August 17, 2001

Indonesian Journalists Graduate From Training Program

Bowling Green, Ky. - With songs of celebration, words of congratulations and shouts of "Go Hilltoppers," a group of Indonesian journalists became the first graduates of Western Kentucky University's International Journalist and Media Management Training Program.

WKU President Gary Ransdell presented diplomas to the Indonesians in a ceremony Friday afternoon in the Academic Complex.

"This is a proud moment for this University," Dr. Ransdell said, noting that the partnership between Western and Internews Network is expanding the scope of the nation's premier journalism and broadcasting program.

The training program is a collaboration of WKU's Public Broadcasting, the School of Journalism and Broadcasting and Internews and is being funded by a $2 million grant administered through the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Dr. Ransdell acknowledged the support of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who was instrumental in securing the funding for the program. "Sen. McConnell is a superb advocate for projects that distinguish our academic programs," he said.

Dr. Richard Kirchmeyer, WKU's vice president for Information Technology, read a letter from Sen. McConnell congratulating the Indonesian journalists, WKU and Internews.
The training program's first graduates have a set a standard for achievement, but they face challenges when they return home to a government in transition, said George Papagiannis, director of radio training and operations for Internews.

"An uninformed nation becomes enslaved to its leaders," Papagiannis said. "Your job as we mark Indonesia's independence day is to inform your communities so they can be empowered."

Internews is an international nonprofit organization that supports open media worldwide and is responsible for training more than 16,000 journalists in emerging democracies in the past decade.

During the three-week session, the 10 journalists and two translators met with broadcasters from Western's Public Broadcasting, faculty from the WKU School of Journalism and Broadcasting and professionals from the region and produced their own news programs on WWHR-FM 91.7, WKU's student station.

The first session is the start of a series of six that will include managers from Indonesian radio stations and follow-on training by WKU faculty and staff to Indonesia in early 2002. Next year, managers and journalists from Cambodia will receive the same type of training.
"You are friends and colleagues and you forever will be that," Jerry Barnaby, director of Public Broadcasting and the project's co-director, told the Indonesian journalists. "You'll have a big part in the future success of your country."

More information on the program's partners is available at www.wkyu.org or www.internews.org

For information, contact Jerry Barnaby at (270) 745-5489. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu