Program at NMSU gives journalists from Eastern Europe insight into how reporting works in a democracy

Macedonian journalist Snezana Lupevska covers a press conference for KRWG as part of her year-long exchange program at NMSU. The university has hosted journalists from Eastern European countries since 1997.

Now, the two professionals are expanding and sharing their perspectives on media through an exchange program at New Mexico State University.

The exchange program for Eastern European journalists is one of the legacies of the late Steven Pasternack, a long-time journalism professor at NMSU who died suddenly last summer. Pasternack had been traveling to Lithuania on a federal grant to assist that country in writing its new media law when he became aware of a federal program called Professional Development Year. The program, administered by the International Media Training Center of the International Broadcasting Bureau, helps young news professionals in Eastern European countries learn to report in a democracy and use journalism to reflect the changes in their countries.

The IBB is an independent federal agency that was established after the U.S. Information Agency was disbanded in October 1999.

Every year, several PDY candidates are selected and sent to universities in the United States for a nine-month exchange. NMSU is one of only a handful of universities participating in the program, and journalists from various Eastern European countries, including Hungary, Albania, Slovakia, Croatia and Macedonia, have come to the university to study since 1997. The NMSU program accepts only broadcasting professionals because the Journalism and Mass Communications Department has a working television newsroom at KRWG-TV.

Dulovi and Lupevska were selected to take part in the program at NMSU this year. Three other journalists from Macedonia are studying at other universities in the United States.

At NMSU, exchange professionals like Dulovi and Lupevska take classes and work in the KRWG-TV newsroom. They also do internships at commercial television stations in the region and travel to professional conferences and workshops.

Gary Worth, news and public affairs director for KRWG-TV and adjunct instructor of journalism, says the experience is invaluable for the Eastern European journalists, who are all well-established news professionals in their countries.

“Some of these reporters are even regarded as local celebrities,” Worth says. But he says most of them have worked only in state-run stations, which “were used to being the government mouthpiece” and are still transitioning from communist-style reporting and management.

“Those giant organizations are undergoing rapid changes in many Eastern European countries,” Worth says. “Some are being privatized and others face competition for the first time from new private commercial TV stations managed by large European companies. By working with American media professionals and experiencing the media at work here, (the exchange students) hopefully gain insights into how they can perform differently when they return home. And as they progress in their careers at home and take on added responsibilities, we assume they will implement changes in their news organizations.”

Dulovi recently switched from print journalism to television. Back home, he has an editing job with a TV station in Macedonia. The career change was the main reason he decided to study broadcast journalism in the United States.

“I’ve worked some time on radio, but that’s not enough,” Dulovi says. Prior to moving into broadcasting, Dulovi was the deputy editor-in-chief at Koha Ditore, one of the biggest newspapers in the region. Before that, he reported and edited for the Fatki daily newspaper in Skopje, Macedonia, another large newspaper in the region.

Lupevska is a political editor, anchor and reporter at A1 TV in Skopje – the first commercial television station in Macedonia.

Like Dulovi, Lupevska says she came to NMSU to gain more experience, especially in commercial media. She says she already has learned a lot and has had the opportunity to compare the different broadcasting styles in the United States and in Macedonia. She especially appreciated the opportunity to see how the U.S. media covered the 2004 election.

Lupevska admits that some student reporters at NMSU have packaged and delivered stories better than veteran colleagues back home. The main reason for this, she says, is the hands-on experience the students receive at KRWG.

But she says the American media tends to be more sensational, with a greater emphasis on entertainment as opposed to the more serious reporting style in her country. Dulovi says he has noticed how much more money the commercial media outlets in the United States have compared to his country, where some media groups are still subsidized by the government to stay afloat.

Dulovi and Lupevska agree that this experience will help their careers once they return home.

“I think I will have more practical experience,” Lupevska says. “And I will be able to show and teach others.”

Both say the support of their instructors at NMSU, especially Worth, has made a huge impact on their education. By keeping in touch with the other Macedonians studying in the United States, Dulovi and Lupevska have realized that their experience at NMSU has been much more productive and positive because of the support from their instructors.

Worth says the exchange students are not the only ones who benefit from the program.

“My understanding of the complexities of Eastern Europe has greatly increased through my interaction with these individuals over so many years,” Worth says. “I believe that this was the whole point of this program – to develop these personal links in which we share and experience each others’ cultures and societies and systems of media.”

Hugo Perez, media specialist for KRWG-TV, is trying to launch a similar exchange program with the Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua in Mexico. Perez is still seeking funding for the program, but hopes to have at least one exchange student from Mexico at NMSU this year.

For more information about the journalism exchange programs at NMSU, contact Gary Worth at gworth@nmsu.edu or Hugo Perez at huperez@nmsu.edu.

Click here for a tribute to Steve Pasternack.