LETTER FROM PRAGUE

July 21, 2008

The sun is just setting here in Prague. It’s Monday night. I’ve been here for almost 6 weeks now, teaching a summer course at the Anglo-American University in Prague (Anglo-americky Vysoka Skola). http://www.aauni.edu/ If you know anything about The New School in New York City --- AAU is that kind of place. Very small classes, lots of give and take between students and lecturers, lots of freedom to run your classes as you wish. A school for the free spirits and thinkers and questioners. I’m right at home.

I’m a TV-radio reporter and producer, not a professor. My “teaching” experience up to now has involved workshops for professional journalists in former Communist countries like Serbia and Albania – mostly working as second banana to a smart, funny and legitimate professor --- now emeritus – from Rutgers University in New Jersey – Jerome Aumente. But I’ve been lucky this summer. I have a very small class – 5 students. 4 of them are American young men, studying abroad for a semester, and mostly, I think, studying the Czech party, beer-drinking and summer rock festival scenes. My fifth student is a young woman from Slovakia --- getting her degree from AAU. No one seems to take the summer semester terribly seriously but then my class isn’t about War and Peace either. I’m teaching an introductory course in Broadcast News and Video – kind of an overview of broadcast journalism and how the internet is changing it. There’s a little about what makes a news story a news story. And how to write the story for TV, radio and the internet. How to shoot for news. And how to edit on a laptop. (I had to learn that myself, from my video editor husband).

I have found it a little odd to be teaching the fundamentals of news writing and production when most of the students (and I myself) have little access to understandable radio or TV news here. Without a yearly subscription to cable or an activated satellite dish --- there is only news in Czech. And one part-time BBC FM radio station. Most of my students don’t even have a TV set in the apartments they are renting for the summer. So it’s all what you seek out on the internet. I speak a little, very basic Czech after many years of coming here, but not enough to understand the fast-paced newscasters. I can, however watch the production. Which is somewhat calmer than ours at home – but otherwise perfectly recognizable.

Although we have just skimmed the surface of journalism, I was determined when I wrote up the syllabus (another newly learned word) that at least one class (and one reading assignment) would be devoted to ethics. After all – ethics are not unique to journalism and I figured wherever these students land in their careers – a dose of ethical living can’t hurt. Our text came from the SPJ http://www.spj.org and RTNDA http://www.rtnda.org ethics codes --- which I distributed to each student and which I hope they will reread now and then. We watched case histories from a special DVD put out by RTNDA. And the students read chapters from the accompanying RTNDA training book on newsroom ethics. We talked and discussed and questioned. I think my 5 students now know what “fair and balanced” really means. Despite its co-opting by Fox News. And they all had good answers to the ethics question on the mid term.

Prague is a fascinating city. It has some of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Europe. They are meticulously maintained and virtually all survived World War 11 intact. A few hours drive to the north is Dresden --- which had the misfortune to be in Germany. Despite being considered the jewel of Europe – and despite the Germans being basically defeated - the Allies, led by the U.S., carpet-bombed Dresden and left most of it in ruins. My students have grown to appreciate all this – and have learned quite a bit about local politics and issues – thanks to assignments that required them to think in terms of news stories they could actually shoot here in Prague and get on the air that night.

Speaking of assignments -- my American students are all pretty good about doing them and about showing up for class. My Slovak student is somewhat more casual about her schooling. Over here young people typically take longer to get through the university system – dropping out for a year or so to work (or play). They are considered “students” (at least by the city transportation system) until they are 26 – getting cut rate student bus/tram/metro passes until then. Our college students should be so lucky

And then there is the ever rising Czech crown (koruna) and the ever falling dollar. This summer has seen a series of records set against both the dollar and the euro. My students have done the math and then done it based on what the dollar bought in crowns less than a year ago. And euros – because they have all traveled outside the Czech Republic this summer. Another useful lesson about currency trading, speculation and economic crises.

An interesting sidebar: a lot of Czechs have put their savings in dollars, pounds and euros (in Germany) because the interest rates are higher. But now when they need to convert back to crowns – the exchange rate is so low they are all losing money. There are also a lot of Americans, Brits and other Europeans on home country salaries who are really hurting. And many retirees - Czechs who became US citizens and now spend at least half a year over here - are finding their social security and pensions don't buy much at all.

Fortunately I am getting paid in Czech crowns and have a crown account to draw from -- money transfered when the exchange was much better. So I'm trying not to think of what I spend in dollar terms. Because when I do -- I throw up

Starbucks has come to Prague -- and opened not far from my university ---on a medieval square called Malestranske Namesti -- a big tourist area. You would not believe the prices! Forgetting the dollar -- I paid maybe half again as much as I normally do at a Wall Street area Starbucks for a muffin and a small (tall) black coffee. Not to mention McDonald’s which is also outrageous! But tourists love seeing a name they recognize -- and even Czechs will pay without complaint for a famous (and foreign) brand name.

And then there’s the ever-present grafitti, Oh not on the crown jewels – the 14th century churches and palaces in the old city. But everywhere else. It’s so bad even my students noticed – and chose to create a montage of graffiti for their field shooting and editing assignment. Last fall when I was here I wrote a letter to the Mayor of Prague (he has a pretty good, English language city website http://magistrat.praha-mesto.cz/lang/l2 ) complaining about the graffiti. I never got an answer. But just this summer Prague banned littering and introduced a leash law for the huge population of dogs in the city (Czechs simply adore their dogs). Oh – and the city has even banned public drinking in some heavily trafficked outdoor areas – an unheard of idea in a country where people believe having a beer (called pivo) just about anywhere – at any time – is a national birthright. But graffiti??? Not a word. Banning spray paint can sales to underage kids as New York City did in the 90’s? Faggetaboutit.

Wednesday is the final exam and the end of classes. My students must turn in a day-of-air news script for TV – with complete editing instructions. Unfortunately AAU doesn’t have production facilities so that is as far as they can go. There will also be an oral exam. I’ve given each student 5 to 7 minutes to defend their choice of the most important thing they’ve learned in the class. The head of the department will get the “exam” in mp3 files along with each student’s grade. I plan also to video each student and play it back at the end of class for a quick course in public speaking. Having such a small group allows, as I said, for a lot of creative thinking and feedback.

I hope we will all stay in touch through email and Skype. I guess I am enough of a teacher to hope also the class discussions will at the very least make news consumers of these 20 somethings. Having even 5 more news-savvy people in a world which knows less and less every day (despite having so much information at its mouse-tip) might just be the start of something big!