|
|
|
Western Assistance to Journalism Education in the Baltics The first initiatives to support journalism education in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania came from Americans and Scandinavians, directly related to the fact that theirs were the first Western embassies set up in the region. In 1990, USIA and the embassies of Scandinavian countries started to organize trips of Baltic journalists, and students or professors from Vilnius, Riga or Tartu Universities’ departments of journalism. More consistent efforts followed later when representatives of Western countries realized that schools of journalism were in fact small spots which you could in the end make a big difference. It should be noted that American and especially Scandinavian programs usually treated all Baltic states as one entity. American assistance to schools of journalism represents a close combination of the efforts of state agencies and private foundations. USIA often is a key player in this process. The Media Fund located in Washington runs the biggest project to support the Baltic journalism schools. Under a grant from the US government which amounts to $300,000 ($100,000 per country), the IMF has provided to the schools of journalism sets of modern television and radio equipment. New TV and radio laboratories have enabled us to change journalism education; according to the new curriculum more an more practical workshops take place in the schools of journalism. The curriculum has begun to correspond to Western standards. The Soros Foundation has a specific program to support the Lithuanian school of journalism’s efforts to translate and publish American textbooks, though the main and unique effort in developing library resources was made by the Freedom Forum in 1993 when it put at the Vilnius Journalism Institute and excellent library of 300 textbooks, plus CD-ROM of American Press. The Freedom Forum has further plans to support journalism education in the Baltics. Baltic countries have special relations with the Scandinavian Schools of Journalism due to the geopolitical closeness of the countries. Estonia has traditional exchange programs with Finland, and all three Baltic countries have joint programs with the four Scandinavian countries which are usually sponsored by the Nordic Council. For three years Baltic schools of journalism have students and professors’ exchange programs with the journalism departments in Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo Universities and the Arhus School of Journalism in Denmark. The Balts and Scandinavians have joint annual conferences on journalism education, last time held in Sweden. Germany is much more modest in supporting journalism education in the Baltics. Al three schools have a program financed by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation according to which we are visited by a different journalism professor every month to lecture the students. It has also provided free subscriptions of “Frankfurter Allegemeine” daily. Marius Lukosiunas |
Last Updated: 11/20/99 |
|
© 1999 Post-Soviet Media Law &
Policy Newsletter |
