Visit from a school newspaper
What is everyday work like at a media company, and how do the editorial departments operate there? The members of the student newspaper of the Rudolf Diesel High School in Augsburg wanted to learn more about this and visited the FORUM MEDIA GROUP in Merching as a field trip on Friday, July 17, 2026.
A tour through history
At the beginning of the morning, Managing Director Katrin Krauß-Herkert recounted how the company was founded by her father in 1988 and how its first office was located in the basement apartment of her parents’ home. The 13 students from grades 6 through 10 and their teacher, Manuel Rigel, listened intently as she explained how the small startup grew into today’s media group with more than 1,000 employees worldwide.
Katrin Krauß-Herkert told the students about the history of FORUM.
Afterwards, Isabella Fetzer, Head of People & Culture, gave the group a tour of the office building. A highlight of the tour was the archive, where visitors can view products from the company’s nearly 40-year history. During the tour, the young people also got a sense of the many different areas of work within the media group, such as customer service, marketing, or the IT department.
Day-to-day editorial work and product development
Andrea Schneider-Kober, editor-in-chief of the trade journal “Der Hausmeister”, then gave the students a glimpse into the workflows in the editing department. She repeatedly drew comparisons to the processes in the student newspaper’s editorial office. “I was really impressed by how professional the students are and how well-organized they work”, she concluded. She also gave the group helpful tips on how to organize their topic planning.
Andrea Schneider-Kober provided insights into daily life in the editorial office of a trade journal.
Afterward, the young people had the chance to get hands-on: As part of a workshop, they tried their hand at product development. They were divided into small groups and tasked with collaboratively developing a new product or service based on a given topic, for a specific target audience, and in a predetermined format. This led to some great ideas, such as a travel guide to help teachers plan their next field trips, a magazine for sports-loving parents, or a podcast for executives.
To wrap things up, an apprentice and a dual student shared valuable tips on choosing a career and navigating the application process they’ll face in a few years. They also highlighted the opportunity to get to know different departments through a student internship. Armed with plenty of fresh insights, the students left the office building in Merching around noon.
Partnerships with schools
“It was great to see how attentive and interested the students were,” says Isabella Fetzer, who organized the group’s visit. “From our perspective, partnerships between schools and businesses are very important for preparing young people for their future careers and providing them with practical insights early on.”
FORUM MEDIA GROUP maintains close partnerships with various schools in the region, including Friedberg High School and Maria-Theresia High School in Augsburg. The collaboration is extremely diverse, ranging from job application workshops and career fairs at the schools to hands-on training days and special presentations held on-site in Merching.
Isabella Fetzer, Head of People & Culture, with the students of Rudolf Diesel High School