Media for Young People: A Day Inside of Media School Bayern

When I heard about Media School Bayern for the first time, I thought about a place like an institute where it’d be heavily focused on academics related to media and communication fields. But I was completely wrong, this place wasn’t just a typical media school, it turned out to be a safe space where young people are enabled to express, experiment, create, and be themselves. The atmosphere wasn’t overly professional, it felt alive, busy, and free like there was something being produced somewhere all the time.

This Media School seemed like a place where students learn and study media by doing it. People here work on several media areas based on their interest including TV production, video content, radio shows, podcasts, and even live streaming on Twitch. One thing that surprised me was the fact that many of them are still studying at the university, while also working and learning here at the same time. Most of them are from IFKW, but it’s really nice that they also allowed students from other programs like history or business to be a part of them as well.

I personally was so impressed by this as it really showed that they try to be as inclusive as possible regardless of the participants’ educational backgrounds, which enables students to have a clearer picture whether media and communication stuff is right for them or not. 

Their M94.5 station (music focused radio station) was so interesting to me. The students get to actually plan the program, discover new music, and listen to tracks that some non-mainstream artists send in themselves rather than just playing random playlists. It felt like it’s driven by curiosity instead of popularity.

What makes this place even more meaningful is that it’s a non-profit organization, funded by partner companies. So people don’t have to pay to be here, which makes it so accessible to students in a sense of financially, especially in this economy. Some of them come here during the semester breaks, others might stay longer for internships, but everyone is here because they wanted to be.

Basically, it’s like a cycle where young people get trained and later may work for those companies. Compared to others, where interns usually end up making coffee or doing some side tasks, Media School actually lets young people experience, grow, and gain real skills instead of observing.