By Laurence Monnot and Andrea Sedlaczek, COMMIT
On April 26, the Austrian Citizens’ Parliament on Media and Democracy met for its third session dedicated to “Participation in and through the media”. Building on inputs from political scientist Prof. Sieglinde Rosenberger and journalist Sarah Emler, the participants adopted 19 resolutions.
A democratic working process is in full swing!
For their third meeting on April 26, the members of the Austrian Citizens‘ Parliament on Media and Democracy met at the newly renovated Adult education center (Volkshochschule) of the Viennese Ottakring district. This time, Rupert Roninger assisted Ruth Picker with the moderation. The participant’s feedback on the last session was discussed. Overall, it expressed satisfaction with the working process and the results. Learning to deal with differences of opinion is fun, but drawing up resolutions as laypeople and under time pressure is no easy task as it was reported. The organizers and moderators are also aware of this. This is why the phase for the draft resolution development was extended.
Participation in democracy and in the media
A video on “Media and Participation” introduced the topic of the session. In this video, experts from the EU research project MeDeMAP presented what participation in and through the media means. Afterward, two renowned experts from the fields of political science and journalism in Austria provided food for thought for the debate.
Prof. Sieglinde Rosenberger from the University of Vienna emphasized the role of participation in the democratic process as well as the connection between media, media use, and democracy: “The media have a representative and controlling function and create a public sphere,” the political scientist reminded the audience. This results in a mandate for the media to create fact-based narratives characterized by transparent and pluralistic perspectives to support citizens‘ decision-making.
In addition, journalist Sarah Emler (ORF public service media foreign policy department) drew on her many years of experience as an editor for various media and as a trainer. Using Austrian and international case studies, she demonstrated how citizens can participate in media production through traditional methods such as letters to the editor, customer services and online forums. She also highlighted creative participatory projects, such as initiatives developed by community media.
Afterwards, Sieglinde Rosenberger and Sarah Emler answered the numerous questions from the Parliament members. During the lunch break, the Citizens‘ Parliament met and discussed with Konrad Mitschka (Public Value Competence Center of the Public Service Broadcasting ORF), who invited a representative of the Citizens‘ Parliament to the next Dialogue Forum of ORF.
19 resolutions to strengthen participation
Building on the inputs, the participants first identified the most important issues relating to participation in and through the media. After lunch, they worked in four working committees to draw up resolutions on the topics of “Media quality”, “Removing barriers”, “Media education” and “Strengthening participation in general”, before the resolutions were discussed further and adopted in plenary. At the end of this intensive session, which was nevertheless accompanied by much laughter in the small groups, 19 resolutions were adopted in the plenary session.
Next meeting on media and representation
The Citizens‘ Parliament will meet on May 17 for its fourth and final meeting on “Media and Representation”. Prof. Petra Herczeg, lecturer in communication science at the University of Vienna, and Otto Tremetzberger, managing director of the Festival of Regions with many years of experience in community media will introduce the topic. All of the resolutions adopted by the Citizens‘ Parliament will be presented to media and political representatives at a public event at the Concordia Press Club in Vienna on Wednesday, June 25