly unlikely to
arouse controversy, evoked such indignation among officials that one of them
even told her that she had made a huge faux pas. Did she?
The conflict between Greece and Macedonia that began in 1991 is still active
and unresolved. After the collapse of
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia one of its six parts – the Socialist
Republic of Macedonia - became an
independent country, the Republic of
Macedonia. Greece opposed the move
and pointed out that there are three regions with the name Macedonia in Greek
territory. Then another problem arose
when the Macedonians chose a symbol
referring to Alexander the Great for
their flag. In response, Greece enforced
an embargo on Macedonia and only
removed it after an agreement was reached that Macedonia would change the
flag and Constitution and accept that it
would be called the Former Yugoslavian
Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). But
that didn’t solve the delicate matter.
Greece gave their neighbour an ultimatum. To put it straight, it says: we
won’t allow you to start NATO and EU
accession negotiations until you change
your country name to – for instance –
the Republic of Northern Macedonia.
“We are alone. European countries don’t
interrupt in this issue because they say
it’s an internal problem of Greece and
Macedonia,” said Branka Kostovska, a
Macedonian working in Brussels for the
European Journalism Centre.
But why was Ania's sentence taken as
impolite? Although the Constitution
calls the country the Republic of Mace-
donia, there is an agreement that on the
international level, this country will be
called the former Yugoslavian Republic
of Macedonia - or the decidedly unsnappy acronym FYROM. “We find it
humiliating but we can do nothing with
it,” comments Branka. “We have no
choice. If we want to develop, join EU
and NATO, then we have to change our
name so that Greece stops blocking the
negotiations.” And until they change the
country name, in the corridors of European Institutions you can call it only
FYROM. What we, EYMD participants
have learnt from this conflict is that the
language of diplomacy can differ from
the language of truth and justice.
Lost and found
In every huge building there is a ‚Lost
and Found‘ Service where you can
search if you‘d lost something during
your stay there. Who had lost and
found what during the 2008 European
Youth Media Days. Lets‘s see...
When I lost my digital camera two days
ago I felt like some part of me was
gone for good. The red Samsung had
been my true friend for 2 years. Then
I got back to the European Parliament
and some of the participants at the
2008 European Youth Media Days
started taking photos of me as they
found out what had happened - just
trying to make me smile. In fact that
was the time I realised I had lost some
important subject but I‘d also found
many new friends. And those pictures
they were taking were pictures of the
future. Because in the new united
Europe we have common future – we
shall work together as a team, a huge
family. In fact during the Youth Media
Days many participants got their stuff
stolen from the hostels and the hotel
rooms. I know how they feel because
they‘d probably lost not just money
but precious memories and objects
with their own history. I remember
the way Andrew from Ireland came
and started explaining ‚Just 3 minutes,
man. You leave the window open, go
to the bathroom and when you get out
in three minutes all your money and
jewels had disappeared‘.
I am wondering how many people
go to the Lost and Found Service at
the European Parliament every day,
searching for lost wallets and laptops.
The last picture I made with my
camera was the picture of two girls
from the EYMD 2008 in front of
the Manneken Pis – the world known
symbol of Brussels. Last night, during
the Brussels safari, together with the
same two pretty ladies and some other
really cool guys we were looking for the
Jannine Pis and then having photos in
front of the statue of the small peeing
boy again. So just a day after I had lost
something, I found now my Europe
should look like – all the smiling
(young) people that had found their
way to live together, work together,
have fun together.
12
Where
the
news
born:
The Press room
During the European Media Days we are working on the EP corridors,
in the oficcies but maybe the press room is the most important place
of our work. I was reporting participants working in the press room
about their topics, about their experiences in the press room and in
their work.
Sophie ten Bokkel Huinink from
Amsterdam and Ourrania Tsimpouli
from Athens are working in the Europolitan workshop.
Sophie: I find very useful this room,
because only here is wifi in the EP
Parliament. Out of that I can work here
calmly, there is science but also live,
because there are lots of journalists.
