It's time to listen to young Europeans

Can you describe what ENTR is about?

Patrick Leusch: ENTR is aimed first and foremost at young Europeans who are critical or have distanced themselves from the idea of Europe. It provides a space for dialogue and debate about the future of Europe without repeating old narratives of what Europe should be. It is meant to drive a more open debate and at the same time provide some information about diverse realities in Europe. Valuing differences and celebrating commonalities are at the core of ENTR. The project is ambitious, collaborative and purely on social media. With ten European media houses participating in the project, ENTR is a unique cross-border platform which is possible due to digital media.

How do you ensure that the content addresses diverse realities?

Gönna Ketels: We do so by addressing universal questions that really matter to young Europeans such as: What kind of life do we want for ourselves? What do we want for our future? What kind of society do we want to live in? How can we fix what is holding us back? We don’t view young Europeans as a homogenous audience, but as a diverse one: from across the continent, different backgrounds and interests. We believe that is at the core of pan-European constructive journalism.

What kind of content are you producing to address these critical issues?

Ketels: We produce a broad range of content—mainly visual—for social media platforms. These range from Instagram stories and reels to live debates and longer videos that can be thought-provoking, fun and inspiring. We publish content on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. ENTR’s aim is to engage with young Europeans with journalism that not only talks, but that also listens to them.

You work on the project together with partners from six European countries. How does the editorial arrangement look like?

Leusch: We don’t have one format for all languages. It’s the other way around: Every language, every partner has a coordinator and a team. Each one of them creates content that is relevant for their audience. We try to find common ground and look closely at the content to see if it could be relevant and subsequently adapted or tailored to each of the audiences.

Ketels: We also cooperate through our cross-border format which involves reporters from at least two different editorial teams working on a common topic. It’s not just sharing afterwards what we’ve done, but also anticipating where we can work together and identifying relevant topics early on.

Can you tell us a bit more about the project’s target group?

Leusch: The project aims to reach the age group from 18 to 34 years or longer—those in the second phase of their lives. Our studies found that there are 40 percent of young Europeans who are critical of the idea of Europe. On social media, you find that nationalist and populist voices are sometimes predominant in the context of Europe or the EU. The debate is often driven by nationalistic populist voices. With ENTR, we want to oppose such voices with constructive, authentic and dialogue-oriented journalistic content.

We do not want to reach urban elites and cosmopolites, but rather those who have the impression that Europe is not providing—or in the worst case—is endangering their lives through migration, for instance. Reaching these young Europeans is a very big challenge. Ketels: We’re talking about people who are building their lives, who are in a phase of their lives where they have to make important life decisions: There is a lot of uncertainty and they are looking for orientation. These are young people who are also looking for new definitions of what it means to be European.

What are the biggest challenges?

Leusch: I think that the project is mirroring the challenge that Europe is facing, because you have to ensure that the project partners have the same goals, while respecting all the differences that unite us. And in every single step, you can see the balancing between these two realities. That’s also why I think this partnership is so important for the broadcasters. That brings us a little bit back to the real idea of Europe.

Ketels: To me, the biggest challenge is building a community from scratch—from zero followers. On a personal note, I think it is challenging to let go of the belief that how we’ve always done things is best and instead to be open to new perspectives.

ENTR — What’s next

is a pan-European project that provides a new space for open and authentic debate about Europe’s present and future. It highlights the abundance of different perspectives across Europe. The multilingual digital media platform aims to reach young Europeans. It is supported by the European Commission and German Federal Foreign Office. The following media houses from six European countries are involved in the project: France Médias Monde (RFI, France 24, MCD), G4Media from Romania, RFI Romania, My Country Talks, Onet from Poland, the Portuguese public broadcaster RTP, the Genshagen Foundation and Germany’s popular news site ZEIT ONLINE.

This article is part of the 2021 English issue of the DW corporate magazine Weltzeit. Read the full magazine here: Weltzeit: Local insight, global reach. Working in a strong network with partners.