Reporting on the Berlin Wall, Bundesliga and Europe’s future – journalism students grab the chance of a lifetime

Journalism students from the University of Northampton embarked on a field trip of a lifetime when they jetted to Berlin to cover a series of international news events.

The group spent four days in the German capital, reporting on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a conference on Europe’s future and a Hertha Berlin Bundesliga football fixture.

A video of their trip, which took place in November, has just been released and you can watch it below.

The second and third year undergraduates, who are studying either Multimedia Journalism or Multimedia Sports Journalism, also went behind the scenes of Reuters’ Berlin newsroom and toured the German federal parliament, the Bundestag.

Sports Journalism student, Ben Chapman, said: “This was the first time I had been taken out of my comfort zone, being in a different country and doing the job that I’m learning to do at university.

“It was very challenging and was definitely something that I feel like in the future I’ll be open to doing. It’s been a massive learning curve for me, and certainly helped to build my confidence.”

The trip’s organiser, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Adrian Warner, said: “I know most of the students were daunted by the idea of reporting from a live conference and about sporting and political events in a foreign country, but they jumped into the challenges with plenty of energy.

“These kinds of trips can sometimes mark a turning point when students realise they really can work successfully as a journalist. They can build confidence and launch careers.”

While in Germany, the students filed live reports to BBC Radio Northampton and the University’s NLive radio station.

The trip was supported by the International Journalists’ Programme, the German Embassy in London and the University’s Chancellor’s Fund.