Friday, 22 August, 2008,
Axel-Springer-Str. 65, Berlin
02:00 – 04:00 p.m.

Hans-Jörg Vehlewald, Chief Reporter
politics section of BILD

After a short snack and the allocation of the participants in their respective groups (TV, Blog, Radio), the young journalists have the opportunity to discuss the theme of tabloid journalism in more detail. It is for this purpose that we meet on the sixteenth floor of the Axel-Springer building and, against the impressive silhouette of Berlin, the participants have now the chance to get an insight into the standards and claim to quality of BILD. Mr Hans-Jörg Vehlewald, chief-reporter in the politics section of the paper, devotes plenty of time for interviews and video recordings and keeps calm, even when faced with critical questions. Maksym from Ukraine, Jola from Poland and Sally from Germany, for instance, think that BILD should use its considerable influence to “educate their readership”. In contrast, Mr Vehlewald sees the interests of BILD’s readers as the central focus of reporting.

Being asked about the future of journalism, Mr Vehlewald identifies several trends: he concludes that the readership of printed newspapers will further decrease and, he estimates that future readers will increasingly favour a mix of information and entertainment, in what he refers to as “Infotainment”. Mr Vehlewald also thinks that Blogs will have a bright future and it is thus particularly important for young journalists to familiarise themselves with such technical developments.