AAU journalism gets boost

With U.S. Embassy support, J-program to offer investigative reporting workshops

By Lucia Udvardyová
Staff Writer

AAU journalism students as well as Czech media professionals will have a chance to hone their skills as investigative reporters in a series of workshops to be held next April.

The United States Embassy in Prague awarded AAU an $7,922 grant for the program, which will be led by Ken Dermota, an American journalist who works for Agence France Presse news agency in Washington, D.C.

The workshops will last four days, with the fifth day, on April 9, devoted to a roundtable discussion titled "Truth and Consequences: Journalism Ethics in the Era of Terrorism." The roundtable title, a word play on an American television quiz show, "Truth or Consequences," was selected to emphasize the idea that the failure to report accurately what is happening can have major consequences in an era of terrorism, said Charles Hood, head of AAU's journalism program. Roundtable participants will look at the truth from various angles, Hood said.

Quebec journalist and commentator Michel Auger, who will be sponsored by the Canadian Embassy, as well as journalists from the Czech broadcast and print media, will be among those participating in the roundtable, Hood said. AAU students will be invited to attend, he said.

Hood and Helena Markusova, director of public relations and marketing at AAU, prepared the proposal for the workshops and roundtable and presented it to the American Embassy.

"This will be the first program of this size that our journalism program has been able to offer," said Hood.

Hood said the criteria for selecting AAU journalism students who will participate in the investigative reporting workships haven't been determined. The Czech working journalists will be selected from a variety of Czech cities and towns, he said.

Some $3,000 of the grant from the embassy will go to improving the AAU library. The journalism school will benefit most, but all three AAU schools -- business, humanities and law -- will also be able to acquire some new books through the grant.


--Lucia Udvardyova can be reached at LCIA8k@hotmail.com.

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