Jochen Wegner: What happened when we paired up thousands of strangers to talk politics
Jochen Wegner: ¿Qué sucedió cuando reunimos a cientos de desconocidos para hablar de política?
Jochen Wegner edits Zeit Online, the website of German weekly "Die Zeit," which prizes deep dives into cultural issues. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
universidad en Polonia,
a thousand kilometers,
una discusión sobre política
and he's a customer manager from Germany.
y es un gerente de Alemania.
totally at odds over European politics,
en desacuerdo sobre política europea,
to Russia or whatever.
con Rusia o lo que fuera.
casi un día.
a somewhat irritating email.
un email algo irritante.
every single minute of it!"
and Nils from Germany.
Reino Unido y Nils de Alemania.
of their local football team,
su equipo de fútbol local,
and Tottenham Hotspurs.
Borussia Dortmund y Tottenham Hotspurs.
where football roots were invented,
las raíces del fútbol,
about this contentious topic,
sobre este tema polémico,
enjoyed it very much."
lo disfrutamos mucho".
from 33 countries
una discusión sobre política.
a stranger with a different opinion,
encontrarse con un desconocido
called "Europe Talks."
llamado "Europe Talks".
amongst people with different opinions
con diferentes opiniones
friends no longer talk to each other.
los amigos ya no se hablan.
are amplified by social media,
son amplificados por redes sociales,
in the core, a digital product.
un producto digital.
siempre ha estado ahí.
han demostrado repetidamente,
that contradict our convictions.
que contradicen nuestras convicciones.
is definitely necessary,
es definitivamente necesario,
to get a divided society
conseguir que una sociedad dividida
at least some research,
algunas investigaciones,
to get a new perspective:
de conseguir una nueva perspectiva:
have your opinion.
nuestra opinión.
the world in a new way,
de una manera nueva,
news organizations in Germany.
de noticias digitales en Alemania.
as a really modest editorial exercise.
como un modesto ejercicio editorial.
especially over the issue of migration.
especialmente en el tema de la migración.
a million refugees in 2015 and 2016
de refugiados entre 2015 y 2016
about our own upcoming election in 2017,
próximas elecciones en 2017,
the way we were dealing with politics.
la forma en que lidiábamos con la política
many very strange digital product ideas,
ideas muy extrañas sobre ideas de producto
un Tinder para la política...
para opuestos políticos,
together with different opinions.
juntar gente con diferentes opiniones.
a "minimum viable product."
llamarían "producto mínimo viable".
"Germany Talks" --
"Alemania habla"...
formularios de Google,
can use to make surveys online.
uno de nosotros puede usar
we embedded simple questions like this:
incrustamos preguntas como esta:
"Does the West treat Russia fairly?"
¿Occidente trata a Rusia de manera justa?
las parejas homosexuales se casaran?
be allowed to marry?"
we asked one more question:
te hacíamos una pregunta más:
que está en total desacuerdo contigo?".
who totally disagrees with you?"
with no budget whatsoever.
sin presupuesto alguno.
hundred-ish people to register,
unas cien personas,
by hand, the pairs.
manualmente, en parejas.
1,000 people had registered.
se habían registrado.
12,000 Germans had signed up
12 000 alemanes se apuntaron
with a different opinion.
con una opinión diferente.
the perfect Tinder matches,
perfectas de Tinder,
having answered the questions
posible y han contestado las preguntas
we had many concerns.
tuvimos muchas preocupaciones.
in real life would be awful.
en la vida real serían horribles.
en serie en nuestra base de datos
in our database.
de junio de 2017,
and talked about politics peacefully.
y hablaron de política pacíficamente.
or was against -- gay marriage,
o estaba en contra... del matrimonio gay,
in a domestic partnership
vive con una pareja de hecho
for hours about all the topics
horas de todos los temas
que notó que Anne estaba dolida
by his statements about gay marriage,
sobre el matrimonio homosexual
his own assumptions.
sus propias suposiciones.
and are friends.
y son amigos.
for example, this court bailiff.
por ejemplo, este alguacil de corte.
populist party AfD in Germany,
de derechas AfD de Alemania,
of the Green Party.
del Partido Verde.
and his student.
este profesor y a su estudiante.
and his very own daughter-in-law,
un suegro y a su propia nuera,
but have really different opinions.
pero tenían opiniones muy diferentes.
document the discussions,
documentamos las discusiones,
people to perform in any way.
la gente actuara condicionada.
neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg,
de Berlín llamado Prenzlauer Berg,
Mirko didn't want to be in the picture.
