Education

Curriculum

This is a tentative schedule as of July 2022.

Saturday, July 9^th

Arrivals – Check in from 15:00 (Marriott Courtyard Prague Flora, Lucemburska 46, Prague 3, 13000)

Free time

Sunday, July 10^th
09:50 – 10:00 Meeting point: hotel lobby and registration of participants
10:05 Departure from the hotel
10:00 – 13:00 Walking Tour – Prague sightseeing
13:15 – 14:45 Welcome lunch (Kavarna Obecni dum – nám. Republiky 1090/5, Prague 1, 11000)
Free time in Prague

Monday, July 11^th
09:00 Meeting point: hotel lobby
09:05 Departure from the hotel and arrival at the venue (Palác Adria, Jungmannova 36/31, Prague 1 – entrance A, room 6.26)
09:45 – 10:00 Welcome and Introductions (Jeremy Druker, Transitions)
10:00 – 12:30 Panel Discussion: “What Is Actually a Foreign Correspondent?”(moderated by Jeremy Druker, Transitions, with participants: Michael Winfrey + Jana Ciglerova, Denik 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.
• How does motherhood affect the career of a female journalist?

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break

14:00 – 16:30 News-Writing Lab (Michael Kahn, Reuters)

• 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 Kahn, Reuters; 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 12^th
09:30 – 12:30 Writing Lab: Getting Out Into the Field (Michael Kahn, Reuters and Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)

Participants will be divided in two 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, Reuters and Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)

Participants will have two hours to write their stories with faculty then review the results.

Wednesday, July 13^th

All day reporting and interviewing in the field for feature stories.

Thursday, July 14^th
All day reporting and interviewing in the field for feature stories, preparing first draft of print stories.
Students finalizing their stories.

16:45 Meeting point: hotel lobby
16:50 Departure from the hotel
17:30 – 19:00 Visit to Economia publishing house (the most modern news complex in the country) and discussion: The Benefits and Challenges to Being a Woman in What Was Once a Man’s Game. (Silvie Lauder, Respekt)

• The challenges women reporters face in everyday work
• Sexism in journalism and politics – what to watch out for
• The challenges women reporters face in everyday work
• Being a woman in the mainstream media: many female reporters, only few female editors –why?
• Different careers for male journalists

Friday, July 15^th

(Venue – Charles University, Smetanovo nabrezi 6, Prague 1 – room nr. 20)
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.

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break

14:00 – 16:00 Covering Africa and use of solutions journalism for stories (Tomas Linder, Respekt)

• How to deal with and counter the stereotypes of Africa
• Is reporting from Africa really different from reporting elsewhere?
• Taking a solutions-oriented approach in your reporting

16:30 – 19:00 Finish first draft of print stories, deadline 19:00
Students finalize their stories and submit.

Saturday, July 16^th
(Palác Adria, Jungmannova 36/31, Prague 1 – entrance A, room 6.26)

11:00 – 13:00 Life as a Foreign Correspondent (Raphael Minder, The Financial Times former The New York 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 New York Times/The Financial Times.

Sunday, July 17^th
Free day (optional trip to Karsltejn castle)

19:00 – 21:00 Individual Feedback on First Draft of Stories (Michael Kahn, Reuters and Jeremy Druker, Transitions)

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 18^th

(Venue – Charles University, Smetanovo nabrezi 6, Prague 1 – room nr. 20)
9:30 – 12:30 Multimedia Reporting: What is a Video Story and How to Give Every Story a Classic Story Structure (Haruth Mansuryan)

• Breaking into video journalism and work at the org.
• How even the most basic of shoots 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
• Questions and Answers.

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break

14:00 – 17:00 Exercises in the field

Haruth will accompany participants in downtown Prague as they shoot video. The group will then congregate back at the venue and 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 19^th
Participants will spend the day working on video/audio stories, i.e. lining up and starting to shoot interviews and other footage.

Wednesday, July 20^th

09:30 Meeting point: hotel lobby – (please bring your passport)
09:35 Departure from the hotel

10:00 – 12:00 Tour of Czech Radio with Tereza Jonasova and Pavel Novak and session with Adam Javurek and Anna Vosalikova.

12:30 – 15:00 Lunch break

(Venue – Charles University, Smetanovo nabrezi 6, Prague 1 – room nr. 20)

15:00 – 17:00  – Working Under Conflict (Tomas Brolik, Respekt)

• Covering war as a foreign correspondent
• Staying safe as a journalist in a war zone
• The ethical and moral responsibilities associated with covering conflict

Thursday, July 21st

A Day at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (please bring your passport)
09:40 Meeting point: hotel lobby
09:45 Departure from the hotel
10:00 – 10:30 Group security check at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – (Vinohradská 159A, Prague 10)
10:30 – 11:30 Meeting and tour with Pete Baumgartner

• Working for RFE/RL in Munich and Prague and how things have changed
• The importance of the RFE/RL mission
• RFE/RL’s transformation from a radio-only media outlet to a multimedia organization (TV/video and Internet)
• Some samples of RFE/RL’s work, including those distributed through social media

11:45 – 12:15 Meeting with Tolkun Umarali

 Free time

17:00 Deadline for final version of print story and posting it to WordPress site

Friday, July 22nd
Shoot and Edit 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, Reuters and Jeremy Druker, Transitions)

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 or Jeremy during a meeting in the hotel lobby.

Saturday, July 23rd

(Palác Adria, Jungmannova 36/31, Prague 1 – entrance A, room 6.26)
10:00 – 12:00 Reporting-project critique session for video/audio stories (Jeremy Druker, Transitions, Haruth Mansuryan and Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee)

Led by Haruth Mansuryan and Mark Harmon, the panel will provide detailed feedback on the video and audio stories.

Free time
17:40 Meeting point: Dvořákovo nábřeží, Na Františku, Prague 1 (pont nr 11)
18:00 – 20:00 Farewell boat cruise with dinner.

Sunday, July 24^th
Departures