Final Blog Post: A Semester of New Experiences

My first semester in Munich was enriched with new experiences that have made my time here unbelievably enjoyable. I first came here in September, so I got to experience those last bits of summer before the snowy winter came in. I got to explore this new city, appreciate the architecture and visit museums and various historical sites. The field trips we did in this course gave us all opportunity to explore a different side of Munich and the German media landscape which we would not have been able to see on our own. This opportunity was truly mind opening and gave me opportunity to see German culture and how its shaped through the media landscape. The field trips also included a unique mix of traditional media companies as well as other companies which you wouldn’t typically think of when discussing media and communication.

I unfortunately had to miss the first field trip to Bayerischer Rundfunk but from speaking with my classmates they found it an insightful view into the German broadcast system and were just impressed by seeing the behind the scenes of a working radio station. I did get to see the workings of a traditional media company when we got to see the inner workings of the production of a newspaper when we visited Süddeutsche Zeitung Printing House. To see the process of printing a newspaper and the structure that are in place to produce this newspaper was interesting. Many do not even think of the work that goes into the thing that they read every day so to see that work was incredible. The first field trip I got to attend was a talk from the Science Communication Lab which I found insightful. When thinking about communication and media I do not often think about the science field but after this talk, I can now see how it is unbelievably important to communicate scientific facts and discoveries to the public in a clear and concise manner. The Science Communication Lab is clearly passionate about communicating their messages to the public and you can see this in the various workshops and talks they put on in communities. A perfect example of this is the workshops they put on in different communities to give people tips on how they can look after themselves and neighbours during heatwaves, using scientific facts. This talk provided a new perspective on scientific communication and how impactful it is to German society. Deutsches Museum was like the Science Communication Lab in the way that it is not what you typically think of when thinking about communication, but it plays an important part in communicating a message to the public. It was interesting to hear from a museum curator on how they choose to present their information to the public.

Media School Bayern and Media Lab Bayern are similar in the ways in which they are supporting people in their journey through media and business startups. It was interesting to hear about the funding that the German government provides to these institutions. It’s great to see how supportive the German government is of the media systems and how there is also a very clear distinction between the state and the media system. The Media School provides really good experience for people in the media sphere by letting them do the practical work and produce their own pieces of work. The tour of the facilities was interesting to see and the amount of equipment and facilities they have were impressive. Media Lab Bayern provides funding so that people can develop ideas that further progress the media landscape in Germany. We got to do some brainstorming in the format that they usually do it in and it was fun to play around with different ideas. It’s clear that the German government care about maintaining the independence of the media while also wanting it to develop and change with the times. By giving these institutions funding and independence the German media system is in good hands and other countries should follow in the example they are setting.

Being able to experience these field trips really gave me such insight into a different media system model and was a very cool and unique experience. Another experience that this course provided was writing different pieces in different styles. Doing an interview, writing an opinion piece and a feature was a very fun and different experience. In many media courses you learn the features of media models and journalistic styles and theories but to get to the freedom to write on topics we were interested in was unique for a media course and a great experience.