Ahmed Chikhi: a dream come true
In June 2019, the MediaLab Campus project awarded grants to ten female students and five male students studying journalism in schools across Europe and the Mediterranean and looking to undertake an internship in a foreign media outlet over the summer. Ahmed Chikhi, a student at the Press and Information Sciences Institute in Tunisia, spent the whole of July 2019 at Radio News FM in Grenoble (France).
“I'm someone who gets bored easily. As a journalist, I know that this will never happen. I chose this career path because it taught me to love, to be human and to give. I come from Tozeur, a small town in southern Tunisia, which used to have absolutely no radio stations broadcasting live in it – everyone was looking for a space to express themselves... but there was nothing!
I chose to do an internship at New's FM because I believe that this radio station is different from mainstream radio. The major commercial radio stations across the entire world have the same way of operating, the same style, and sometimes even the same editorial line!
I didn't expect to take part in any live radio broadcasts during my internship, but I was given two spots, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The grant awarded to me by Medialab Campus helped me to become more open to the world. For me, it's a dream come true: people from a foreign land heard my voice – they heard what this Tunisian child has to say. I never thought that I'd be given such an opportunity."
“I found it a bit difficult to integrate at first, particularly because of the language barrier. But I learnt a great deal during my internship, especially about how the media differ from one country to another. I am optimistic about the world's future when I see so many young people in search of adventure and new experiences, who are removing themselves from their 'comfort zone' and are travelling vast distances just to do an internship!"