From radio to research

On two warm days in June, we visited two different corners of the German media and communication world. 

On June 17^th we have visit the Media School M94.5. When I walked in, I immediately felt the relaxed, creative energy of the place. It didn’t feel like a typical media institution, like for example the SZ, where we saw screens of how many papers, they sold that day.  The walls were covered in posters, which gave it a student living room vibe.

We learned that M94.5 is a training ground where students can experiment freely with media. There’s no pressure to make money or follow formats. You want to try something? Go ahead. 

The radio station there was my favorite. Someone told us Amy Winehouse had once been on their station. That made me smile, because I love her music. The whole station had that kind of indie vibe and you could tell people where passionate about what they were doing.

At the same time, I wondered how this open approach prepared students for the real media world, which is often fast, profit-driven and competitive. Especially nowadays with all the information on the internet. The structure at M94.5 seemed loose, and I can imagine that might make it harder for some to adjust later.

But I still think that the school plays an important role in the German media landscape, it helps make media education more democratic. Unlike many institutions where you must pay for access, here students can learn by doing, without financial barriers.

On June 24, we visited the MSCL. Unlike the Media School this one didn’t revolve around microphones or cameras. Instead, it was centered around science, impact and how to tell complex stories in ways people understand.

We met an evaluation coordinator who explained her work: helping science communicators, like museums and exhibitions, figure out what works. For example, at the Deutsche Museum, MSCL helped design an escape room where visitors followed clues about a person who needed to go to the hospital. It wasn’t a dramatic accident, it was heatstroke. Th real goal was to get people thinking about personal safety in hot weather.

What stood out to me was how seriously they took evaluation. It’s not a form at the end of an event; it’s part of the process. For evaluation she uses theories that are already out there. It doesn’t need to be innovative; it needs to be useful. Research is more time-consuming and more experimental.

I found it very interesting that she told us qualitative methods are sometimes more useful than quantative. While numbers can be useful, in many cases qualitative insights gave a richer picture of how people think and feel. 

The visits to M94.5 and the MSCL showed me two different ways of working with media and communication in Germany. Where M94.5 is a place where students can be creative and try out new ideas, MSCL is more serious and focused on science. Even though the two places are very different, they both care about good communication. They both want to help people understand important topics. One does this through creative media, the other through science and research.

the walls at M94.5