Center Partners With Russian Journalists

The James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training is working with the Russian Union of Journalists to host representatives from 25 to 30 Russian news organizations on improving media management skills in a workshop scheduled for June 8.
The workshop, which will take place in the Samara region of Russia, will utilize the skills of Drs. Lee Becker and Ann Hollifield director of the Cox Center and department head of telecommunications in Grady College, respectively, and two Russian trainers in working with the journalists. The two Russian specialists are Nadezhda Azhgikhina, executive secretary of the RUJ, and Vladimir Kasyutin, secretary of the same organization.
“It’s not only about teaching, it’s a learning experience,” said Tudor Vlad, associate director of the Cox Center, of the programs benefits. Vlad said that the dangers facing Russian journalists provide valuable lessons to any reporter. He cited statistics that show of the 260 journalists killed in Russia last year less than 20 percent have reached courts.
Vlad said that the help that the Cox Center provides will help Russian journalists feel less isolated. He quoted Azhgikhina on her belief that connecting with reporters of other nationalities is crucial to making Russians feel they are a part of the larger world. By pairing this goal of connectivity with the program’s main function of improving management skills the Cox Center hopes that Russia will serve as a launching pad for a successful and financially independent media.

Athens Reporter Feels Stress, Not Worried

Adam Thompson, a reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald, spoke at the University of Georgia Monday about his optimism for news writing despite staff and salary cutbacks across the industry.
Thompson said that while cuts have increased work for him and fellow reporters at the Banner-Herald the staff has embraced these new challenges. Along with obstacles the changing face of the media offers new possibilities.
“Online [content] brings a lot of great tools,” Thompson said referring to the ability to link to relevant materials from a news story. But despite these new advantages he did admit that the changing face of newspapers has its fair share of trade-offs.
“It’s just not possible to do the same job with less resources and people,” he said. Thompson himself recently picked up coverage Madison County, which is an example of smaller staffs forced to cover more news. But even with these difficulties, Thompson reiterated the importance of news.
When asked by a student what advice he would offer to aspiring journalists he was very optimistic about a future in newspapers. “There’s always going to be a place for [journalism],” he said. “The need for what newspapers do will still exist whether or not the New York Times comes to your door every day in Athens.”