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India-USA University of Missouri Journalism Program by Laura Ungar and Sujoy Dhar
Greetings from Sujoy and Laura!!!
We introduce you to our Mizzou (University of Missouri) journalism program in which students/participants from India are paired up with the Business Journalism classroom of this top-ranking J-school of the US to help them gain an insight and interesting experience of meaningful journalism.
Some of the participants from India who join the program are on a career path already while some belong to India's most reputable colleges and universities. Usually the Indian group is an eclectic bunch of bright young people who would enjoy learning some ropes of journalism in its pure form through a practical program with the world's oldest journalism school under University of Missouri. The participants may or may not be journalism students, but should have keen interest in the subject along with aptitude.
At a glance:
1. We (senior Associated Press journalist Laura Ungar and me Sujoy Dhar) run this University of Missouri program during Spring every year when we pair up students of the premier and oldest journalism school in the USA with Indian students (read participants) to work on multimedia stories (text, images, videos) that connect the two countries. The Business Journalism department at Mizzou is led by Professor Randall Smith. He is the first Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism.
2. These stories are then published in Indian and US mainstream media through our networks.
3. a) The form is pure journalism. It is not about writing essays or blogs or opinion pieces.
b) The reporting should be based on pure fact, objectivity and proper sourcing in combination with creative imagination, colour and passion in writing/producing the final multimedia content.
c) You are expected to do some reporting (like interviews, taking images or videos) and some online research for your stories. Please note that this is a purely flexible time work (except for a few 1-hr Zoom sessions spread over three months) and would not affect the studies or classes or jobs or other assignments of the participants.
d) In the run-up to the program, we create a whatsapp group where some thumb rules of practising journalism like a professional are shared so that all participants gain some orientation.
4. Each student joining the program from India will work on one important story like a professional journalist from the Indian side from his/her base, with the group from the USA. The USA group will be from the Business Journalism department of University of Missouri.
5. The topic on which you work is chosen after a workshop by Laura in the US classroom (Jan last week). But we try to pair up Indian students based on their interests. They form whatsapp groups and start working under us. I (Sujoy) usually join the second workshop in the USA in the middle of March (when the program is half-way).
6. The stories are usually on any relevant topic that connects the two countries. From American food to business to health, medicine, environment, diplomacy, culture.. the list is long.
7. At the end of the programme, the Indian students will get a certificate (see a screenshot of the same below) from the University of Missouri while their bylines will appear in multiple prestigious as well as mainstream US and Indian publications (online and print).
(In Images Above: Newspaper clippings of the past program and the certificate for Indian participants from University of Missouri School of Journalism)
8. The programme is unpaid but the student will be assured of international mainstream newspaper bylines along with Indian publications, and a certificate from Mizzou (University of Missouri ) which is arguably one of the best in journalism globally. Some of the major journalism fellowships like the Alfred Friendly are part of Mizzou programs. However, on my (Sujoy) part, I offer a token honorarium as appreciation for your participation and sincere engagement over three odd months.
About Mizzou:
Mizzou's journalism school (founded in 1908) is always among the top ranking ones in the world:
https://blog.prepscholar.com/best-journalism-schools
https://worldranking.blogspot.com/2009/06/top-journalism-schools.html
Our past program articles:
We are sharing here some US newspaper links of previous programs' stories for an idea about the kind of work participants did in the past.
https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2021/05/29/how-covid-19-affected-business-travel-hospitality-industry-coronavirus-india/7455957002/
https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2021/05/29/roll-the-film-covid-19-disrupts-the-movie-industry-in-the-u-s-and-india/7454951002/
Many of the links in St. Louis Post Dispatch are paid subscription, else you could see a lot more from this link : https://www.stltoday.com/news/ties-that-bind-exploring-connections-between-india-and-the-u-s/collection_78aa9115-8156-5b68-b956-e5ffc12a5e7a.html
I think all of you would enjoy this program, enrich yourselves and enrich us in turn.
Thanks,
Sujoy (and Laura)
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