OCTOBER 2007

Munich in May
See it. Live it. Tell it. 

Develop a story idea, set up interviews, and shoot video – all while trying to maneuver through another country and an unfamiliar language. That's what six J-school students did this May as part of the new International Reporting Maymester. There were challenges, but they all agree it was worth it. 

“Getting interviews abroad is a lot more challenging than in the United States,” said senior broadcast journalism major Maddy Foust. “What I learned is plan ahead, don’t quit nagging people until they help you and don’t take no for an answer.” 

Foust reported on how Jews were returning to Germany and their experience in the country since the Holocaust.

Senior broadcast major Sarah Chakales says it's important to have a clearly defined focus beforehand.

"I ended up shooting way more video than I needed because I was scared that I’d get home and not have exactly what I needed,” Chakales said. “It was also physically challenging at times lugging all of the camera equipment around, but it was so exciting getting to see Germany’s beautiful sites along the way, especially the snow-capped mountains on the Austrian border.” 

Chakales reported on Germany’s environmental practices compared to those of the U.S. 

American students need to study abroad, said Mary Pinkney Waters, a recent visual communications graduate. “We are so isolated culturally, geographically, linguistically … and as journalists it’s necessary that we know about other cultures and other lifestyles, and it’s really difficult to do that within the United States.”

Munich was selected after Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, Munich’s prestigious television and film school also known as HFF, chose the School of Journalism and Mass Communications as host for a three-week intensive broadcast exchange last fall. Five HFF students, two professors and media director Dieter Kronzucker, who is as well known in Germany as Walter Cronkite is here, came to Columbia in November.

Both German and USC broadcast students had to produce stories about their host country on topics that would interest people back home. The ultimate goal was to combine the pieces to air on a short magazine-format show on German and South Carolina television. Story topics included military recruiting tactics in South Carolina, religion and the environment.

When HFF approached the journalism school, Dean Charles Bierbauer and Dr. Shirley Staples Carter, director of the SJMC, immediately recognized the significance and potential lasting impact.

“In an era of global communication, we need to think and act much more globally. So if it’s Munich or Moscow, we’re anxious to give students the opportunity to experience the media environment abroad,” Bierbauer said. 

Professors Kent Sidel and Andrea Tanner signed on to team teach the course.

Tanner and Sidel drafted a new Maymester syllabus, which included two core weeks of study abroad in Munich, and recruited six USC journalism school students: two broadcast, two public relations, one advertising and one visual communications.  

“We really wanted to make this not only an international experience, but a multimedia experience,” said Tanner. “For example, some students focused on producing television stories about Germany, while others produced a multimedia campaign promoting the experience.”  

While the broadcast students shot video and landed interviews to produce five-minute “mini-documentaries,” the integrated marketing team was producing promotional materials, including online, print and broadcast content.  

“We hope to continue the college’s international presence and want to encourage students of all disciplines to take part in our future study abroad endeavors,” Tanner said. “That’s where the campaign comes in. We plan to use the student-produced materials to promote upcoming International Maymester programs.”

But it's the participants’ personal testimonies that really sell this program.

“I think this Maymester is such an awesome opportunity for journalism majors because you’re getting professional experience that you simply can’t in a classroom,” said senior advertising major Jennifer Ghelardini.

Chakales said it was an experience "you will treasure for a lifetime.”

“The skills and practical knowledge you acquire, simply by working in a foreign environment, are invaluable. You learn so much, and the best part is that you have a lot of fun in the process,” she said. 

“I learned a lot about dealing with people of a different culture,” said senior PR major Kelly Enright. 

“Worth every penny,” senior PR major Whitney Robosson said, smiling. 

And as their promotional materials say, when it comes to news at home or abroad, these journalism students will continue to: See it. Live it. Tell it.

Sarah Chakales contributed to this article. Edited by Doug Fisher