Practical studies: Students of the University of Erfurt produce their own talk show

For the communication studies students, the recording of the talk show was also the highlight of their course in the summer semester, which aimed to teach practical media content and practical professional media skills. Putting together a political talk show on their own initially meant a lot of work: in addition to research, the students held preliminary discussions with the guests, developed questions and created the programme manuscript. But their tasks also included preparing the studio and, of course, presenting and managing the programme at the end.

"We really wanted to record the programme in August," explains seminar leader Dr Markus Seifert from the University of Erfurt. Because right now, before the Thuringian State elections on 1 September, people are asking themselves how the individual parties position themselves and what answers they have to the question of how politics in Thuringia must be shaped so that young people like living here or like coming (back) here.

The fact that the "Wahlarena" seminar project primarily took a young perspective was not only the concern of the students themselves, but also appealed to the guests on the talk show. And despite all the party-political differences, they agreed on at least one thing in the end: that Thuringia is a federal state with many advantages that need to be utilised and, above all, further promoted. At the same time, the panellists praised the fair treatment of each other in the discussion. This is not always a given, especially during election campaigns.

The 65-minute "Wahlarena" was recorded live on tape in the television studio of the Thuringian Media Education Centre in Gera on 9 August 2024. It can be seen from Wednesday, 14 August on the Thuringian cable network on the "labor14" learning channel of the TLM Media Education Centre in Gera and is also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FAUWCvI7S5U?si=U8qsBBpKZen3KLyA.