Egyptian Journalists Complete
Journalism Training In BG

November 18, 2003

Bowling Green, Ky. - The International Journalism and Media Management Training Program is sending 15 Egyptian print journalists to newspapers for three-week internships with American professionals.

The newspapers are: The Birmingham Post, The Cincinnati Post, The Columbus Dispatch, The Evansville Courier & Press, The Huntsville Times, Louisville Courier-Journal, and The Repository in Canton, Ohio.

The 13 women and two men are working journalists from a variety of newspapers and magazines in Cairo. The participants spent three weeks in Bowling Green and concluded with the publication of a web-based newspaper on Nov. 15. Peter Laufer led the training with support from Western Kentucky University faculty, staff and other professionals in the Bowling Green community.

On Dec. 6, the Egyptian journalists return to Bowling Green for a final session called "Training of Trainers." Jackie Bretz of Western's School of Journalism and Broadcasting, will lead this portion of the training. This phase will teach the journalists how to share what they have learned with their peers and co-workers in Cairo.

The participants return to Egypt on Dec. 18.

The entire three-week session is documented on the project's web site found at www.wkyu.org.

The project is collaboration among Western's Public Broadcasting, WKU's School of Journalism and Broadcasting, Al-Ahram Regional Press Institute and Internews Network.

This project is funded by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development with support from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). McConnell recognized the collaborative possibilities of Western and Internews and was instrumental in bringing the partners together and in the continuing support for this program.

For more information, contact Jerry Barnaby, 1-800-599-2424, or email jerry.barnaby@wku.edu. More information will also be found at www.wkyu.org. 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.