German street paper 'ideas day'

Pictured: Michaela Gründler, Apropos,
Austria; Frank Dries, Straatnieuws, Netherlands

Following on from the successful German street paper conference in April this year (read more), German language street paper representatives once again gathered, this time for an 'Ideas Day', on the 8th October, as part of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.

The event was organised by Beatrice Gerst (Trott-War), Director of the German-Speaking platform of street papers; Gaby Sohl - Member of the 'Die Tageszeitung' chief editorial team (Daily newspaper); and Dr Lutz Meyer - Managing Director of Scholz & Friends (PR company).

Participants at the ideas day included dedicated business owners, such as Germany's best-known removals entrepreneur, Klaus Zapf; various artists who are playing an active role in combating poverty; and Chrstoph Lűtgert, one of Germany's most prominent television journalists until recently chief reporter for Norddeutscher Rundfunk (radio and tv broadcaster).

Key discussion points were:

• How can the effectiveness of street papers be improved?

• What can be done to address the lack of interest in homelessness and poverty outside the Christmas period?

• Brainstorming new ideas for street papers

• Cooperation with newspaper editorial teams

• Incorporation of content from 'established' media

• Publication of manuscripts that have yet to be published

• Cooperation with publishers to enable parts of the work of very popular authors to be printed in advance

• Training courses for street paper editorial employees, provided by Klara School of Journalism

• Lobbying of EU institutions

• Formation of pools, e.g. on title formats, printing

The group agreed on the importance of continuing activities beyond the 2010 European Year, since street papers offer people an opportunity to find their own ways of escaping the risks of poverty and exclusion.