So you want to be a foreign correspondent?

Yes, I want to be a foreign correspondent, so I thought this one sounded like a winner for me. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, which was maybe another foreign correspondent speaking about the path he took. Instead, representatives from two different institutions talked about opportunities for studying abroad. One of the programs is focused on the media aspect, but the other is mainly about studying another culture.

I'm going to take a serious look into the Institute for Education in International Media, because it seemed like I could gain some invaluable experience about shooting and editing video and doing podcasts, which I know nothing about. The program is only four weeks long, but one student that went to Italy last summer discussed how much she learned and how helpful that experience has turned out to be.

Leigh

The world of covering the world

The second session I went to Thursday morning was probably my favorite. The speaker was Peter Baker, a White House correspondent for The Washington Post. He was a really great speaker and very interesting. He and his wife have both been foreign correspondents in Russia and Afghanistan.

This session sealed the deal for me. I've really considered the idea of becoming a foreign correspondent, but now it is definitely my goal. He talked about obstacles like the language barrier and the possible danger involved, but it's still what I want to do.

An interesting point Baker made was the problem of taking quotes in another language and writing an English story. You have to be careful to get the quote right and not change the meaning, but you also have to translate it to sound as intelligent as the person you quoted. Some very direct and literal translations end up sounding idiotic.

Leigh

So you want to be a foreign correspondent?

This session started slow but ended being interesting for me. We watched a slide show about IES, which is a program that places students in internships in Europe, primarily Italy and Spain. This organization claims to help students on their way to becoming correspondents, with permanent work opportunities abroad. But only 7 percent of the students that receive positions are in any way shape or form affiliated with journalism. Their very best one is a girl they selected to come and give a brief testimony of her experiences.

The speakers told students in attendence how important it is to broaden horizons and acquire second language skills. The young lady who spoke had been placed in Italy and claimed to speak Italian. She did not, however, indicated whether she had learned the langauge within the four weeks she was there, or if she was born with it, etc. While they were right with their observations as to what students should shoot for when studying abroad, the following quote left me unimpressed with what they had to offer. "Someone will speak English, don't worry. And you'll be able to find a place to find a hamburger."

Part of the experience is not just learning Italian (or other foreign language) or broadcast journalism skills (they also kept a Webzine and posted video and news reports of a small town they covered) but also adopting a new culture. Going over in goups of 25, as they did, creates what linguists refer to as the ghetto effect, a phenomenon that precludes second language acquisition.

A gentleman seated to my right interjected at the end that he was from a university in St. Paul that offered a similar program in the German city of Trier, as well as an internship in the Twin Cities. I approached him and found it interesting that he was stationed at the same university I was at last year in Dortmund.

Jim Mustian

Covering the World

My second session was prettty impressive, despite an inauspicious beginning. Peter Baker, a staff writer for The Washington Post, was not introduced by anybody and quietly approached the mic. He told us he was "a horrible public speaker" but then proceeded to give some background on what he's done so far and what it takes to reach his level. He stressed the importance of internships to make contacts as well as good clips in a portfolio. He told us about the difference between covering issues abroad and topics in the White House. He used to be the chief of the Moscow bureau and said he and his wife both first took a year off of reporting and immersed themselves in the language. They still used interpreters while they were there for accuracy, but he said he was fluent by the time he left.

One student asked him if politics and goings-on in D.C. could easily be incorporated into even a campus newspaper. After establishing that this paper only covers local things, Mr. Baker suggested an angle of how the political things have implications on students. He pointed out that most people will go online for the big news anyway.

He gave tips for approaching the foreign correspondent position, and reminded us that you can't file a story if you get killed following a beat.

We also talked about how many newspapers are closing their foreign services and bureaus in other countries because they rely on big papers and the Associated Press for syndicated news coverage. This, of course, can be attributed to convergence.

Mr. Baker also discussed some of his more unpleasant stories and said he was working on the Monica Lewinsky beat when the Post broke the story.

Jim Mustian