Summer Academy for Media and Politics

Students, academics and colleagues of the programme in Technical Journalism met with their counterparts from the University of Istanbul for an exchange of views from 14-18 September within the framework of this year's Summer Academy for Media and Politics. The invitation had been extended by the Academy for Political Formation, Tutzing.

The intensive week-long seminar was marked in equal measure by the range of views expressed and the friendliness of the gathering.

Differences of opinion came to the fore in the evaluation of political processes and the modes of operation of the media in Turkey. The lecture by Kai Strittmater, Turkey correspondent of the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) encountered open criticism from Turkish participants when he detailed the dependency of the Turkish media. The image of Turks resident in Germany presented in the ARD television series Türkisch für Anfänger ("Turkish for Beginners") also failed to convince the Turkish members of the seminar. On the other hand, a street questionnaire in Istanbul on the image of Germans produced a thoroughly sympathetic and positive response. No wonder - negative statements had been edited out for reasons of politeness. So straightaway it was clear just how far apart concepts of reporting can be.

The programme of the Summer Academy extended from lectures on the questionnaires carried out by students to a full range of excursions. The agenda included visits to the editorial divisions of SZ and of Bavarian Television, as well as meetings in the Bavarian Parliament and with the Integration Office of the city of Munich. A trip out into the Bavarian cultural landscape, with a visit to the Wieskirche and to Schloss Linderhof provided relaxation from the intensive academic programme.

At the end of the week all participants were agreed that they had learned a lot.

Dr Michael Schröder, Lecturer in Media and Publicity at the Academy for Political Formation, and Professors Andreas Schümchen and Ceyhan Kandemir (University of Istanbul) emphasised that they were looking forward to a continuation of the cooperation.

The participants suggested the significance of the Internet as information medium as a theme for future projects with students. In this way, further bridges could be built between Colleges and Cultures.