On the 14th of February, the IT Department welcomed Christina Merl and Eric Willemsen to do a workshop about fake news and media.

 
While most of us have heard about the threat that fake news pose to democracies around the world, not many have actually produced news. And this is exactly what a group of students from 2B, 3B and 4B did in this workshop.

What we actually did in the workshop was creating news reports for specific media, using our media technology skills. The students got a brief, i.e. paper with different news bullet points that needed to be told in a video. Everyone got placed in groups of three to plan and film their projects. Two groups needed to make news for ORF. The other two groups were to produce a news piece for OE24.

 
What we loved about the workshop was that it provided a very welcoming and kind environment. Christina and Eric were very encouraging and asked for everyone’s thoughts, thus engaging all students to share their ideas. We could tell they took a lot of time preparing this workshop and that they were very informed on the aforementioned topics. The only thing that many did not enjoy was how short the workshop was. Even though this video and the whole work done in the workshop were not graded, we have learned a lot and can now understand the mechanics behind news reports better. All of the students enjoyed the creative atmosphere and the break from regular lessons.

 
And of course, Eric and Christina gave us information about their work lives and the importance of fact checking. insight into the daily experiences they made in their work lives and the importance of even the smallest of details being factually backed up.

https://padlet.com/christinamerl/make-news-not-fake-news-cy1fhif1hbo1vyvo

from Emily Kralik, 3BHIT