BGSU partners (left to right) Linda Dobb, Joe Frizado, Catherine Cassara, Laura Lengel, Monica Longmore, Kristie Foell and Bruce Edwards listen to their Tunisian counterparts speak about their goals for the journalism partnership.

BGSU faculty work with Tunisian colleagues to expand programs in journalism and media

BGSU faculty and administrators will be heading to Tunisia in March to begin the first phase of a project designed to improve the teaching of journalism in that country and the North African region.

Titled “Capacity Building for a Democratic Press: A Sustainable Partnership to Develop Media and Journalism Curricula in Tunisia,” the two-year project is a partnership between the U.S. and Tunisian governments, BGSU and the Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information (Institute of Press and Information Sciences-IPSI) at the Université de la Manouba in Tunis. Also sharing resources and expertise are nearly 25 private-sector and non-governmental organizations such as Tunisian Radio Television Establishment, BBC North Africa, the Tunis Afrique Presse, several newspapers and the Association of Tunisian Women for Sustainable Development.

The program will help IPSI faculty provide training to their journalism students, while exposing faculty and students at BGSU to another culture and its perspectives on modernization and development, said Dr. Laura Lengel, interpersonal communication, U.S. partnership co-director with Dr. Catherine Cassara, journalism.

On Feb. 11, project participants from both countries met via video conference for a “virtual handshake” to formally launch the joint project. Speaking on behalf of President Ribeau, Executive Vice President Linda Dobb told the Tunisian partners about Bowling Green’s commitment to organizing for engagement. “We usually engage locally, so this is a very exciting opportunity to engage internationally,” she told the group in Tunis.

Following the introductions, the group got down to the business of discussing the project in detail to prepare for the BGSU team’s visit to Tunis in March. The IPSI faculty members listed a number of items they especially would like to see addressed, notably the role of journalism in democracy and enhancing the role and image of women in media.

“Democracies function best where there is free access to information and where unhindered discussions allow citizens to examine all sides of civic issues,” writes Cassara, who is also the project curriculum developer. “Because journalism is one of the most important forums for civic debate, it is an essential partner in any society’s transition to democracy. As Tunisia and other Arab nations move toward democracy, it is imperative that their journalists have the professional training and dedication to maintain the highest codes of conduct and practice that will make them integral components in the process of building democratic discourse and civil society.”

“The project is extremely interdisciplinary, with participants from three colleges,” Lengel said. Dr. Kristie Foell, director of the International Studies Program and a German department faculty member, will assess the Tunisian students’ English skills. Dr. Monica Longmore, sociology, is assisting with assessment of student learning over the life of the grant. Dr. Patricia Kubow, educational foundations and inquiry, will provide insights on democratic education. Dr. Bruce Edwards, associate dean for distance education and international education in Continuing and Extended Education, will help Tunisian students and faculty with learning to use BGSU’s Blackboard instructional software.

Additional BGSU faculty will participate during later phases of the project. And independent program evaluation will be provided by an Indiana University journalism professor who has been in Tunisia and is familiar with IPSI.

Working with IPSI, the BGSU participants will help to develop a new degree focus in international media and new curricula in the areas of international media, women and the media, new media, the role of media in building democratic societies, environmental reporting and journalism ethics. They will also develop a set of journalism skills and assessment tools to measure students’ mastery of those skills, and will begin to develop innovative teaching techniques, especially for online and distance-learning coursework. BGSU will provide some of the technology needed for online learning, such as the same Blackboard program used on campus, plus develop training in its use.

Among long-term outcomes of the program will be the creation of an educational CD-ROM targeted to graduate and undergraduate students in the region, and a student handbook and instructor’s guide on international media.

“The key concept is sustainability,” Lengel said. “Our main goal is to make long-term contributions to help them continue to develop.”

The program was made possible through a $100,000 grant from the Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in cooperation with the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Contributions worth more than twice that amount will come in the form of money, time and resources from units across the BGSU campus, including the School of Communication Studies, Interactive Distance Education for All Learners (IDEAL), WBGU-PBS, Instructional Media Services’ Technology Education Consulting Specialists program and Residence Life. Most of the faculty participants’ time and efforts are also provided without compensation.

MEPI was created following 9/11 to create opportunities for peaceful communication and democratic discourse through engagement on all fronts—academic, governmental, private sector and civil society.

A group of Tunisian faculty and students will come to Bowling Green July 18-Aug. 6 for a workshop that will bring the Tunisian and BGSU students together for the study of women and media in international contexts. "We’ve already had a response to our notice about the workshop,” Cassara said last week. “The goal is to get the American students and the Tunisian students to interact." The Tunisian students will also have the chance to do short internships with Toledo-area media outlets.

During the School of Communication Studies’ April Communications Week, Dr. Orayb Najjar, a media and journalism expert with extensive credentials in Arab and American media and cultural interaction, will help prepare BGSU faculty and students to interact successfully with the Tunisian students. Dr. Fatma Azouz of IPSI, the Tunisia partnership director, will co-direct.

The project is timed to coordinate with the United Nations World Summit on Information Society to be held in Tunis Nov. 16-18. Lengel said considerable international media attention will be focused on the nation at that time, and the event will also provide an opportunity for the Tunisian students to use their skills in their coverage.

Lengel traveled to Tunisia in June to participate in the first preparatory meeting for the U.N. summit. Members of the BGSU team will return to Tunis in November to guest-teach courses at IPSI and help guide IPSI students’ reporting on the world summit.

BGSU already has had considerable contact and collaboration with Tunisia, including hosting Tunisian Fulbright Visiting Scholar Hamadi Redissi last year. Coordinated by Lengel, Cassara, Foell and Edwards, Redissi’s visit was part of Fulbright’s Direct Access to the Muslim World Program.

In addition, Lengel was a 1993-94 Fulbright Scholar and American Institute of Magreb Studies Fellow in Tunisia researching international media, and received a grant to conduct field research on women and music in the Arab world. Cassara led a USAID-sponsored journalism workshop in Croatia last spring for public information officers in the region.

Catherine Cassara, Laura Lengel and Monica Longmore (left to right) share a laugh with the IPSI group in response to a comment by Fatma Azouz (right), MEPI Tunisian partnership director and an IPSI faculty member.