The theme of the meeting returns, not only with the protagonists of the stories and the realities to be told, but also between the journalists, who deliver these glimpses of the world to readers. A team that understands the profession as a service. They spent time showing themselves and telling us about themselves. «They allowed me to learn their way of thinking and expressing themselves with the public», explains Mattia. Andrea adds: «They showed me ways of doing new journalism like the open source investigationproviding me with a compass.”
Openness to discussion and dialogue has brought into focus the purpose of our profession, where feeling part of a community makes our entry safer and more accompanied, as Ginevra recalls: «Working side by side with other future colleagues encouraged me to to do my best”. Being an example and not an obstacle, this is what Giulia brings with her in her suitcase to return from Perugia, also attentive to how being a woman affects the world we are entering: «Hearing various testimonies, I understood that when women are the spokespersons of war dynamics, the focus is on the immediate and emotional consequences that involve civilians, but also on the reasons that cause wars to break out.”
The time has come to zip up the backpack, arrange cameras and microphones, and set off again towards Milan. In putting away our diaries, enriched with names and ideas, we jotted down a word to describe this experience: instructive And formativebecause opening up to the awareness of wanting to learn is the first way to get information; developmentpossible thanks to direct contact with the things of life; essential, to understand the real world in the intimate dimension of our profession. Ginevra: «I don’t want to become a journalist, but to be one»; Giulia understood that «journalists live together, in peace and in war, with a sense of social responsibility that makes them wake up in the morning».
The hope that we, aspiring journalists, take home is not to stop and not to be blocked by “no” that we will meet. The testimonies we have witnessed confirm this: by keeping alive the faith in our purpose and the truth of our gaze, being part of this world is a privilege.