It is interesting to see how work the
professional journalists.
Ourrania: I think my topic is very
interesting. I am working for the Europolitan session and I am writing now an
article about my daily life at home, so
about the daily life of wemen in Athen.
I am studying now at the university but
I am also working in a radio estate. I
find this room cool, that s would be
great if we would have such a room at
home. Our work is much more easier
with these devices.
Biljana Prijic came from Bologna, Italy:
I haven t got a personal computer so
for me this room is very useful. At
home I am working for a pr agency
and as free journalist. Unfortunately,
at home there aren t such a rooms,
also it makes easier our work. I could
imagine to work in the EP for a while.
It is funny to work in one room with
professional EU-journalists. The
writing is much more easier in this
atmosphere.
And what about the professional
journalists? I asked a woman, who is
working as journalist in the EP. She
said, that she is happy that there are
many talented young journalist in
Europe. But is is a pity, that we also
use the press room, because she can’t
work in such a mass.
13
European Youth Media Days 2008
15 · 17 October 2008 in European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium)
SAFARI
Have you ever felt lost with lots of people? That‘s just
how I felt standing with a large group in front of the
Parliament at nine o’clock after a busy day. It was difficult, but finally I managed to find my safari group. It
was the „City of Squares“ tour, which included seeing
the Gothic town hall in the famous Grand Place. But first
of all we wanted to eat something because we didn’t
have any time during the day. We were busy with our
work. So everybody ran into a kebab shop. After the
dinner we began the walk: the royal theatre, the opera,
museums, the national library, many other places, and
many beers. The mood was getting better and better.
We stopped feeling the heavy rain of Brussels and
the cold weather. We were just walking, laughing and
admiring the buildings. On one square it was interesting
to see buildings from the 16th century along with the
modern architecture. Like in many European cities,
Brussels’ cultural memory is mixed. In one place there
are monuments from different centuries. After some
drinks people began opening up to one another. For
example, I met a Slovakian participant and we were able
to talk peacefully about the bad Hungarian-Slovakian
relations. I think that’s the spirit of the European Youth
Media Days: we can do what our politicians cannot: talk
about problems without aggression.
14
The Orange
Brainstorm
Orange in the maze
Our first meeting was on the floor,
in the corridor of the European Parliament. Here we started our crazy
ORANGE adventure. At first some
of us were a bit scared. Really! Why?
Because the eyes of the journalists
should be everywhere, and because
the journalist should be better informed about everything than anybody
else. And we...hmm, should I reveal
this secret to you? OK, I will. We felt
as if we were in a huge maze when
walking the hallways and corridors of
the EP. I'm sure that a lot of people
who work here will remember people
running around, asking: “Where is the
room 003?!”. Sometimes, during our
brainstorming, somebody would even
go to drink coffee and...simply not
come back. He was lost. But even a
lost Orange reporter eavesdrops and
peeps.
You are now
holding ORANGE
MAGAZINE in your
hands and you
are reading about
everything that
happened during
the EYMD 2008. But
can you imagine
how much fun we
had when we while
preparing this?
Orange Express
Is it possible to make an event magazine in only two days? As you see, it is!
We had a lot of enthusiasm, so many
ideas, so little time and we did it. We
had contact with all participants, we
described their workshops, and we
observed with attention the nightlife
of Brussels in order to make a report.
As you see, even if we were dancing, we
were looking. In our headquarters, the
room 003, we had a real brainstorming.
A floor and a desk covered with peaces
of papers, with ideas and plans, the
sound of our keyboards and a lot of
coffee - this is how our room looked
like. “It was a real challenge. I loved it,
the work, the atmosphere - everything!
And I hope to be back next year”- said
Aleksander Krastev who works in Bulgarian TV. “Working in Orange team
brought me a lot of ideas which I will
use in my work”- added Radoslav Hristov who works in a daily newspaper
“Top News”, also in Bulgaria. Kuba
and Ania, who were our coordinators,
said at the beginning: “If you want the
most crazy workshop of EYMD, you
have to chose Orange. We can now
affirm that this is the truth.
