 |
Visiting journalists and research scholar with Dr. Horace Newcomb of the Peabody Awards Program.
. |
Broadcast Journalists from Eight Countries Visit Grady College
Eight foreign journalists discussed U.S. broadcast journalism and telecommunications education and broad issues in digital and broadcast news with Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty during their visit at the University of Georgia in June.
“We have to be dynamic and flexible,” Dr. C. Ann Hollifield said in her conversation with the group. “We have to understand that many boundaries between different types of communication platforms have disappeared and that we have to address this challenge or to perceive it as a chance.”
The foreign journalists met with Dr. Hollifield, head of the telecommunications department, and Professors Michael Castangera and David Hazinski of the same Grady College unit, to discuss changes in digital and broadcast news in the U.S. in recent years and television news in their own countries.
Professors Castengera and Hazinski described how the news channels have altered the concept of news and the work of the journalists, and how television in the United States is entirely based on ratings.
The journalists came from Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, India, Macedonia, Nigeria, Russia and Tunisia.
The journalists were invited to the United States under the auspices of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. Their program in Georgia was coordinated by the Georgia Center for International Visitors, while their visit at the University of Georgia was organized by the Cox International Center, the outreach unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The goal of the program was to give the participants the opportunity to learn more about the role of television in the American society and the best practices in broadcast journalism, and to discuss the latest technological developments in broadcast journalism.
The group was welcomed by Dr. Lee Becker and Dr. Tudor Vlad, director and associate director of the Cox International Center, who gave the guests a description of the University of Georgia and of the Grady College.
Drs. Becker and Vlad also described journalism and mass communication education in the United States and how the telecommunications curricula have changed due to new communications technologies.
Dr. Vlad gave the group a tour of the Grady College, which included the student TV studios, the photojournalism lab and WUGA TV.
The group also met with Dr. Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards program, which is located in the Grady College.
Dr. Newcomb told to guests that the number of submissions from outside the U.S. has increased in recent years, and he encouraged the guests to consider submitting their materials for review.
“This year, we gave more awards than in any other previous competition, but it is because the technologies have created so many new and high quality journalistic products,” Newcomb said.
Before their return to Atlanta, the participants in the International Visitor Leadership Program toured The Red & Black, the UGA student newspaper, and had a conversation with Ed Morales, editorial advisor of the newspaper.
Before their visit to Georgia, the journalists spent one week in Washington, D.C., and their following destination was New York City.
The visitors were Mr. Ahmad Fawad, regional director, Ariana Radio and TV Network (ATN), Herat, Afghanistan, Ms. Narine Hovhannisyan, editor-in-chief, Armenia TV Company, Armenia,Mr. Daniel Allan Bourchier, Darwin bureau chief and national indigenous affairs correspondent, Sky News, Australia, Ms. Geeta Mohan, deputy foreign affairs editor, Times Now, India, Ms. Milka Smilevska, director and correspondent, Al Jazeera Balkans, Skopje, Macedonia, Ms. Amarachi Nkechi Ubani, foreign desk correspondent, Channels TV, Lagos, Nigeria, Ms. Milana Lechiyevna Mazaeva, producer, Vaynakh State TV and Radio Company, Russia, and Ms. Chadia Khedir Ep Jelmen, reporter, National Tunisian Television, Tunisia.
They were accompanied by Ms. Cynthia Willson, U.S. English language officer.
