The Kyrgystan initiative: A work in progress

 

Bishkek is laid out on a grid with wide, tree-lined streets. It has parks and many orchards, and permanently snow-capped mountains are visible to the south.

Monday, Sept. 22: We arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Monday morning.

It took us an hour to get our visas, go through passport control and pick up checked luggage.  We were met by university president Ellen Hurwitz’s driver, and we arrived at her house about 3 a.m.

We woke up at 11 a.m. and had a quick breakfast before heading to our first meeting at 2 p.m. on the campus of American University – Central Asia. We met to discuss the university’s planned media center with President Hurwitz and the university’s vice president for academic affairs.

The funds that had been provided for the media center at the university were designated for undergraduate education, but we had suggested they also be used for mid-career education for

The Bishkek express

Bishkek, the capital of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, with a population of about 1 million, is situated in the north part of the country

(Sunday, 21 September) Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan:

Kaare Melhus and I flew to Bishkek, leaving Pristina late in the morning (with a layover in Istanbul).  It is our second trip to the capital of Kyrgyzstan, home to American University – Bishkek.

Melhus and I made our initial review of the program in September 2007.  We met with university officials of the central Asian nation and wrote a report suggesting that a media center be developed at the university for the journalism faculty and for use by journalists who attend mid-career development workshops.

Now we are returning to Bishkek to discuss details about the center with faculty, administrators and journalists.  We

Nebraska’s educational mission in Kosovo

Will Norton, Jr., dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

For the past four years, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has participated in a democracy building project in Kosovo.

Many of our faculty have lectured at the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communication (KIJAC). Many of our students have worked with KIJAC students on an international reporting project that focused on poverty in Kosovo.

(Friday, Sept. 19) Pristina, Kosovo- It’s been a busy couple of days in Kosovo. On Friday, Enver Hoxhaj, the Kosovo Republic’s Minister of Education, Science and Technology, told us

Journalism table talk

Will Norton, Jr.

Today, I met with a few members of the Freedom Forum board on the 7th floor of the Newseum in Washington.

We sat around a table that once graced the boardroom of the New York Times.  Around that table had sat many of the world’s leaders in serious conversations with executives of the Times.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr. likes to tell about the day he was being considered for the chairmanship of the newspaper’s board of directors.

New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

According to the story:

The board deliberated while Arthur waited outside. Finally, he was called into the room.

Arthur’s father, Punch, sat at the end of the table.  He congratulated his son on being named the new chairman and asked Arthur to take his position in the chairman’s seat at the end of the table.

Arthur expressed his thanks for the appointment, but declined to take the seat traditionally held by the chairman. Instead, he sat at the middle of the table.

I reflected on that anecdote and thought of the rich traditions and significant developments that had taken place at that table as I looked out over the mid-morning traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue.

On the road….

Will Norton, Jr., dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

I spent a good portion of Sunday and Monday, Sept. 14 and 15, meeting with the other deans who are part of the Carnegie/Knight Initiative in New York City.

During our meeting at the School of Journalism at Columbia University, I was reminded that the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York had a special appreciation for journalism.  Dr. Vartan Gregorian’s emphasis is on journalism as a vital area on every major university campus.  Moreover, I was reminded that he has described journalism as being part of education.  Indeed, he called it a species of higher education.

Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University and a member of the board of the Washington Post and the Pulitzer board, told the deans that this is a critical time for freedom of the press.

He noted that it was not until 1919 that the U.S. Supreme Court heard its first case on press freedom.  In less than a century, that court has defined great freedom for the press. The freedom is exceptional.

Media challenges

Today, media face great challenges because the Internet is undermining their financial base.  Because of a variety of converging pressures, Bollinger said, this is a critical time to

Greetings!

CoJMC Dean Will Norton Jr.

Greetings! My name is Will Norton, Jr., dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Like so many of you, I have taken the leap into blogging. It will be a new discovery for me, as journalist and educator. I hope it will allow us to have a better dialog with you.

In this blog I will write about two great passions: Journalism and Education. Your comments are welcome.

The College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is blessed with many of America’s  top journalism and advertising students.

Don’t be surprised if I blog about our college, faculty and staff. They face many exciting and diverse issues in today’s rapidly changing landscapes of journalism and advertising. I am quite proud of what they do.

Over the past two decades, I have been honored to serve the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications, and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Along the way, I’ve visited more than 70 campuses and nearly 50 nations. My travels have always reminded me of the vital roles journalism and education play in helping to improve communities around the world.

Outside the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communication, Prishtina, Kosovo

That point was underscored in June when I visited the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communication (KIJAC), in Prishtina, Kosovo.

Willem Houwen, director of the Kosovo Institute for Journalism and Communication, and I stood at the top of the former Communist Party headquarters, now a bank building in Belgrade. We looked down at a fort at the juncture of the Sava and Danube rivers.

“For centuries this area was a moving frontier between the Hapsburg and the Ottoman empires,” Willem said. “That fort exchanged hands 1,400 times.”

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, a nation that is a vital player in maintaining the significance of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) and the events related to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914).

The legend of the Battle of Kosovo is at the heart of Serbian nationalism. In fact, the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communication stands near the tomb of Sultan Murat, the leader of the Ottomans who fought in the Battle of Kosovo.

Sultan Murat's tomb near Prishtina, Kosovo.

The Balkans are at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, Russia and Africa. This is the region through which the great Silk Road was traveled. It has been the region through which armies have cut a broad swath on their way to empire building.

The memory of great defeats and great massacres have shaped the identity and commonality of each nation tribe or group in the Balkans. The recurring theme is victimization and persecution.

Today, our college is part of an effort to educate professionals so that they can begin to change the culture of violence and persecution that marks much of the region.

Over the past three years, many of our faculty have participated as visiting lecturers at the Kosovo Institute for Journalism and Communication. The effort has been funded by the Norwegian government through the assistance of our Norwegian colleagues at Gimlekollen.

UNL CoJMC student photojournalists in Kosovo - Lindsay DeMarco (left), Kate Veik, Vanessa Skocz, Karen Schmidt and Clay Lomneth.

Last March, our faculty and students joined with KIJAC students to produce a compelling series of photographs and reports that documented the vast impact of poverty in Kosovo. It was amazing to see the sharing of views, cultures and experiences between our students and their KIJAC counterparts in Kosovo.

We are making similar efforts in Ethiopia and in Kyrgyzstan. And recently, a group of Washington leaders asked us to be part of a proposal to do similar things in Afghanistan.

A primary mission of UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications is to prepare students to participate in a global environment. Here, we want them to be both good professional practitioners and  citizens.

By participating in international journalism and advertising programs, we’re contributing to a  process that benefits all. Along the way, we’ve met new friends and colleagues. And yes, we’ve also learned much about these new places, their cultures and their people who have been our hosts and teachers.

Again, I invite your comments.