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A lot can be said about Potsdam. Probably most of the stuff is true.

Located a stone’s throw west of Berlin, Potsdam drew national attention on Easter Sunday 2006, as a German-Ethiopian husband and father was sent into a coma by the blow to the head by an assumed, yet unidentified, right extremist. It was a punch on the nose for a nation, desperately fighting to move past its all too tragic past.

Today, more than one year later, Potsdam is still a city of stark contrast. The city’s fairytale surroundings, with its renaissance castles and gardens, create an almost condescending backdrop of a bewildered youth (Potsdam has an unemployment rate of 11,6%).

The irony couldn’t have been clearer: Germany’s own Disneyland-look-alike framing a discussion on the “Dialogue Between Cultures” at the annual M100 Youth Media Workshop – an event where select European (and Israeli) young journalists come together to discuss “complex journalistic dilemmas.”

Now, I might only be 25, and a mere young’n in this writing game, but I am old enough to understand that grand openings are notoriously bound to crash before they even get off the ground. Let’s get one thing out of the way: This, the M100’s Grand Opening, did not crash – it sort of hovered 10 cm above ground.

Prominent people were present (as prominent as one gets as a “filler” for the “filler” of the guy who was actually supposed to be there), and words only superseded by “Coca-Cola” and “OK” were thrown around like popcorn at a pajama party. Nonchalantly sprawled on barstools, set in the shape of a horseshoe (for good luck, hoping that would really get the baby off the road?), editors-in-chief and “fillers” alike discussed the triumphs and trickeries of modern-day journalism.

The following are excerpts of fragments of this night’s pajama party. Hold on to your popcorn:

“Complexity is a challenge for journalists who’s job it is to make something complex simple” (Dr. Roland Löffler, Herbert Quandt-Stiftung)

“Lady Di is just a dead Paris Hilton” (Dr. Joachim Huber, editor, “Tagesspiegel”)

“Don’t lie if you know you’re lying” (Dr. Joachim Huber, editor, “Tagesspiegel”)

“80% of today’s journalists are ‘lost’ – corrupt. Write for the things you believe in! Will you defend your independence?” (Hans-Ulrich Jörges, deputy editor-in-chief, “Stern” magazine). Mr. Huber quickly sided with the remaining 20%.

The keen reader might have trouble making any sense of this. In all honesty, I’m trying to myself. And in all fairness (and yes, “fairness” was thrown around, too), there was more to the discussion than big words. The “fight against terror”-rhetoric was attacked for being “a fight against everyone who’s against secret services and censorship for politics,” as was Germany’s bland handling of Pres. Bush. “You don’t make movies like Michael Moore in Germany,” said Mathew D. Rose (author and free-lance journalist, Berlin). “Jon Stewart! Forget Michael Moore! Jon Stewart!” Prof. Dr. Susan Neiman (Einstein Forum) chimed in. The intentions were good – really, they were. Only, it was like the old school style cup holder on an old Mazda, where the cup holder was just a slight bump in the door of the glove compartment: it’s nice that they bothered, but you kind of know you have to hold the cup yourself, if you don’t want to spill.

The young, aspiring journalists listened. Some learned. And they rushed the buffet, chewing away to the echo of Mr. Rose’s words of wisdom, “it’s a hard job, but don’t lose your sense of humor!” How could we ever?

Stay tuned to see how much closer we’ll come to sense on our way through a new cosmos tomorrow… Popcorn’s included.

 

By Peter Dahl