Addiction to international work

December 18, 2013

The workshop was designed for young journalists, Russian and German students, who were working together on the main topic under the direction of professionals to create their journalistic works for To4ka-Treff web-site by Goethe Institute.

“The goal of the workshop is not only to practice journalistic skills but also to oppose and prevent addictions”, - says Christine Eichhorn, the organizer of the workshop from the “German Youth Press Union”. “Moreover, it is about the realizing what addiction means and how much it influences on our lives”. Every Russian participant was preparing a journalistic piece in a tandem with a German participant with a help of editors-in-chief of the workshop. The result of the joint work is 12 materials that are developing the different aspect of a topic “Addiction”: texts, photo reportages, audio slide shows. “It was also very important to investigate the difference between addiction and passion”, - adds Christine Eichhorn.

“I really liked that this workshop touched not only the questions of addiction but also a broader and bigger idea of passion, possession and force of habit. The meaning of a word “addiction” in Russian language is not enough to illustrate the main topic of workshop. And it is even good. To write about the one physical addiction to something would be much more difficult for me – no space to expand. However, we had an opportunity to think and write about more than just it”, - says Ilya Koval, master student of SPbU, about his impressions.

German students had a big part to gain the information and to interview local people and experts. For productive work and investigations the organizers arranged the thematic meeting with the different organizations, expert, politicians and journalists.

“Me and my tandem partner Tatyana Kondratenko we have chosen the game addiction for our material. I think it is a big problem in Germany and it is going to be even worse. Slot-machines are like drugs and I know a lot of people who are addicted to them. That was a reason why I had investigated the topic before the workshop and this topic was perfectly fitted to the main idea of workshop To4ka-Treff”, - explains his choice the participant of workshop Baran Datli, student in Bavarian School of Public Policy.

The final results wil be published on Russian-German web-site to4ka.treff.de as a Top-theme. “In general we are really pleased with the results. But now we should wait for translation and feedback from Goethe Institute”, - sums up adds Christine Eichhorn.

The next workshop To4ka-Treff will be is Saint Petersburg, where St. Peterssburg State University will receive the students from Germany for joint work. There is a slide show with the photos from workshop to demonstrate how cool it was. See you on the next To4ka!