Internews’ experience internationally has shown that training of media managers is essential to the successful development of good journalism. Managers, who in developing countries are often station owners as well, must understand how and why good journalism fits their mission, or they can inadvertently undercut it. In the United States, it is understood that radio or television station managers share the same basic principles of responsible journalism as the people they hire to run their newsrooms. This cannot be expected in the developing world, where broadcast managers, like journalists, have never experienced the role of free media in a democratic society. Unless the motivation and expertise to air something other than music is specifically nurtured at the management level, public affairs and news programming is unlikely to thrive, no matter how enthusiastic, well trained and forward-thinking the journalists.

To inexperienced station leadership, the maintenance of news programming may be viewed as expensive in terms of the resources required, and politically risky. Managers must be familiarized with the many examples available from other societies in recent years, where the risks have paid off in favorable public perception and loyal audiences, and, eventually in increased commercial revenue. Instructors in the WKU program will educate managers to evaluate the skills of newsroom personnel, to understand the qualities of good news and public affairs programs and also how to maximize the effect of local news programming on advertising sales. But it is not enough that managers should support the idea of doing news as a community service. They must also become well versed in the basics of journalistic ethics, because whenever there are disputes, accusations, or ethical "calls" to be addressed, it is station managers who will be the final arbiters, not journalists.

Though a fundamental understanding of the role and characteristics of good journalism is essential, it is only the beginning of the WKU program for managers. Participants will be exposed to a wide range of practices and theory that will enable them to build companies that can survive in local economies while providing model levels of public service. After reviewing the general functions of broadcast management, trainees will have intensive instruction in the following areas:

• Broadcast Programming

• News and Information Programming:

• Structure of a Radio or TV Station

• Advertising & Pricing

• Sales Principles

• Production and Creativity

• Station Promotion and Station Identification

• Technology and Engineering

• Ethics and Law in Broadcasting

In the two-week courses for broadcast station managers, participants will be drawn from the same stations represented in the journalism program. Faculty and staff from the School of Journalism and Broadcasting and WKU’s Public Broadcasting stations will provide the backbone for the program.