Sometimes the clash of different political systems lead to funny moments, like it happened during the implementation of the program entitled “Cross border observations: reliable coverage of local elections in Lower Saxony and Armenia”. When Armenian journalists during their one-week visit to Germany visited also the regional head of the Farmers’ Association of Lower Saxony at his farm, he showed them his own agricultural vehicles, many of them used also in a common pool with other farmers. His visitors smiled since they remembered that in Armenia local politicians would just give a new tractor to a village in order to get re-elected.

The “Cross border observations: reliable coverage of local elections in Lower Saxony and Armenia” program was implemented from July to November  of 2016 through joint efforts of Berlin Journalism School and Journalists for the Future NGO due to the support by the German Federal Foreign Office.

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Sometimes the clash of different political systems lead to funny moments, like it happened during the implementation of the program entitled “Cross border observations: reliable coverage of local elections in Lower Saxony and Armenia”. When Armenian journalists during their one-week visit to Germany visited also the regional head of the Farmers’ Association of Lower Saxony at his farm, he showed them his own agricultural vehicles, many of them used also in a common pool with other farmers. His visitors smiled since they remembered that in Armenia local politicians would just give a new tractor to a village in order to get re-elected.

The “Cross border observations: reliable coverage of local elections in Lower Saxony and Armenia” program was implemented from July to November  of 2016 through joint efforts of Berlin Journalism School and Journalists for the Future NGO due to the support by the German Federal Foreign Office.

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The program aimed at enabling Armenian journalists to gain first-hand-insights concerning the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany and the way regional elections are held here as well as to study the role and impact of the media in such important political events just before the local elections in Armenia.

As a result, on August 22-28 ten representatives from various media outlets of Armenia visited Germany to take part in lectures and meetings organized specially for this group. During their one-week trip Armenian journalists had meetings in Berlin as well as in Hannover and Osnabruck cities in the region in Lower Saxony. Period for this visit has been scheduled on August since this was a pre-election period, time to campaign for September 11 local elections in this region. 

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“When we started with the concept of ‘reliable coverage of local elections’, we could not expect that this topic would even be more in the focus at the end of the year,” says the head of the program Clemens Schöll. “The increasing success of populism worldwide is connected with a distrust in so called ‘established media’, which in the eyes of those populist voters is biased in its reporting about politics and especially political candidates not being part of the existing ‘system’.”

In Germany, the program participants visited media outlets, campaign planners, opinion researchers and other institutions which are involved in the campaign as well as the election process itself. They also met with candidates running in elections. Armenian journalists revealed how German media covers election processes and how political parties functioning in Germany implement pre-election campaign.

“Questions about bribery or violations at elections sound strange for Germans. Such things are excluded there. Candidates running in City Parliament elections campaign on streets under an umbrella by approaching and talking to passers-by,” says Marine Martirosyan, one of the program participants from Hetq.am. 

[[wysiwyg_imageupload:250:]]Marine has revealed that unlike Armenian media, German press has a clearly defined size to cover local elections.

According to another participant of the program Vahagn Dabaghyan he was impressed by the professionalism and responsibility German journalists display in their work, particularly, in the period of election campaign.

“Human dignity and private life are not subject to discussion even in the hottest pre-election period. I consider this practice contributes to an atmosphere of tolerance,” says Vahagn, chief editor of regionl television Kyavar.

He is especially impressed by a method that is used by some companies during debates between candidates.

“Debaters sit with glass containers upside-down over their heads. When the debater starts speaking the container comes down to his head. And if the latter exceeds his allotted time, the container covers him to be soundless. Surely, we’ll use this method in our TV,” he adds with enthusiasm. 

“Media and journalism are lacking trust. In our visits at several media outlets, not only in Berlin, but also in the region in Lower Saxony, the participants could debate with journalists how they react to these challenges. In a meeting with local candidates, they were surprised to learn that being a member in the city council, even of a bigger city like Hannover, is more or less voluntary,” says JFF president Suren Deheryan.

Within the framework of the program, Journalists for the Future NGO implemented the Armenian translation of German Press Code as well as the rules designed by one of the German media outlets meant for internal usage of the editorial staff while covering elections.

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Moreover, on the initiative of the program participants, Journalists for the Future NGO organized two regional workshops in Shirak and Gegharkunik regions of Armenia, where some of them shared their experience with about 80 journalists, students and lecturers from journalism, law and political science departments as well as with political party members. And when media critics sometimes complain that exchange programs are just connecting the urban journalistic elites, they have a point, but not in this program.

“This was a good example for the open and constructive cooperation of the two partners – Berlin Journalism School and Journalists for the Future NGO greatly supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, which was founding everything within the program ‘Strengthening cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries’. We hope to continue the work in 2017 – since better and reliable journalism is the precondition for civil society, democracy and freedom,” concludes head of the program Clemens Schöll.

The multimedia guidebook picturing the noteworthy and memorable events during the whole period of this program can be accessed here. 

Source: Journalists for the Future NGO