RSJ News
Journalists from Middle East visit Reynolds School
10-05-2009
Environmental journalist Chris Bowman leads a graduate class with visiting journalists from the Middle East and North Africa.
By Tammy Krikorian
On Friday Oct. 2, 13 journalists from North Africa and the Middle East joined a class of graduate students in the Reynolds School of Journalism as part of a week-long trip to Nevada to learn about journalism in America.
The Edward R. Murrow Program For Journalists is part of the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ International Visitor Leadership Program. Its goals are to:
• Examine the rights and responsibilities of a free press in a democracy;
• Observe operational practices, standards, and institutions of the media in the United States;
• Gain insight into social, economic, and political structures of the United States; and
• Participate in professional development seminars and an international symposium highlighting current trends and challenges in journalism.
On Friday afternoon, the visiting journalists sat in on instructor Chris Bowman’s class Environments of the West, where Bowman discussed how to report an environmental story and the students and journalists discussed the differences between journalism in the United States and their home countries.
A common issue between both groups is the changes going on in journalism prompted by the economy, the Internet and declining readership.
A reporter from Yemen said he was laid off because of economic conditions, and an editor from Syria said he’s had to cut his staff as well.
The editor suggested this could be good for journalism because journalists will be forced to be more competitive and more creative and innovative.
Earlier in the day the group met with journalism and political science faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno, and in the evening attended a classical concert on campus.
Over the weekend, they visited Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe.
Among other activities this week, they will meet with reporters and editors of the Reno Gazette-Journal, Reynolds School of Journalism faculty and officials from the city of Reno and tour the KRNV Channel 4 studios.
