Six FAMU journalism and graphic communication students will join students from Shantou University in Guangdong Province, China in Johannesburg, Africa where they will produce daily multimedia stories about the 2010 FIFA World Cup of Soccer and its impact on life in South Africa.“I’m pretty sure what we’re doing is unprecedented for a journalism program at a historically black university,” said Joe Ritchie, the Knight Chair in journalism at FAMU. “Few journalism students anywhere get to do a foreign reporting internship of any kind and to be at one of the biggest events on the planet is a huge deal.”
The students will be responsible for posting stories with video, audio and text as well as blogs, photo galleries and podcasts covering a range of topics related to the World Cup as well as to general social, economic and political issues about South Africa. Individuals can view their daily reports at http://www.famustu.net.
Ritchie made the connection with Shantou University while on a sabbatical leave in Asia a year ago. He helped arrange a semester abroad there this spring for another FAMU journalism student, Caryn Wilson, a senior from Charlotte, N.C. Wilson will be the upcoming editor-in-chief for The Famuan this fall.
“Shantou is an amazing place,” Ritchie said. “They teach many courses in English and have an amazing faculty which includes internationally known veteran journalists such as Peter Arnett, a former CNN correspondent, and Peter Herford, who was with CBS for years and worked closely with Walter Cronkite.”
Ritchie said he sees the project as an amazing opportunity for the FAMU students.
“This an opportunity for the students to broaden their global perspectives while getting major experience in the news-gathering techniques of the 21st century.”
This year is the first time that an African country has hosted the World Cup, which is scheduled from June 11 to July 11.
Awesome. Thanks and I know you will do well.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to FAMU's World Class Journalism Program & its students. Keep on making us proud. Best of luck to the students and I know this is just the beginning of bigger things to come.
ReplyDeleteJoe Ritchie is a great Journalism professor and I applaud him for helping to give these students such a remarkable experience. Way to go, Prof. Ritchie!
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity of meeting some of your journos in South Africa on this world cup trip, I am an African by birth and residence, yet I was surprised by the level of approachability, integrity and not to say friendliness of the journos i met. thank you for making my day at the Brazil North Korea Match interesting and wonderful, although my interview does not feature on your site, yet Thank for giving me the opportunity to blow my vuvuzela on your cameras. Keep the good work and ethics.
ReplyDeleteSancho "The Loud One" Cumbi