About This Course

Many observers bemoan the “decline” of international reporting – pointing to the mass closure of foreign bureaus. Yet even a quick glance online reveals no lack of appetite for international “stories,” nor a shortage of “correspondents” happy to produce them.

This International Storytelling course teaches everything you need to know about how to report from faraway lands, whether it be breaking news, global hotspots and ongoing crises – or, Multimedia features on serious topics that illuminate the human condition.

Yet this course also broadens your horizons, immersing you in a vast new field of International Storytelling – and its growing demand to hire skilled storytellers. With foreign donors under pressure to justify WHY they send their money abroad – especially, the relatively “rich” Western countries sending taxpayer-funds from comparably “poor” and restive voters – all overseas organizations are under pressure to justify HOW they spend that money. The most visible way to spotlight their impact is through “humanized, evidence-based storytelling” – then published in their main “shop-window,” the website.

Along the cobblestoned streets of Prague, our faculty – from the frontlines of both fields – will lead you through the entire story-generating process. Whether you prefer neutral journalism or issue-advocacy, you’ll be guided to produce your first foreign piece – a portfolio “clip” that will earn you instant credibility as a capable international storyteller.

This course is led by Michael J. Jordan, a foreign correspondent who’s reported from 30 countries over 20 years, mostly in post-Communist Eastern Europe. As Communications Consultant, he recently moved from Southern Africa – where he trained NGO staff and produced “Impact Stories” on HIV Orphans, in the region suffering from the world’s highest rate of HIV infection – to China, where he now helps the UN’s International Labor Organization promote worker’s rights in the world’s second-largest economy.

To learn about the rest of our faculty, please click here. For details about our course curriculum, schedule of events, and site-visits, click here. Hope to see you in Prague!