Questionable – Questions upon questions

Katharina Nüßlein, Randy Mehlinger, Sophia Sibirski, Paula Engelhard, Lisa Rupprecht, Arved Mittelstädt, Lucy Medert, Nele Eichhorn, Lara Königer, Simeon Mai, Justus Kress, Katarina Neher, Felix Paetsch, Phillipp Weyerhäuser, Timm Mielech, Emil Döll, Alessia Herbig, Nina Freudenreich, Sarah Wagner-Borst, Jonathan Helm

Our teaching editorial team is focusing on the theme of ‘questions’. We are exploring various questioning techniques and life’s big questions, and trying to make sense of them. No journalistic format is better suited to the theme of ‘questions’ than the interview. Each participating student will conduct at least one interview and transcribe it in the form of a ‘verbatim interview’. The aim of the project is to set up a website and an Instagram account and to function as an editorial team. To this end, each student will write two pieces: one as a verbatim interview and the other in a format of their choice. Some will produce audio pieces, others videos, and we can choose between the various ‘genres’ of journalism.

We began by identifying sample topics that would suit the project, to make it easier for us to settle on the final theme. It soon became clear that we would focus on ‘asking questions’ and, above all, on people who do this as their job. The next step was to find a name for our project. In the end, we settled on ‘Fragwürdig – Questions upon Questions’. Furthermore, the editorial team decided against having one or two editors-in-chief; instead, we formed teams – such as: text and image editors, a social media team, a design team and an SEO team. Each of these teams had a lead who liaised with the others at regular intervals. This meant that individual articles passed through various stages and could be properly prepared for the website and social media.

On the one hand, articles were written about various people – who ask questions as part of their day-to-day work – and interviews were conducted. Among others, editors visited the police, a customer service centre and a nursery. Other editors took a more niche approach to the topic of ‘questions’. This resulted, for example, in an interview with the Darmstadt Jazz Institute, a feature on the ‘Bachelor of Being’ programme and an interview with a funeral director. This is, of course, just a small selection of our articles – feel free to have a look at the website if you’d like to see more!

For all of us, it was the first time we’d set up an editorial team entirely from scratch. We learnt how to create and update a website, and how important it is to agree on arrangements and stick to them. It was important, for example, that the various teams within the editorial department set ‘deadlines’ for articles, so that it was easier to keep an overview of everything. The ‘Questionable Table’ also helped us keep a clear overview, as each editorial team member used it to transparently show the current status of their own article. In terms of the topic of ‘interviews’, we learnt a great deal too, particularly just how much work goes into them: finding an interviewee, contacting them, preparing for the interview, conducting the interview, editing it and getting it authorised. Every editor was able to learn all of this for themselves whilst still being able to count on the support of the others.