SUMMARY OF THE PUBLIC STORY IN THE UNITED STATES

The public story for the workshop revolves around the contentious nature of policies and perspectives related to immigration, especially illegal immigration, to the United States after 9/11. The catalytic event for youth activism related to these issues was a game created, publicized, and enacted by the Young Republicans at New York University. Students who were opposed to the game and the views it represented at their university organized a demonstration and teach-in to expose the game. Organizers of the protest against the “Catch an Illegal Immigrant” game invited university officials, professors, and student leaders representing a range of perspectives on the issue. News sources used as resources for our public-story activity included comments by those participants in the demonstration, as well as by several people in the crowd. After reading the story, participants in the DSTY workshop were invited to discuss their views about the various participants in the demonstration.

SUMMARY OF THE PUBLIC STORY IN CROATIA

The public story for the workshop revolves around the contentious issue of tightening controls on the public media, especially electronic media, in the country, which is at odds with progress toward democracy and entrance to the EU (Goehring, 2007). The catalytic event for youth activism related to these issues was the expulsion of one of the first female members of the national board of media policy, which raised issues of social inclusion as well as renewed government control of the media.