(l-r) School of Journalism and Mass Communication Dean Paul Voakes, CU Independent Adviser Amy Herdy, CU Independent Editor-in-Chief Danielle Alberti and CU Independent Multimedia Editor Stephanie Davis wait for a video conference to begin with Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan Wednesday night in the ATLAS building. (CU Independent/Lee Pruitt)
CU Independent staff members are communicating with journalism students in Pakistan through scheduled video conferences.
Amir Mateen, a veteran Pakistani journalist, initiated the project by asking CU Independent Adviser Amy Herdy if CU students would engage in discussions with students at Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan.
“I got an e-mail from Amir to see if we could do a video conference between students here and in Pakistan,” Herdy said.
Mateen said the conferences might help open the minds and hearts of students involved.
“The Punjab University may be the right battleground for the war to win the hearts and the minds of the youth who are going to make a difference here,” Mateen said by e-mail.
Herdy met Mateen in May 2009 while conducting an interviewing workshop in Pakistan for Mateen and staff, and they immediately discovered they shared the same belief in the power of journalism, Herdy said.
The first video conference took place Wednesday night at a studio in the ATLAS building, and was hosted by Herdy, School of Journalism Dean Paul Voakes, 22-year-old senior news-editorial major and CU Independent Multimedia Editor Stephanie Davis, and 22-year-old senior news-editorial major and CU Independent Editor-in-Chief Danielle Alberti. Photo Editor Lee Pruitt and Multimedia Editor Greg O’Brien worked production.
The video conference lasted approximately an hour and a half.
Herdy said the students raised excellent questions about journalism in the United States.
“They asked very good questions,” Herdy said. “They asked about the development in the media industry in the U.S. and how it has evolved.”
Herdy said the Pakistani students also asked, “What do you think should be the level of limitation imposed on student media while covering serious issues?”
Students at Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan participate in a video conference with journalism students and faculty at CU Wednesday night. While it was late at night in Boulder, it was early in the morning in Pakistan. (photo courtesy of Punjab University)
Herdy said Alberti and Davis answered that student-run media should enjoy the same liberties as mainstream media.
Alberti said the ultimate goal of this project is to reach out and gain exposure to other cultures, which is important because journalism is such a global industry. Alberti said she also hopes it will help the media in Pakistan to further progress.
Mateen said this conference is an attempt at forming a relationship between two countries that don’t fully understand one another.
“This was the beginning of a larger relationship that we are trying to forge between a world that may be at a receiving end and a world where such hateful nurseries are being hatched,” Mateen said.
Herdy said she thinks this is a good opportunity for students to get together and exchange ideas.
“I see this as very beneficial for both sides,” Herdy said.
Mateen said the video conferences will help bridge two cultures.
“We are determined to take it further and connect the two worlds through technology and bridge those gaps,” Mateen said. ” … this was the first time a conference of this sort has happened in a country which is a frontline state in the war against terrorism.”
Herdy said other universities across Pakistan hope to get involved in the discussions as well, and another video conference is expected to be held in a couple of weeks once technological problems are resolved.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jennifer De Falco at Jennifer.defalco@colorado.edu.
1 comment
Excellent work, Amy, and CU Independent staff. And who says CU isn’t preparing their journalists to compete in a technologically world-based marketplace? Very nice way to undermine the recent criticism received following a local blogger’s single visit to a classroom–through quiet and profound success in an international setting via teleconferencing. Nicely done!