Name of the program: Round Table 2009 Category: Public Service Newspaper: Metro, Poland Circulation & frequency: daily, average circulation 467 683 (April 2009) Address: Agora SA, Czerska 8/10, 00-732 Warsaw Project director: Waldemar Pas, editor in chief, waldemar.pas@agora.pl, phone + 48 22 555 44 75 Contact preparing the entry: Izabela Turzynska, promotion and PR specialist, izabela.turzynska@agora.pl, +48 22 555 42 60 Description of the project: The project activating the young to choose main goals for Poland for the next 20 years of independence Target of the project: young readers (aged 15-25), especially students, young activists of non-governmental organisations
INTRODUCTION Metro is published by Agora SA (a company best known for publishing the best read quality Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza ) It is a national free daily newspaper, distributed Monday to Friday, edited by an independent team. Metro is the third national newspaper in Poland regarding daily readership (1,2 mln readers), after Fakt and Gazeta Wyborcza. Re-launched in August 2008, Metro emerged as the first serious newspaper for the young generation Metro has got the highest affinity index among national dailies with regards to the group aged 15-34 (affinity index: 123) Source: Polish Readership Survey, MillwardBrown SMG/KRC, accordingly Average Daily Readership, Weekly Readership index, CCS, VIII-XII 2008, n= 20 026, prepared by Agora SA
THE VOICE OF THE YOUNG GENERATION Metro underwent a thorough re-launch (August 2008): new editorial strategy, layout and a nation-wide advertising campaign: Metro gives a priority to young generation's problems that other newspapers neglect The editorial focus is to identify and explore the young generation's needs and aspirations Interaction with the young is the goal carried out on everyday basis Metro s advertising line through real journalists the young make this paper for the young
UNDERSTANDING THE YOUNG Getting to know the young - Metro commissioned in Fall 2008 a comprehensive survey of the Poland's young generation. The effects: Analysis of their behaviours and preferences Gaining the understanding of their hopes, aspirations, fears and problems Resulting in a series of national debates in Metro : In December 2008 - the first one devoted to the young and the crisis, their ability to limit their demands, their views on the education and labour market and their attitude to the political parties A panel discussion on the young "Aware of own value" comprised of experts and representatives of all generations
INTERACTION The real voice of the young! Now they have a platform to speak out! Not afraid of the crisis, tough I m aware of it. I m young, I work and am still investing in education. I believe I will manage well! Filip, student & marketing specialist Schools and universities teach, but they do not prepare for work in real life out there! Let s deal with it. Monika, student, Cracow We invite them to share their initiatives and carry them out together! Stowarzyszenie Polska Młodych (Polish Youth Association) inspired us: E-voting is an urgent issue for the young! We have the system to be tested, let s make it public, let s engage the young. So the editorial department of Metro came up with the idea of the Round Table 2009 as a part of a campaign to get young people interested in a democratic process re-designed to the digital age. How we came up with the idea...
Polish history of the last 200 years is marked with uprisings and fights to liberate the country: 1830, 1863, 1918 or the Warsaw uprising of 1944 (on the photos) - all of them brought many casualties and much sacrifice. After the World War II Poland was to become independent, but paradoxically it fell under the new influence the communist regime.
And then, in 1989, for the first time in Polish history it came to bloodless revolution, which ended the communism in Poland and gave the impulse for the whole Europe to develop the age of democracy. The representatives of Polish government sat together with members of the trade unions and oppositionists at the Round Table, talking about delivering the authority to the new, democratic government. As a result there were the first free elections in Poland after World War II held on June 4, 1989.
POLAND 2029 20 years later the whole of Poland celebrates the anniversary of regaining freedom. We have shared the joy, but at the same time we think hard what more can be done and what comes next... especially with respect the expectations of the young generation. Elections 1989 poster referred to in Metro April 29, 2009, edition
POLAND 2029 We decided to activate young people, our core readers, to proactively think about the future of our country, to give them a real opportunity to express their statements and findings regarding the coming years of independence. Together with the Polish Youth Association we begun the project aiming to choose the main purposes for Poland for the upcoming 20 years.
