Gabriel Thamm clearly remembers his first interview for the school newspaper. He was actually supposed to ask the headmaster a few questions together with an experienced editor and, of course, elicit answers from him. But then the colleague fell ill – and Thamm had to conduct the interview alone. That “caught him off guard,” says Thamm today, and you can hear him smiling over the phone. “But luckily our principal is very easy to get along with.”
Trying out yourself and new things: That describes the approach Friedo perhaps best – and in the best sense. The The school newspaper of the Friedberg Vocational High School appears online, which gives the editors some freedom. For example, they report on social issues on their blog, document everyday school life in text, images and sound, create surveys or speak in their own podcast. Friedothe jury therefore found Leafmaking competition 2022/23, “convince with a large and diverse range of digital content that surprises, entertains, informs and even lets readers get involved.”
However, there is a lot of work behind it. Every Thursday the editorial team meets in teams. As with many print school newspapers, there is a clear distribution of roles Friedo not and therefore no editors-in-chief or photographers. Instead, the motto is simple: If you want to read the story, do it. “We work relatively freely,” says Thamm. The top topic – a regularly changing focus – is also chosen and implemented by the students themselves. There is no target, but “ideally, three texts per month should be achieved,” says Thamm.
Teacher David Riegel limits himself to giving tips and suggestions for reporting. And, of course, to unlock the articles after proofreading them, especially for spelling. Riegel started the blog a few years ago. This is based on WordPress, the world’s most widely used content management system (CMS). In very simple terms, you can imagine it as a kind of construction kit that you can constantly tinker with. Every member of the editorial team can log into the CMS from their browser and create articles. A practical and comparatively low-maintenance system, which is why other online school newspapers also like to use it. The blog is hosted by a German provider. That costs a bit of money, says Riegel; The servers are located in Germany and are therefore on safe ground in terms of data protection.
Content is Friedo broadly positioned; everyday school life can be found on the page alongside social information. The main topic “End and Beginning” brings together, among other things, a photo series about autumn, a commentary about friendships and a report about the last school service. The focus on “Choice or Torment?” presents the parties that were campaigning for re-entry into the Bavarian Parliament in the 2023 state elections – and which smaller parties that were not yet represented in the state parliament wanted to do the same. And under “Did you know that..?” Teachers are regular guests and reveal what music they like to listen to the most. The site itself is clearly laid out. Riders pre-sort the topics and categories for the audience.
The latest level of experimentation is a podcast. It also covers a wide range of topics: sometimes the pros and cons of cannabis legalization are discussed on the microphone, sometimes the director of the theater seminar gives information about her troupe’s current play. According to the editorial team, cutting and adjusting the sound recordings on the computer can be a bit of a fiddly process. But in the end something good still came out.
Probably the biggest challenge in everyday online life is not technology, but time. There it goes Friedo– Editorial team, on the one hand, like many online media: If you want to be reasonably up-to-date, the article shouldn’t appear until next year. On the other hand, time is a particularly scarce and valuable commodity for school newspapers. Between school, learning and sport, there is little room for anything else, especially when there are internships or exams to be completed. Nevertheless, Thamm believes the effort is worth it. Other students regularly ask him about his articles. “What we do is rewarded.” In fact: the jury of the Blattmacher competition gave it first place in the online category.