Zoom in on Berlin

Forget Alexanderplatz, Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. One of the best ways to find out if you were made to love my Berlin is to go to Kreuzberg's SO36.

There aren't any monuments to see, and the architecture isn't particularly impressive. Nevertheless, the area is a must-see for anyone discovering this city.

I have to admit, when I go around this neighborhood with friends visiting Berlin, I always get a bit anxious. Not because of the junkies one supposedly might see there. I just truly hope my friends get it, you know, see Kreuzberg the way I do. And introducing a grubby lover to your tribe is not always an easy experience.

I'm obviously not giving away a secret tip here; every proper guide book will lead you to Kreuzberg, too. Actually, my lover happens to be polygamous and open to pretty much every type. Still, I doubt you can develop a meaningful relationship with Kreuzberg during a one-hour tour.

The same goes with trying to define this neighborhood in a few words. It usually leads to a set of clichés along these lines: “It's the perfect mix of laidback people, artists and Turks, students and punks.”

Yes. As often as it has been written, it remains true and part of Kreuzberg's charm. And that's even though the squatters are getting cleaner.

The real stories

But to be able to see beyond the obvious, to really appreciate the spirit of the place, you need time.

You could live there. Just hang out, spit out sunflower seed shells on the sidewalk at Smyrna's or spend the night shaking it with a belly dancing transgender Turk during one of the popular “Gayhane” parties at the SO36 club.

Or you could discover Kreuzberg's history. Find out how it used to be a neglected part of West Berlin right by the Wall, where ostracized Turkish guest workers were sent to live, and where a strong squatter movement emerged in the 70s in reaction to rash modernization policies. And hear the story of May 1, 1987, when Labor Day demonstrations turned into fiery riots, which would become a violent ritual repeated for years to come.

When all of a sudden the Wall came down in 1989, these margins of the western side of the city turned into a central location with a cool vibe.

You could also get involved in the neighborhood's future and make sure that this already gentrified area never becomes too sterile. Go nurture a few plants at the Prinzessinengarten, or spend a winter camping out with refugees and activists on Oranienplatz.

Looking from yesterday to today and beyond, you will quickly notice that all these little Kreuzberg stories deserve to be broken down into a thousand more. That's exactly what the project set up by a team of young journalism students from the Axel Springer Akademie aims to do. With their website Zoom Berlin, they focus on “Kreuzberg's bloodline,” a 2.2-kilometer street called Oranienstrasse.

On this street, artsy shops, eateries and bars lead into squares where people meet, relax, and protest. The 20 young journalists in the Zoom Berlin team sharpened their digital storytelling skills through a series of articles, photos, films, interviews, animation films, and graphic presentations inspired by the issues and people which make up the “O-Strasse,” whether from the past, the present or the future.

The up-close concept

The journalism students could rely on the infrastructure provided by the Axel Springer Akademie for their project. They were accompanied for example by a video coach, as well as programming and design experts, giving their website a sleek look.

In some cases, being associated to this institution also turned out to be a challenge when they approached people in Kreuzberg. During the German student revolts in the 1960s, the popular tabloid Bild, belonging to the Axel Springer media company, took strong editorial positions against left-wing activists. Axel Springer became the enemy. To this day, in the leftist squatter scene, which is still very strong in Kreuzberg, it is not cool to be associated with the foe.

But building trust with the protagonists of a story is part of every journalist's job, so the students in the Zoom Berlin team got a head start learning some of the tricks of the trade.

It's the first German website dedicated to just one street, offering a “hyperlocal” news platform where people can rediscover their own street and neighbors.

The concept of hyperlocal journalism became hip a few years ago. Even though struggling newspapers have been cutting their regional news coverage budgets, people still want to find out what's happening in their locality. The Internet made it possible to bypass printing costs while offering new and attractive forms of storytelling, so start-ups and citizen journalists alike have taken on different variations of the hyperlocal model, reporting about their community on the Web.

The future of journalism

The students behind the Zoom Berlin project were also seduced by the possibilities presented by this type of platform. As Victor Reichardt, one of the editors in the team, simply puts it, the guiding principle is that everything is local. This one street symbolizes so many aspects of a whole city. And even the most complex international issues have local and personal aspects which need to be told.

Christin Bohmann, who made a series of video portraits on the Oranienplatz, was fascinated by the stories people were willing to share with them, how meaningful it felt.

Several specialized juries have also been convinced by Zoom Berlin's proposal: The website has also been awarded several prizes, such as the Ergo Direkt Media Prize in 2012, as well as the European Newspaper Award in the online category and the Axel Springer Prize in 2013.

This successful experience will hopefully influence these young journalists' vision of their work. As Christin Bohmann points out, in a media world flooded with the same information provided by newswires, such outlets for individualized stories are essential for the future of journalism.

And my lovely Berlin certainly has many more stories to zoom in on.