How has community journalism managed to survive five decades?
Photo: Facebook
It doesn’t always have to be against the state. Sometimes yes, but then you have to agree on it,” says Clarita Müller-Plantenberg in the film. She is a sociologist and was one of the first employees of the “Latin Amerika Nachrichten”, which has been published once a month in Berlin for more than 50 years, produced and printed independently. Jan-Holger Hennies tells her story in the documentary “Thursdays, 7 p.m.,” which will be shown next Saturday at the “Linke Buchtage” in Berlin.
Hennies portrayed the paper that everyone calls “LN” as a diverse and open collective. Most work on a voluntary basis. What makes these people gather every Thursday at 7 p.m. for the editorial meeting? How has community journalism managed to survive five decades? The reasons can be located somewhere between “low-threshold entry”, “serious collective thought” and “open learning culture”. In addition, what the film makes clearly visible, the personnel fluctuation almost automatically creates new perspectives from current social and societal movements.
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The magazine was founded under a different name: in the summer of 1973 as “Chile News”, in solidarity with the left-wing government of Salvador Allende, before his overthrow by the military. Four years later it was renamed “Latin America News”. To this day she reports on current political and social developments throughout Latin America.
In 50 years, a lot of people – from short-term employees to decades-long “regulars” – have been involved in the production. Nobody has documented it in detail: an open collective also means constant change and a certain non-binding nature. At the center of the film is the question to the editors, both old and new, about what keeps a collective together for so long – in the truest sense of the word, across generations. This is also a relevant aspect for many left-wing groups, which often fight for their continued existence after a short time and lose in disputes.
For almost an hour, “Thursdays, 7 p.m.” explores the internal dynamics of a collective that has weathered both the (left-wing) political and technological changes of the last half century together. From working with glue and scissors to typewriters to computers, cloud working and social media accounts, the magazine has so far mastered all the upheavals in the media world. Financing in times of digitalization is of course a point of discussion. Although the voluntary work saves costs, the editorial team also completely foregoes advertising revenue for reasons of independence. In addition to subscriptions, donations and solidarity financing models are being considered so that the “LN” can continue its journalistic work even after 50 years. Their story is a testament to resistance and commitment to the values of international solidarity. It is the small but fine success story of a collective project.
“Thursdays, 7 p.m.”, directed by Jan-Holger Hennies, Germany 2023, 54 minutes. Runs on Saturday, June 15th. at the Linke Buchtage in Mehringhof, at 2 p.m. in SFE 2, Gneisenaustraße 2 A, Berlin
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