UM, Czech students’ stories online
By Karen Plant
J-School Web reporter
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| J-School students host Czech students on a trip to Glacier National Park. Professor Jan Krecek of Charles University is at far right; former UM J-School Dean Charlie Hood is third from right. |
Imagine guinea pigs parachuting into the Czech Republic and you may be close to knowing how five J-School students felt last summer as they traveled overseas to compare public perceptions and news coverage about minorities in other countries.
The UM students were hand-picked to team up with five Czech students and cover the Czech Roma and American Indian minorities in their respective countries, former UM J-School Dean Charles Hood said.
“Not a lot of schools have tried anything as bold as this,” Hood said. The students didn’t know a lot about the cultures beforehand. “It really changed the way they looked at things.”
In May 2007, UM students Mary Rizos, Israel Tockman, Sean Breslin, Zach Franz and Ashley McKee traveled to Prague. There, they joined Charles University students Ales Kosina, Marie Novakova, Alice Tejkalova, Vendula Krizova and Martin Brodsky to visit Roma communities and interview experts on minority issues.
After three weeks, the project moved to Missoula, where the Czechs and Americans visited Indian reservations and the Montana State Prison and interviewed state officials in Helena.
“Because the project was the first of its kind at the University of Montana, most of us knew we were going to be the guinea pigs for this type of exchange,” said McKee, a photo student who graduated last spring.
“It stills blows me away I was given such an amazing opportunity as a young journalist,” she said. “Because of Prague, I hope to one day go back to Europe and live there for a little while as a journalist.”
Co-directors Hood and professor Jan Krecek of Charles University in Prague planned the project, developed the curriculum and accompanied the students.
The students had to “parachute in to a place they didn’t know,” learning from each other and on their own, Hood said.
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photo by Ashley McKee |
| Montana students and their Czech counterparts tour the Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge. |
The exchange was Breslin’s first trip overseas. “I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. Breslin found himself resorting to what he called a “crude form of sign language” to communicate in the city of Prague, population 1.2 million.
After Breslin wrote a story on Romas in the Czech school system, the director of the school expected to read the entire story before it was published. Breslin said he was able to negotiate with the director and allow him to preview certain facts and figures of the story. Yet the experience left Breslin with an even greater appreciation of Americans’ First Amendment rights.
Czech student Vendula Krizova was able to dispel some of her own stereotypes — that the “Roma people are stupid and lazy” and that Native Americans no longer live in tepees with fences around reservations, she said by e-mail.
Most importantly, Krizova said, “I talked to Roma people about their life experience, which I never did.”
The students’ interviews, commentaries, photographs, multi-media items and blogs are posted on their online publication, "Common Ground.”
Hood said he originally expected the publication to be online by late August. Yet the stories weren't accessible until late October. On Nov. 12, all the multi-media pieces were completed.
The Web page delay was unfortunate, Hood said.
“I underestimated the number of stories the students would cover,” he said. “The students did a prolific job and did a lot more than I expected.”
Denny Lester, the project's Webmaster, said Hood wasn’t the only one surprised by the amount of student-produced work.
“We had no idea how large the project was going to be,” he said. "But I was glad to be part of it."
Additionally, Lester, a recent UM graduate, accepted a full-time job at the Helena Independent Record in June, which also added to the delay.
Krizova said she was “pretty sad, or angry maybe, of how long it took to publish the Web page.”
Former UM student Franz was also disappointed about the delay in getting the Web site up, especially since one of his stories “lost whatever relevance it had by the time it appeared online.”
Franz and his teammate, Marie Novakova, wrote a story entitled, “Justice Delayed,” about Romany women who have filed complaints with the Czech government, claiming they were sterilized after giving birth without informed consent. The story was based on current court actions, Franz said by e-mail.
“I’m about the 500th reporter to cover the story, so it didn’t break new ground. Still, it was exciting to do some real foreign correspondence,” Franz said.
The challenges in Prague were real, as well.
“The Czech students were finishing exams at the time, and didn’t have much time to spend with us,” Franz said. “That made reporting hard, but it also meant we were just left to show ourselves around in a big city where we didn’t speak the language.”
Yet the trip was valuable.
“I would certainly do it again,” Franz said.
Hood said he would like to see the University continue to do similar foreign exchanges, but future trips will depend on finances.
Funding for the Prague trip came from the UM president’s office and the J-School as well as other UM departments. However, future exchanges will need off-campus funding from foundations interested in international relations, Hood said.
“I think this is one area that journalism educators all over the world should be doing more of — cross culturally,” Hood said. “To work together more and try to understand each other’s cultures better.
“You can do some pretty good journalism if you approach things with an open mind.”
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