So see you next time,
- the Orange team!
15
European Youth Media Days 2008
15 · 17 October 2008 in European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium)
The European Youth
Press
The European Youth Press is an umbrella
association of young journalists in
Europe. It involves more than 48 000
young journalists less than 30 years of
age. Up to now the young association
consists of thirteen national youth media
associations.
The objectives of the European
Youth Press are the strong cooperation
among national youth media structures
in Europe and their support. The overall aim is to strengthen the role of
youth media and the freedom of press
in Europe. The association sees itself
as a service for the national structures
and will foster projects of the different
partners and projects that are organised
by young media makers in Europe. The
association provides contact forums
and educational seminars for multipliers
of the member associations and forces
internal and external communication
among all partners.
With concrete projects, e.g. the international event magazine „Orange“ with
print magazines or Blogs, PodCasts
and V-Casts, the association wants to
give young media makers from all over
Europe the opportunity to cooperate
directly with each other. Above all, the
aim of all member associations and the
umbrella structure is to inspire young
people to deal with media and take an
active part in society by fostering objective and independent journalism.
Orange
Orange is a Europe based event and
theme magazine made by young journalists. This creates learning by doing
experiences for the young journalists
and also a magazine with a young and
innovative view for the reader. The fact
that the journalists come from different
countries with different backgrounds
of course makes this magazine very
unique. Oranges have been created on
a European basis since 2004 on several different topics and events such as
political topics, religion and different
festivals. The aim of the magazine is
to let young journalists from all over
Europe meet, work together and create
multi-faced magazines with new and
interesting contents. Creating it means
having an exciting time in a quite unusual
environment. Reading it means getting
facts and opinions directly from young
and innovative journalists. All in all, our
Orange is always fresh and juicy.
EUROPEAN YOUTH MEDIA
DAYS
This edition of Orange Magazine was written
and produced during the European Youth
Media Days which took place between the 15th
and the 17th of October 2008 in the European Parliament, Brussels. During this second
annual gathering of some of the most talented
young journalists, photographers, graphic designers, organizers, editors and speakers from all
of the 27 EU member countries, 200 selected
participants were asked to share their visions,
and most importantly, to work together across
borders and languages. The event consisted
of various workshops, covering all aspects
of modern media production, from classical
radio to new media, as well as panel discussions, seminars and of course parties. In this
unique atmosphere, filled with sparkling ideas
and smooth cooperation, tomorrow’s young
journalists literally turned the European Parliament on its head, presenting politicians and
euro-bureaucrats with a true spectacle. Thanks
to the enthusiasm of both participants and
organizers, the European Youth Press and the
European Parliament, the result was a genuine
European experience. Through creativity and
inspiration a new generation of journalists
learned how to produce tomorrow’s European
media. All of the projects can be found on
www.youthmediadays.eu.
Hope to see you next year!
Orange team
This Orange was made by the
international crew of young
journalists participating in the
European Youth Media Days in
Brussels, October 2008. Crew
contained people from Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Denmark,
France, Germany, Hungary,
Moldova, Poland, Romania and
United Kingdom. All articles do
not necessarily represent the
opinions of the magazine.
Publishers line:
Orange Magazine
European Youth
Press, rue de la
Tourelle 23,BE-1040,
Brussels, Belgium
Editors in chief:
Anna Sulewska,
Jakub Górnicki
Proofreading:
Robin Ash
Photos by:
Thomas Alboth
Martina Topinkova
Monica Monte
Jan Dabkowski
Pietro Naj-Oleari
Brecht Soehen
Layout:
Dumitru Iovu
Agnes Zsofia Emri
Alexander Krastev
Andrei Epure
Christian
Brahmann
David Michael
Barnwell
Dimitru Iovu
Filip Jurzyk
Jakub Gornicki
Jean Massiet
Karolina Przybysz
Martina Topinkova
Petr Hrncir
Radoslav Hristov
Robin Ash
Tressia Boukhors
Veronika
Szandtner