DW’s Shababtalk was in Rabat as part of its Arab World Tour.

Even with all the possibilities for communication that exist today, there is still no substitution for real, human contact. That’s why, Shababtalk, the talk show for millennials on DW (Arabia) started its Arab World Tour.

“The show has become a voice for young Arabs,” says Shababtalk host Jaafar Abdul-Karim. “That’s why we want to get closer to our audience and topics. A tour like this is the first of its kind in Arab TV programming.”

This past week, Shababtalk was broadcast from Rabat, Morocco, produced in cooperation with the television stations Al Oula and Al Maghriba. This was the third stop on the tour, after successful shows in Baghdad, Iraq and Tunis, Tunisia.

Under the Moroccan stars

In Rabat, Abdul-Karim invited guests to a different kind of television studio, set up in front of the gates to the city. This current show revolved around how the younger generation can influence political decisions in Morocco – something that strikes a chord with nearly everyone. The participants couldn’t come to a consensus either, with political representatives stating that everyone has a voice, to a podcast producer saying that the political elite “don’t even speak our language”.

This is a reaction that is typical for the show, which tries to shed light on different opinions. The editorial team behind the program addresses bold topics and social issues that are generally considered sensitive or a taboo in Arabic-speaking countries. Whereas young audiences perceive this as a welcome sign of openness, the show has repeatedly stirred the anger of conservative forces and government officials in the region.

The Arab World Tour is just a further element of DW’s Local Heroes campaign. The next stop will be Cairo on October 24.

The first GUC MBA media management students

DW Akademie and the German University in Cairo (GUC) are working together once again to offer a new interdisciplinary MBA. The new course of study will combine economics, journalism and media management to help the media professionals of tomorrow. The MBA in media management was established thanks to a long-term collaboration between GUC and DW Akademie, which has been organizing media-related seminars regularly at the university in Cairo. “We hope this course will develop to form the nucleus of further academic and intercultural exchange in Egypt’s media sector,” said Professor Christoph Schmidt, head of the academic program at DW Akademie.

In the long term, DW Akademie plans similar collaborations with other universities in selected partner countries. The idea is to export DW Akadamie’s master’s course in International Media Studies, a unique program which has been running since 2009 and combines journalism and media management with development studies.

The Young Media Summit will feature 18 German and Arabic bloggers who will meet to discuss “new media and reform in the Arab World”, leading up to a podium discussion at Cairo University on Thursday.

In addition, DW will also be producing a talkshow during the conference, which will be broadcast throughout the Arab World on May 27.

If you want to find out more, just check out the Young Media Summit website.