EducationCurriculum
This is a tentative schedule as of July 2025.
Saturday, July 12th, 2025
Arrivals – Check in from 15:00 (Marriott Courtyard Prague Flora, Lucemburska 46, Prague 3, 13000)
Free time
Sunday, July 13th
09:50 – 10:00 Meeting point: hotel lobby and registration of participants
10:00 Departure from the hotel
10:00 – 13:00 Walking Tour: Prague sightseeing with Lucie Lackova
13:15 – 14:30 Lunch (venue: NA ČEPU – Ovocný trh 1096/8, 110 00 Prague 1)
14:30 – 14:45 Break
14:45 – 15:00 Welcome and Introductions (Jeremy Druker, Transitions)
15:00 – 17:00 Life as a Foreign Correspondent (Raphael Minder, The Financial Times)
- “Welcome to a dying trade,” or how to become a foreign correspondent
- “How to find stories (a clue: they are rarely on page one of the local press)
- Dealing with editors at long distance and pitching stories
- Differences between European and American journalism
- Ethics of Journalism, journalism and the law, boundaries of plagiarism
- Being a foreign correspondent for The Financial Times.
Free time in Prague
Monday, July 14th
09:00 Meeting point: hotel lobby
09:05 Departure from the hotel and arrival at the venue
Venue: Charles University – Hollar Building – Smetanovo nábřeží 6, 110 01 Prague 1, Room: H20
10:00 – 12:30 Panel Discussion: “What Is Actually a Foreign Correspondent?” (moderated by Jeremy Druker, Transitions, with participants: Vojtěch Boháč, Voxpot + Dominika Píhová, Deník N).
- The news cycle for foreign correspondents: news agencies vs. other media outlets
- The different kinds of foreign reporters: staff positions vs. stringers vs. freelancers
- The specific challenges of being a female foreign correspondent
- Finding stories in a foreign city: how and where to look
- Interviewing people in foreign lands (some of whom may be suspicious of journalists from other countries)
- Tips for staying safe and the necessity (sometimes) of special security precautions.
- Covering war as a foreign correspondent
- The ethical and moral responsibilities associated with covering conflict
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:30 News-Writing Lab (Michael Winfrey)
- Introduction to writing and reporting with a special focus on writing for an international audience
- Writing and developing feature stories for news agencies and general publications
- Tips for writing for an audience that knows very little about the history and culture of the location
- When to file a story
- How to source a story.
16:30 – 18:00 Pitching session for story proposals (Jeremy Druker, Transitions, Michael Winfrey; and Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)
All participants will pitch their ideas for their two stories to the panel for feedback. The assignment for the first week will be a print/web story or a photo essay for print or web (first draft due Friday); the assignment for the second week will be a video or audio story (due at the end of the second week).
Tuesday, July 15th
08:45 Meeting point: hotel lobby
Venue: CEA CAPA – Malá Štupartská 634/7, 110 00 Prague 1, Room 0
09:30 – 12:30 Writing Lab: Getting Out Into the Field (Michael Kahn and Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)
Participants will be divided in groups and work intensively with the faculty, focusing on the following subjects:
- Finding stories and conducting research for stories before hitting the ground
- Finding sources and interview subjects
- Interviewing techniques, especially in a foreign land, including mock interviews for practice
- Integrating quotations from non-native speakers.
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 17:00 Practical-writing exercise (Michael Kahn and Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)
Participants will have two hours to write their stories with faculty then review the results.
Wednesday, July 16th
All-day reporting and interviewing in the field for feature stories.
Thursday, July 17th
Venue: CEA CAPA – Malá Štupartská 634/7, 110 00 Prague 1, Room 0
09:30 – 10:30 The Life of a TV Foreign Correspondent (Dana Zlatohlavková, Czech Television)
- The challenges of unplanned deployments to cover foreign stories versus prepared trips
- Tips on quickly getting up to speed after assignment to a foreign post
- The differences in reporting for television from abroad compared with just print
- Moderating and editing reports from the field
- Telling stories through independent documentaries.
- How does motherhood affect the career of a female journalist?
10:45 – 12:15 The Power of Solutions Journalism in International Reporting (Jeremy Druker, Transitions)
- Just showing the problem is no longer enough. What is solutions journalism and how does it work?
