EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

we are 23 bachelor students of media and communication sciences at the University of Passau who have joined forces to realize a cross-media project that produces journalistic content for multiple platforms. Within four weeks, we were able to create a website, broadcast a live TV show, create our own social media presence and publish a magazine as the core of the project. All steps of the creation and production were done by us students, including the research of the stories, the financing of the printing costs, the design of the layout and the final distribution of the product.

The overarching theme of each story was „the oath“. Divided into six parts, the magazine covered many different aspects of the focus topic, such as conspiracy theories (Verschwörungstheorien), swearing off addictions (Sucht abschwören), eternal bonds (Ewig verbunden), the oath as a prerequisite for professions (Eide in Berufen), the history of the oath (Schwurgeschichte), and conspired communities (Verschworene Gemeinschaften). For the structure of the magazine, we opted for a wave structure. As a result, the magazine had several feature articles, one for each subject area which offered the possibility of several thematic highlights (black pages in the magazine). The TV show and the social media appearance served to make the project known and provided information about the context of the work and insights into the research. In addition to the articles in the journal, supplementary content and background information were provided for each story on the website. In connection with the magazine, further aspects and in-depth details were added.

Each student had the opportunity to independently create the online content using various media such as audio, video and interactive visuals. This means that unlike the magazine, the online content does not have a homogeneous layout. The website was originally only available in German, but in preparation for this competition we added translated parts in English.

Our motivation for this project was to gain practical experience in the production of journalistic content. In the course of the project, we were able to bring the skills that we had already acquired into the producing process, thereby supporting each other and imparting knowledge. For four weeks we worked together day and night in our university facilities, drinking an incredible amount of coffee, writing 38 stories and achieving the success of a project we are truly proud of.

with this phrase editors-in-chief from all over the world try to obtain their favour. They build up closeness through random, seemingly personal anecdotes and want to bind you, dear readers, to their trash. Not with us! We bind you with the excess glue on page 56 and a bit of quality of course. We have therefore sworn to tell and write only the truth. That is the oath in our profession. In times of „lying press“ screams and fake news this is more important than ever. Some believe conspiracy theories in 2018 rather than journalism. If you look back, you might get a feeling of repetition. As early as 80 years ago, similar methods were used to systematically induce people to subscribe to an inhuman ideology. That’s why it’s worth taking a closer look at recent German sworn history. Due to globalization and the Internet, the purely national idea had actually already been adopted. Social media today could network everyone with each other. Despite this, people in conspiratorial communities seal themselves off. For others, the Internet is becoming the centre of their lives, an addiction they cannot renounce. In four weeks, we discussed every possible facet of our magazine theme „Swearing“, discarded it, discussed it again and thought it through until it was as good as possible in the end. You can also find us online. So you can still stay connected to us forever, even if the last piece of paper is yellowed.

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