KecsUP Next – Community Engagement

The section also published articles by the young contributors themselves, including stories on topics directly relevant to their own generation. The project helped KecsUP reach communities that are often missing from local public debate and created a tested model for involving young people in independent local journalism.

Project Activities

With the support of the grant, KecsUP implemented four closely connected activities.

First, it strengthened its "Living on the Fringe" / "Peremhelyzetek" section, which focuses on marginalised groups, social vulnerability and local public-interest issues also affecting young people. During the project period, 18 thematic articles were published within this framework, covering topics such as disability and accessibility, autism, Roma integration, LGBTQ communities, homelessness, alcohol addiction, social support and the labour market situation of young people starting their careers.

Second, KecsUP launched the KecsUP Next / Young Reporters Welcome! internship programme. Its aim was to recruit, select, train and mentor young participants. The selection process consisted of several stages, including DISC profiling, personal interviews and practical assignments. Instead of the originally planned two young participants, four interns became more deeply involved in the programme.

Third, the young contributors received practical training and continuous editorial mentoring. They took part in training sessions on journalism, photography, video and podcast production, online journalism and social media. Through the mentoring process, they were gradually integrated into real newsroom workflows: they prepared press reviews, worked on interviews, produced vox pop-style reports, participated in KecsUP events and wrote their own articles. As part of the programme, they also joined KecsUP's election results event, attended live public events and visited the newsroom of 24.hu.

Fourth, the project strengthened youth audience engagement and community-oriented editorial participation. The young contributors produced content on social issues affecting their own generation and local communities. This process was supported by a dedicated KecsUP Next subpage, online questionnaires, offline posters placed at high-traffic locations in Kecskemét and social media communication. In addition to the articles counted towards the project, the interns also contributed to several other editorial materials, showing that the impact of the project went beyond the minimum planned deliverables and helped young contributors become integrated into the everyday work of the newsroom.

What is the impact?

The impact of the project can primarily be evaluated through the way it strengthened KecsUP’s role in a region where the phenomenon of news deserts remains a real concern. In Kecskemét and the wider region, it is particularly important to have an independent local newsroom that does not only report on day-to-day political events, but also consistently covers social issues, vulnerable groups and stories that are often pushed to the margins of local public debate.

With the support of PM4D, KecsUP strengthened its “Living on the Fringe” / “Peremhelyzetek” section as a public-interest journalism product. During the project, topics such as disability and accessibility, autism, Roma integration, LGBTQ communities, homelessness, alcohol addiction, social support and the labour market difficulties of young people starting their careers became part of the local public conversation. Covering issues affecting the younger generation was an especially important part of this effort, as the project aimed not only to reach young readers, but also to bring young people’s own experiences and questions into the local public sphere. The project did not solve the problem of news deserts on its own, but it made a concrete contribution by ensuring that more sensitive, socially relevant and locally grounded public-interest content became available in the region.

One of the most important positive changes brought by the project was that young people appeared in KecsUP’s work not only as a target audience, but also as active authors, interviewers and community actors. The KecsUP Next programme gave young contributors the opportunity to learn in real newsroom situations, bring in their own topics, conduct interviews, participate in events and report on issues that also affect their own generation. This supported not only the professional development of the participants, but also helped bring young people’s experiences and questions closer to the local public sphere.

For the wider community, the project created positive change by making people, groups and life situations that are often pushed to the margins of local public debate more consistently visible. The articles published in the “Living on the Fringe” / “Peremhelyzetek” section addressed social vulnerability, acceptance, accessibility, minority situations, social problems and difficulties affecting young people. In this way, the project contributed to a more sensitive, nuanced and human-centred local public conversation in Kecskemét and the wider region.

Project Links

• “Living on the Fringe” / “Peremhelyzetek” section
• Project announcement about KecsUP Next
• Article by Walter Dávid
• Article by Bálint Levente
• Article by Várszegi Dominik
• Article by Csontos Szimonetta
• Article by Hraskó István

Project Pictures

Photos by KecsUP