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Chile Wintersession
S. American trip attracts journalism students
By Bennett
Jacobs
J-School Web reporter
As the first week of regular classes for spring semester
got under way, a handful of travel-weary journalism students
were still making their way back to Missoula from a UM Wintersession
course in Chile.
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photo by Sarah Galbraith |
| UM students talk with former diplomat Frank Shakespeare,
left, during their January trip to Chile. |
The group of print, photo and broadcast students
spent nearly the entire month of January in the South American
country to report on the environment and the effects of
the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and
Chile.
The course, Reporting Chile, was offered
through UM’s
School of Journalism and made possible through collaboration
with the School of Law. The course lasted from Jan. 3-15,
but most of its participants stayed longer to travel and
report on their own. The leaders of the journalistic expedition
were freelance writer and J-School adjunct Jeff Hull, UM’s
legal counsel David Aronofsky and public interest environmental
attorney Ronni Flannery.
"Aronofsky and his contacts in the region introduced us to
some amazing people,” said Kari Friedman, a photojournalism
student who took part in the course.
The myriad speakers for the class included Chilean public
officials (including Supreme Court justices), lawyers and
economists as well as the U.S. ambassador to Chile.
"Most of the lecture topics were on environmental issues,” said
Scott Poniewaz, one of the photo students. “But many
of them then tied into the Free Trade Agreement stuff.”
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photo
by Scott Poniewaz |
| Hugo
Araya, of the Coyhaique newspaper El Divisadero,
points out the proposed site of the Alumysa
aluminum processing plant in Puerto Chacabuco. The
plant would have required the construction of three
hydroelectric dams and a large smelter, which would
be located across
the port. |
While most of the lecturers spoke English, it was not common
for people the students encountered in public to speak English,
said Becky Moore, a print student.
"I felt like my lack of Spanish hampered things a bit, but
usually we had sufficient interpreters, whether it was our
official interpreters or other students who knew a little,” Moore
said.
Throughout an extensive series of lectures, students were
encouraged to pick a topic to write an article or produce
a photo project that they might publish when they returned
to the States. The topics they chose ranged from salmon farming
to environmental protection.
"It was great to have the opportunity to go to a foreign country
and take photographs,” Poniewaz said. “On
the whole the Chilean people were very open to being
photographed.”
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photo
by Scott Poniewaz
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| Students take a tour of the Chilean congress building
in Valparaiso. |
The students maintained
a full schedule, which included not only the lectures but also
tours and asados — traditional
barbeques where lambs are roasted over an open fire.
Friedman was even able to make a Montana connection
to her piece on the business of Chilean fly-fishing.
"There are fishing guides from western Montana who guide down
there for several months out of the year,” Friedman
said. “But that takes away from Chilean guides, so
there is a battle of sorts.” Eco-tourism is a
big part of the economy in Chile, Friedman said.
In the two weeks after the course was completed, the students
who remained in Chile spent their time in a variety of activities
from whitewater rafting to Patagonian jungle tours.
Whether similar courses will be offered in the future is
yet to be determined.
"We still have to look everything over and see,” said
J-School Dean Jerry Brown. “It was an exploratory
venture in more ways than one.”
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