A Ticket to Europe! - European elections project for first-time voters at RTBF
Voting can be intimidating, especially for first-time voters here in Belgium. They have to cast ballots across three and some four different levels in June: Brussels (some), Flemish/Walloon, Federal and European, and finally local elections in October. But how can you effectively inform young voters in an engaging and meaningful way as they prepare to vote for the first time? The RTBF News department has introduced a new format to tackle these themes.
‘A Ticket to Europe’, an 8-episode series that focuses on informing first-time voters from Wallonia and Brussels on themes such as agriculture, energy, environment, fundamental rights, border defense, and more. This way, voting becomes less intimidating and youngsters have a better understanding of themes covered within the elections, helping them form their own opinions.
650 youths applied through a survey to be part of the series and selected various themes they found interesting. Out of these 650 people, 53 were selected for an interview, to finally have a selection of 8 youngsters that will travel through Europe.
Program set-up
Full of excitement about their journey, the youngsters receive a ticket that features hints at their destination, a QR code containing travel instructions, and various clues about their upcoming adventure. Every day the participants receive instructions through the QR code about where to go, whom to meet and how to reach their destination. Each instruction also includes a challenge to make the journey even more interesting, for example moving from one city to another without using the internet or their smartphone. This way RTBF hopes to challenge the participants and show how dependent we have become on technologies such as our phones. Once the youngsters successfully reach their destination, they seek out a local individual facing a problem related to the covered themes. Once their conversation is finished, the youngsters get the opportunity to engage with a local Member of the European Parliament (MEP) to discuss the addressed topics and the European Parliament's approach to them.
For each of the addressed themes, they can then fill in a proposal to the European Parliament on the back of their ticket. On May 17th, a special live broadcast from the European Parliament is scheduled where the participants can meet the five Belgian candidates and present their proposals.
Promotion and Expansion
To reach a wide audience, content related to this series is distributed across multiple channels. On social media platforms TikTok, Instagram and Facebook the themes are explained in short formats. Next to that, there are also radio interviews, articles on each topic and a live stream of the episodes.
This format presents many opportunities beyond the European Elections. It can be used to inform youth about democracy and the election process in other countries and continents, for example, the US or UK, or in the entertainment space for events such as the Olympics and the Eurovision Song Festival. The defining elements of ‘A ticket to Europe' (eg. the tickets, traveling across regions to understand the topic and the challenges to reach their destination) all leave room for lots of creativity within the format and makes it easily applicable to other events like the Eurovision Song Festival.
Conclusion
‘A Ticket to Europe’ offers an innovative approach to engaging first-time voters, breaking down election themes by allowing a group of youngsters to travel through Europe. Through challenges, discussions with locals, and conversations with a local Member of the European Parliament, young people gain valuable insights leading up to the final debate. The formats help youngsters make educated choices during the elections.
Check out the episodes (in French with automatically generated English subtitles) here!
