Instagram reel series on first-time voters with a migration background | 06.02.2025
Why do you vote?
‘Voting is a privilege for me!’, ‘Finally I can have a say!’, ‘Maybe my vote will make the big difference! – These are the words of people who have only been living in Germany for a few years but are now allowed to vote for the first time immediately after becoming citizens.
Students in the third semester of the Master’s degree programme in Journalism developed this project together with journalists from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine who work for AMAL Frankfurt – and thus put innovation in journalism into practice.
Katja Schupp led the project together with Gabi Glasstetter and Julia Gerlach from AMAL. ‘An important area in which innovation in journalism must be implemented is diversity in editorial offices – and we want to embed this in the training programme,’ says Katja Schupp. ‘I think both sides have learnt an incredible amount – and the best thing would be if this collaboration were to develop into long-term teamwork, at least for one or the other. Modern journalism works best in teams where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.’
AMAL offers regional news in Arabic and Ukrainian, among other languages, and provides a professional platform for exiled journalists. The reels are broadcast on Hessenschau, among others, and the first story by Abdulmounem from Syria went online today:
To the Instagram reel
Our HR protagonists | From left: Abdulmounem Alowis, Ioana Paula Kons, Parwiz Rahimi, Biroz Hannan and Zaman Berati
Our SWR protagonists | From left: Arezoo, Abdul, Souzana and Mahdi
A big thank you to the professional collaboration with HR and SWR, characterised throughout by a constructive culture of criticism and cooperation at eye level! Hessenschau has summarised the project here, SWR will soon be publishing on YouTube and Instagram.
To the Hessenschau report (in German)To SWR Aktuell on YouTube
One day later, our project was even the lead story on the Tagesschau news programme:
To the Tagesschau report (in German)In addition, five more reels from Rhineland-Palatinate will soon be published on the Instagram page of SWR aktuell. If you prefer the reels in their original language, you can also find them at AMAL Frankfurt and at AMAL employees Ronnie Darwish’s account, who was responsible for the professional video design, especially for the reels from Hessen. In Rhineland-Palatinate, Justin Peach provided us with professional camera and editing support.
AMAL Frankfurt on Instagram
Behind the Scenes | HR shoot with Ronnie Darwish
Behind the Scenes | SWR shoot with Justin Peach