The Russian Union of Journalists and the University of Georgia’s Cox Center collaborated to organize three workshops in Russia that will focus on topics like media management and ethics.
“I really think that this is an important program,” Dr. Tudor Vlad, associate director for the Cox Center, said. “You know for so many years Russian journalists have been isolated and have seen themselves as isolated. This program is a beginning and an opening. . . This is how you can build bridges.”
Dr. Lee Becker, director of the Cox Center, and Dr. Vlad partnered with representatives from the Russian Union of Journalists to research the needs of Russian journalists and design the workshops.
The first workshop in Samara, Russia, will focus on media management and take place in June 2009. The second workshop, scheduled for early September, will take place in Siberia, and the third workshop will take place in November in a different region of Russia.
The executive director of the Russian Union of Journalists, Nadezha Azhikhina, chose to collaborate with the Cox Center after a visit to the University of Georgia last November. Azhikhina showed interest in the Cox Center’s resources and dedication to building partnerships, Dr. Vlad said.
The Russian Union of Journalists is the largest journalism union in Russia with over 100,000 members and is dedicated to fostering independent media and freedom of expression.
The International Research and Exchanges Board, an international non profit that supports programs dedicated to strengthening independent media, funded the project.
4/22/09
Reporter Speaks to Journalism Students about the Industry
It might not be the best time to be in newspapers, but there’s always a need for journalism, the regional reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald, Adam Thompson, told University of Georgia journalism students Monday morning.
“I don’t regret [becoming a journalist] at all,” Thompson said. “Even though I have no savings and have to worry about going out to eat on the weekends, but so what.”
Thompson, 26, became a reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald in October 2007 after graduating two years earlier from Clemson University with a degree in English.
Newspapers are struggling to find a sustainable business model for online media, but the Internet greatly increases the tools journalists can use to give information to the public, Thompson said.
“It’s kind of romantic to say I like getting ink on my fingers,” Thompson said. “What’s more important is the kind of reporting it produces.”
In a crime story, for example, the Internet allows journalists to link readers directly to the police report.
“The need for what newspapers do will still exist whether or not the New York Times can come to your door every day,” Thompson said.
“I don’t regret [becoming a journalist] at all,” Thompson said. “Even though I have no savings and have to worry about going out to eat on the weekends, but so what.”
Thompson, 26, became a reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald in October 2007 after graduating two years earlier from Clemson University with a degree in English.
Newspapers are struggling to find a sustainable business model for online media, but the Internet greatly increases the tools journalists can use to give information to the public, Thompson said.
“It’s kind of romantic to say I like getting ink on my fingers,” Thompson said. “What’s more important is the kind of reporting it produces.”
In a crime story, for example, the Internet allows journalists to link readers directly to the police report.
“The need for what newspapers do will still exist whether or not the New York Times can come to your door every day,” Thompson said.
4/20/09
Commissioners May Turn Down Lights in Athens
Athens-Clarke County business and property owners may have to turn down their security lights if a comprehensive light ordinance proposed by commissioners at the agenda-setting meeting on Thursday evening is approved.
“It makes me sick to my stomach when I see those bright lights burning when they’re not lighting anything up,” Commissioner Alice Kinman said.
Though some of the commissioners said they were unsatisfied with the proposed light ordinance, others said it is important to pass the ordinance quickly since they have been trying to vote on a light ordinance since 2003.
Commissioners will continue to debate the ordinance at the voting session meeting scheduled for April 7 at City Hall in downtown Athens.
Proposals to expand public transit to people living on the outskirts of Athens through the Link transit service and to build a downtown parking deck that will involve a partnership with a private firm to create a retail streetscape were put on the consent agenda for the April 7 voting meeting.
Items on the consent agenda are approved as a block without individual discussion.
Commissioners also recommended using funds from the Community Development Block Grant to fund several homelessness-related groups in Athens. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 7 to discuss funding in more detail.
For more information on this meeting and others visit the Athens-Clarke County Government webpage.
“It makes me sick to my stomach when I see those bright lights burning when they’re not lighting anything up,” Commissioner Alice Kinman said.
Though some of the commissioners said they were unsatisfied with the proposed light ordinance, others said it is important to pass the ordinance quickly since they have been trying to vote on a light ordinance since 2003.