POLAND 2029 Our first step was the national debate Poland 2029 led in Metro daily (18-23 May). Each day we published interviews with respected representatives and experts in diverse disciplines and we encouraged the readers to share their reflections with us. We also launched the website with an easy access to all published articles and materials on the subject, dedicated especially to young audience.
POLAND 2029 We interviewed authorities, politics and celebrities asking them what they wish Poland to be like in 20 years. Issues containing interviews with e.g. Leszek Balcerowicz, Magdalena Sroda and Michal Boni
POLAND 2029 We encouraged readers to send us their propositions of goals for Poland and to express themselves, which we afterwards published on the pages of Metro Examples of reader letters published
POLAND 2029 We received over 200 hundred e-mails with proposals from our readers, who showed us how they imagine Poland in the next 20 years, they also presented us the goals for Poland to be reached in that time. Suggested goals ranged from global and seriously political ones like firm position of our country in the UE structures, through everyday and common aims, to idealistic and brave ones such as Polish program of space flights!
ROUND TABLE 2009 Then it came time for the core point of our action the Round Table 2009 debate! 20 years after the event that finished the communism in Poland and gave the impulse for the global changes, we gathered young scientists, NGOs members, representatives of media, trade unions and employers organizations. Young and experienced, together undertook the challenge of choosing 5 the most urgent and important goals for Poland.
ROUND TABLE 2009 Metro gave the idea, the know-how and its pages to explore the action, while the Polish Youth Association looked after the logistics of the event. 31st of May, after a long and passionate debate the Round Table 2009 pointed out 5 most important goals for Poland: 1. The reform of the education system teaching the rules of cooperation, openness and trust as well as introducing modern teaching methods 2. Creating firm innovative research centres 3. Real democracy, free market, Poland as a state of law 4. Development of the infrastructure (roads, railroads, air and energetic) 5. Better pro-family politics
ROUND TABLE 2009 We published the chosen goals and passed the decision which of them is the most important to the public readers and internet users could now vote on them in the first online voting in Poland! The e-voting took place from 4th to 10th of June. The system used during the e-voting was created by the scientists and experts from the Wroclaw University of Technology. Who knows - maybe one day all Poles could vote like this? The 5 goals published, 1st of June
ROUND TABLE 2009 E-VOTING Promotion of the project Polish flag defining project materials Prominent pages of the national edition of Metro, including the front page Metro s internet website with a dedicated site Internet cross-promotion with Polish Youth Association (e-glosowanie.org) Internet banners in portal gazeta.pl Social network goldenline.pl Media relations e.g.: publication in Gazeta Wyborcza, report from the Round Table 2009 in the information channel Polsat News, materials/interviews in local radio stations, numerous information on the internet
RESULTS The e-voting appeared to be a success. We encouraged over 19 000 people to register to the system. Over 6,6 thousand of them voted in the first online voting in Poland choosing infrastructure development as the most important issue for Poland! We begun the nationwide debate about the future. We engaged the young to set the goals for Poland and made them responsible for the future. We received over 200 e-mails from readers with their proposals and managed to invite 28 representatives of the young to sit and the Round Table 2009 and debate on national issues. We proved that the key to get the young s engagement is the content that is valid for them. It s not true that the young are no longer interested in printed newspapers. Interaction and debate on vital matters close to their experience is the key. Again the opinion that they care only about entertainment proved untrue. A free serious newspaper comes up as suitable media for them.
WHAT S NEXT? The results of the e-voting will be passed on to the government to show what goal is the most important for Poland according to young people as well as to prove that e-voting is a necessary tool during the elections. Metro will carry out broad national debates with the young on each of the 5 goals that emerged during the debate of the Round Table 2009: reform of the education system, creating firm innovative research centres, real democracy & free market, development of the infrastructure, better pro-family politics.