The power of the neighborhood: How local media organize participation and how DW Akademie supports this

Hosted by: Deutsche Welle

Participatory media do not require Facebook and Twitter to be effective. As a future basic element of journalistic work, participation can assume very direct forms of interaction. Community-based media in developing countries have always incorporated participatory components. Now they are combining these familiar forms of personal sharing with new technologies. This workshop presents innovative participatory approaches from three regional media projects.

Each of them is a remarkable initiative in which local media have found exciting means of integrating their audiences, and DW Akademie supports all three in varying ways. What have these projects achieved and which challenges proved to be the most difficult to overcome? What do both listeners and content producers have to say about them? What do the initiatives have in common and what are their differences? And what does meaningful support for these projects look like in practice?

The session includes presentations and discussions about a Cambodian project that uses techniques of data-driven journalism to develop stories; a Colombian initiative to compile databases of regional corruption and train local journalists to use it; and a local newspaper project in Upper Egypt, where citizens and aspiring journalists publish their own newspapers and websites.

Panelists:

Chan, Penhleak
Research and Volunteer Coordinator, Open Development Cambodia, Cambodia

Farag, Fatemah
Founder and Director, Welad Elbalad Media Services, Egypt

Prada Céspedes, Edilma
Coordinator, Plataforma de Periodismo, Consejo de Redacción (CdR), Colombia

Moderation:

Leusch, Patrick
Head International Cooperation, DW Akademie, Germany