Commissioners will continue to debate the ordinance at the voting session meeting scheduled for April 7 at City Hall in downtown Athens.
Proposals to expand public transit to people living on the outskirts of Athens through the Link transit service and to build a downtown parking deck that will involve a partnership with a private firm to create a retail streetscape were put on the consent agenda for the April 7 voting meeting.
Items on the consent agenda are approved as a block without individual discussion.
Commissioners also recommended using funds from the Community Development Block Grant to fund several homelessness-related groups in Athens. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 7 to discuss funding in more detail.
For more information on this meeting and others visit the Athens-Clarke County Government webpage.
Commissioner Speaks to Students about Local Government
Athens-Clarke County citizens avoided some of the local government complexity that most Georgia citizens deal with after consolidating county and city governments in 1991, Athens-Clarke County Commissioner David Lynn told University of Georgia journalism students Monday morning.
“It makes a lot of sense to people to pay taxes to one government” instead of paying separate taxes to both county and city governments, Lynn said.
Lynn, commissioner for District 5 in Athens-Clarke County and a public service assistant at the University of Georgia, spoke to the 16 students about the forms of county governments in Georgia and more specifically about Athens-Clarke County government.
Athens-Clarke County also has fewer of the problems associated with separate county and city governments like duplication of services and increased competition for revenue sources, according to Lynn.
But consolidated governments like Athens-Clarke County may make it more difficult for minorities to be elected to local government positions and may further remove citizens from their local representatives, Lynn said.
Lynn urged University of Georgia students to register to vote in Athens-Clarke County.
“You live in Athens so you should vote in Athens,” Lynn said. “This is your home now.”
“It makes a lot of sense to people to pay taxes to one government” instead of paying separate taxes to both county and city governments, Lynn said.
Lynn, commissioner for District 5 in Athens-Clarke County and a public service assistant at the University of Georgia, spoke to the 16 students about the forms of county governments in Georgia and more specifically about Athens-Clarke County government.
Athens-Clarke County also has fewer of the problems associated with separate county and city governments like duplication of services and increased competition for revenue sources, according to Lynn.
But consolidated governments like Athens-Clarke County may make it more difficult for minorities to be elected to local government positions and may further remove citizens from their local representatives, Lynn said.
Lynn urged University of Georgia students to register to vote in Athens-Clarke County.
“You live in Athens so you should vote in Athens,” Lynn said. “This is your home now.”
3/21/09
University of Amsterdam's Director of Market Research Visits Georgia
Innovation needs money, and Johan Vos works to find that money.
Vos, 57, director of market development at the University of Amsterdam, was interviewed by 16 students at the University of Georgia Monday morning about his knowledge of the relationship among research, innovation and investors.
Vos stopped in Athens after attending a conference in Orlando of the Association of University Technology Managers. He noted that most of those present were from wealthy countries.
“Weak governments, they don’t have much money,” Vos said. This is one of the reasons research is limited for diseases such as malaria, which African governments cannot afford to invest large sums in, he said.
Research at the University of Amsterdam focuses on computer science, medicine and chemistry.
Vos has worked as the University of Amsterdam’s director of market development for the past 20 years, seeking subsidies and sponsors for research and also managing the intellectual property rights of research at the University of Amsterdam.
Vos, 57, director of market development at the University of Amsterdam, was interviewed by 16 students at the University of Georgia Monday morning about his knowledge of the relationship among research, innovation and investors.
Vos stopped in Athens after attending a conference in Orlando of the Association of University Technology Managers. He noted that most of those present were from wealthy countries.
“Weak governments, they don’t have much money,” Vos said. This is one of the reasons research is limited for diseases such as malaria, which African governments cannot afford to invest large sums in, he said.
Research at the University of Amsterdam focuses on computer science, medicine and chemistry.
Vos has worked as the University of Amsterdam’s director of market development for the past 20 years, seeking subsidies and sponsors for research and also managing the intellectual property rights of research at the University of Amsterdam.
2/9/09
Become a Good Journalist, Advice from Pulitzer Prize Winner Klibanoff
Uphold journalistic principles, build relationships, and maintain a sense of curiosity –- these are three points Pulitzer Prize winning author Hank Klibanoff emphasized when speaking to a group of 144 journalism students Monday morning in Park Hall.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)