UNESCO Day 2

Hi everybody!

Today was the second day at UNESCO. We started earlier today (10 a.m.). There was a short presentation by Reynald Blion, the Media and Diversity Manager for the Council of Europe. He talked about the "Anti-discrimination teaching package of the Council of Europe." They basically talked about having three objectives to strive for within the Council of Europe -- training media professionals; writing, seeing and hearing diversity in the media,; and disseminating information through the media.

Then, there was a panel discussion about Journalism training in developing countries, which was chaired by Professor Guy Berger from Rhodes University in Grahamstown. The panelists discussed how not only do developing schools have to have an internal strength with cirriculum, programs and equipment, but the have to have positive external relations with practitioners of the field. On top of that, the developing school should have a strong outreach in the public sphere -- otherwise no one will know.

After a brief coffee break, there were reports of European and international projects which was chaired by Associate Professor Charlotte Wien of the University of Southern Denmark. The various reports included global environmental journalism initiative by Anna McKane, City University London, and Inger Munck, head of international department Danish School of Media and Journalism.

Another was an EJTA Project: The rise and fall of the music industry by Wilfriend Vanden Bossche, Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen. Afterward, there was a presentation on the master's in new media journalism by Frank Hanecke from the Swiss School of Journalism. Peter Linden, a journalist and author from Munich, talked about reporting Europe. Europe in the World was presented by Arie De Jongh from the University of Applied Sciences and Utrecht and Inger Munk, head of international department in the Danish School of Media and Journalism. The final portion of that segment was Micro Europe Radio by Jean Lemairte from IHECS.

Next up was the panel discussion between Jan and Urs Gossweiler from Switzerland. The topic was micro newspapers. This was not originally what we had planned for, but Jan did a great job talking about WVU and the Uncovered West Virginia project.

Europe seems to be a little bit behind as far as multimedia goes. It seems as if they're just now realizing it's important while in America, we are taking steps to prepare students to produce these pieces.The gentleman from Sweden actually brought up the multimedia piece of Bill Clinton speaking at the WVU commencement on the News and Information Services webstie and exlaimed how it was an outstanding piece -- he wants to strive toward producing pieces like that. Also, it was apparent Americans weren't quite as welcome in the European Union meeting, but we made the best of it.

Today is our last day in Paris, and we have to be ready to go at 5:30 a.m., so I'm off to pack and start on my larger reporting project!

Au revoir,
*Candace

J'aime Paris

Hi everyone!

Today was our free day, where we were going to see all the monuments and sights. Unfortunately, Jan has been feeling ill, and today got the best of her. We luckily were able to tour the Eiffel Tower today (I absolutely loved it!), but after lunch, we headed back to the hotel. That's where we remained for the rest of the day. Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow so we can accomplish more!

Coincidentally, CNN is the only English channel we get in the hotel, so I've been keeping up on what's going onin the US and the rest of the world. A big topic is, of course, the BP oil spill. Another story that is interesting right now is the paintings stolen from the Paris museum. Some people are valuing them at 116 million, and some value them at as much as 600 million!

In other non-journalism related news, for lunch, I tried escargot at lunch. I do not recommend it. Since Jan wasn't feeling well enough for dinner, I opted for some snacks instead of eating dinner alone, so I'm ready for breakfast!

Tomorrow is the first day of the UNESCO conference, so I'm not sure what to expect. All I know is that I should dress well. Hopefully the French are impressed with us becuase so far, we've had mixed experiences.

Au revoir
*Candace

Hello!

Hi everybody!

Jan was so kind as to introduce me. I'm so flattered. She failed to mention that she is an essential part of the journalism school -- she won the SOJ's Golden Quill Teaching Award last year, teaches class, advises and serves on a bunch of committees!

We leave for Paris, France, in one day! We will get to experience how journalism works in France. We're scheduled to make a presentation at the UNESCO Conference, meet with two French AP reporters and visit a French journalism school. If all goes according to plan, we may be able to set up an exchange program with France between the two schools! Right now, I've been reading up on the news in France and gathering clothes to pack.

We ran into a little bit of trouble the other day -- our flight was canceled because of an impending strike in London for British Airways! We were scheduled to fly from Dulles in Washington DC to Heathrow in London, England, then to Paris, France. Luckily, Jan was able to find two flights with Air France that are very close to our original scheduled arrival and departure times. Hopefully our luggage follows us! Here's a little bit more information about the strike: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/14/ba-strike-pilots-appeal

I should get back to packing and prepping myself for all the journalism goodness!

*Candace