Mirko no quería aparecer en pantalla.
all the hipsters in our area,
en nuestra zona,
and I found him to be a wonderful person.
que era una persona maravillosa.
really different opinions
opiniones muy diferentes
of women's rights,
los derechos de las mujeres,
his thoughts --
sus pensamientos...
googleé a Mirko.
he used to be a neo-Nazi.
había sido neonazi.
because I want to get over it.
porque quiero superarlo.
to talk about it anymore."
a history like that could never change,
como ese nunca cambiaría,
who sent us thousands of emails
que nos enviaron miles de emails
if some of the pairs got married.
de las parejas se casó.
and wanted to do it again,
y quisimos hacerlo de nuevo,
of the participants,
de nuestros participantes,
they were mainly our readers.
eran principalmente nuestros lectores.
comunicación que se unieran.
among 11 major German media houses
los 11 principales medios alemanes
la primera en Alemania.
28,000 people applied this time.
28 000 personas se inscribieron esta vez.
in the center of the picture --
in the summer of 2018
encontraron de nuevo en el verano de 2018
con una opinión diferente
with a different opinion.
to Berlin to a special event.
a un evento especial en Berlín.
for "Germany Talks."
para "Alemania habla"
a bus driver and boxing trainer,
autobús y entrenador de boxeo
of a children's help center.
de ayuda a menores.
we asked differently.
que hicimos de manera diferente.
any impact on the participants.
en los participantes.
to survey the participants.
hacer encuestas a los participantes.
that they learned something
dijeron que aprendieron algo
that their viewpoints converged.
sus puntos de vista convergieron.
seemed also higher after the event,
parecía algo mayor tras el evento,
they enjoyed their discussion.
enjoy their discussion,
su discusión,
simply, their partner didn't show up.
no se presentaron.
by many international media outlets,
internacionales se nos acercaron,
a serious and secure platform.
una plataforma seria y segura.
"My Country Talks" has already been used
"Mi país habla" ha sido usada
local and national events
locales y nacionales
or "Suomi puhuu" in Finland
o "Suomi puhuu" en Finlandia
we also launched "Europe Talks,"
también lanzamos "Europa habla",
international media partners,
de medios internacionales
to "Helsingin Sanomat" in Finland.
a "Helsingin Sanomat" en Finlandia.
with a total stranger
con un completo desconocido
by more than 150 global media outlets,
por más de 150 medios globales
something like "The World Talks,"
como "El mundo habla"
of participants.
no son los números
to talk in person for hours
encuentran para hablar horas
discussion by discussion.
discusión a discusión.
face-to-face discussions,
we are introduced to
que nos han presentado
or in a gym or at a conference.
o en el gimnasio o una conferencia.
encuéntrense con alguien
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jochen Wegner - JournalistJochen Wegner edits Zeit Online, the website of German weekly "Die Zeit," which prizes deep dives into cultural issues.
Why you should listen
Jochen Wegner never thought he could make a living out of writing, yet ultimately he found himself editing Zeit Online, one of Germany's major media websites. With a team of 150, Zeit Online delivers around-the-clock information about breaking and developing stories, distinguished by deep reporting and data visualizations. Zeit also hosts a number of Germany's most popular podcasts.
By taking journalism beyond reporting and into the realm of real-time discussion, Wegner is creating tools that could change the political climate by encouraging wide varieties of people to engage in public discourse. His "My Country Talks" platform organizes personal, one-on-one conversations between people from all over the ideological map, inviting them to find common ground between viewpoints that are at first seemingly irreconcilable.
Jochen Wegner | Speaker | TED.com