Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University is partnering with Internews® Network to improve the reporting skills of Jordanian broadcasters and journalism students.

WKU and Internews have formed the International Journalism and Media Management Training (IJMMT) program to work with Yarmouk University in Jordan to build a community radio station and establish new curriculum standards for journalism study there. The IJMMT will also collaborate with the Jordanian National Commission for Women to develop a women’s radio production unit that will produce radio programs to address issues facing women and families in Jordan.

This fifth year of the IJMMT program continues the collaboration among WKU’s Public Broadcasting, its School of Journalism and Broadcasting, and Internews Network, an international non-profit organization that supports open media worldwide. WKU and Internews have previously partnered to train broadcast and print journalists, editors and managers from Indonesia, Cambodia and Egypt.

The IJMMT's mission is to create cadres of media professionals who are prepared to institute and defend journalistic excellence and contribute to the development of civil society.

Since July of 2001, the IJMMT has been a premier international exchange for working journalists and media managers engaging in an intensive program of journalism study and internship. The IJMMT program offers a combination of strong U.S.-based and in-country training components.

The U.S.-based program focuses on concentrated individual and small-group instruction through seminars and residencies at WKU’s Public Broadcasting facilities and School of Journalism and Broadcasting, drawing on the university’s celebrated broadcasting staff and journalism school faculty, as well as access to some of the nation’s top news and media management professionals. Training also includes the development of journalism and media management curricula with foreign universities, creation of training handbooks for journalists and media managers, and establishment of independent media outlets in partner countries.

Follow-up work in each partner country fosters effective advocacy and continuing education for the larger media communities..

Jerry Barnaby joins the program as program manager. Barnaby is the former director of Educational Telecommunications at WKU with oversight of the IJMMT. He returns to lead the program full time for WKU. Marilyn Greer serves as project coordinator. A Western graduate, Greer started with the program in 2003. Jack Hanes, director of Educational Telecommunications, serves as project co-director. He joined the program in 2004.

This 18-month program is funded by a $1.36 million grant from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor with support from U.S. 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.

- WKU - a leading American university with international reach -

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For more information, contact Jerry Barnaby, 1-800-599-2424.