In the Bonn Institute masterclass “Constructive election reporting,” which took place January 9 and 10 at the Tagesspiegel offices in Berlin, Peter Lindner, head of projects and research at the Bonn Institute, and Barbara Maas, journalist, trainer and coach, presented new journalistic approaches for and numerous good practice examples of constructive election reporting.
The masterclass was driven by the following questions: What exactly must election reporting achieve so that it offers added value to people, the media and democracy in times of conflict? And which approaches and tools really help achieve this?
The participants, who work at various private and public media companies, came up with many coverage ideas for the election campaign, the election day itself and the crucial period afterwards, and developed them further in small groups. The experience showed that it is worth going beyond common reporting patterns and formats, and thinking first and foremost from the voters' perspective when finding topics.
In addition, participants tried out new journalistic tools and practiced active listening and constructive interviewing. The constructive use of AI in elections was also part of the one-and-a-half-day seminar.
Knowledge exchange among participants was an important aspect of the masterclass. The German daily Tagesspiegel provided interesting insights into its election-related work in workshop discussions. Thanks to Johannes Altmeyer, Karin Christmann and Nina Breher for your input and the open exchange! Thanks also to Dr. Julia Reuschenbach, a political scientist from the FU Berlin who has been researching elections, parties and political communication for a long time and also contributed her valuable expertise to the masterclass.
Interested in future masterclasses? Please check out our events page. Can't find what you are looking for? Get in touch with with the Bonn Institute team – we're happy to discuss custom training sessions.