- The four pillars of a classic solutions journalism story
- Where to find solutions stories as a foreign correspondent
- What questions to ask
- How does solutions journalism increase engagement and civic participation
- Examples of Transitions’ solutions stories.
Afternoon reporting and interviewing in the field for feature stories, preparing the first draft of print stories.
Students finalizing their stories.
Friday, July 18th
Venue: CEA CAPA – Malá Štupartská 634/7, 110 00 Prague 1, Room 0
9:30 – 12:30 Writing and Reporting for TV (Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)
- Writing to video
- Selecting sound bites
- Stand ups
- Types of stories
- Types of video packages.
Afternoon preparing the first draft of print stories.
16:30 – 19:00 Finish first draft of print stories, deadline 19:00
Students finalize their stories and submit.
Saturday, July 19th
Free day
Sunday, July 20th
Free day
19:00 – 21:15 Individual feedback on first draft of stories (Michael Kahn; Jeremy Druker, Transitions; Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)
Each participant will have a 15-minute slot to discuss the drafts with Michael or Jeremy during a meeting in the hotel lobby.
Monday, July 21st
Venue: CEA CAPA – Malá Štupartská 634/7, 110 00 Prague 1, Room 4
9:30 – 12:30 Multimedia Reporting: What is a Video Story and How to Give Every Story a Classic Story Structure (Will Tizard)
- Breaking into video journalism
- How even the most basic of shots tells a story
- Classic story-writing structures and how they can be incorporated into video-sequencing (inverted pyramid, diamond, stories without the classic structure)
- Shot-by-shot case studies
- Shooting video for news stories: framing, sequencing, perspective, lighting.
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 17:00 Exercises in the field
Video draft deadline 15:30
Participants will individually shoot videos in downtown Prague. The group will then congregate back at the venue and Will review the video that they have taken. Points to be covered:
- In-the-field demonstration shooting
- Raw-video review (put camera card in the computer, play, and review – a technique some employers use in broadcast news to judge a prospective camera person’s field work in a real-life, real-time situation).
Tuesday, July 22nd
Participants will spend the day working on video/audio stories, i.e. lining up and starting to shoot interviews and other footage.
Wednesday, July 23rd
08:45 Meeting point: hotel lobby
08:50 Departure from the hotel
Seznam.cz (Venue: Seznam.cz, a.s., Radlická 3294/10, 150 00 Prague 5)
9:30 – 11:15 Tour of Seznam.cz with Veronika Geltner and session on innovation with Ctirad Ženka + Q&A with Pavel Vondra/Barbora Sochorová, journalists at Seznam Zpravy
Participants will spend rest of the day working on video/audio stories.
Thursday, July 24th
Trip to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (please bring your passport)
10:40 Meeting point: hotel lobby
10:45 Departure from the hotel
11:00 – 11:30 Group security check at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – (Izraelska 3, Prague 10)
11:30 – 12:00 Introduction to history and present of RFE/RL with Jakub Tesar
12:00 – 12:30 Meeting with Amos Chapple RFE/RL Senior Photo Correspondent, Central News
12:30 – 13:15 Tour of the building including new studios in the basement
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch in RFE/RL cantina (on your own)
Free time
17:00 Deadline for final version of print story and posting it to WordPress site
Friday, July 25th
All-day shooting and editing final video stories
17:00 Deadline for video story and posting it to WordPress site
17:00 – 19:00 – Individual feedback on final version of stories (Michael Kahn; Jeremy Druker, Transitions; Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)
Individual story feedback on the final version of print story – each participant will have a 15-minute slot to discuss the final version with Michael and Jeremy during a meeting in the hotel lobby.
Saturday, July 26th
Venue: New York University (Malé náměstí 11, 110 00 Prague 1 – room Mucha)
10:00 – 12:00 Reporting-project critique session for video/audio stories (Will Tizard and Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)
Led by Will Tizard and Mark Harmon, the panel will provide detailed feedback on the video and audio stories.
12:15 – 12:30 Evaluation
13:50 Meeting point: Dvořákovo nábřeží, Na Františku, Prague 1 (pont nr 11)
14:00 – 16:00 Farewell boat cruise with lunch.
Free time
Sunday, July 27th
Departures