Why Teach Journalism in North Macedonia?

 NoMc is the country that spawned a lot of the most outrageous “fake news” in the 2016 election. “Pope Endorses Trump” was one social media post that caught my eye. It was made up by a bunch of teenagers in the depressed mining town of Veles in North Macedonia, prompted by a wealthy guy in a nice car who taught the kids how to make click-bait and get rich.  The kids got very rich -- made three times as much money as their parents….and the rest of the world got told a lot of lies. 

A free press is not a given in Eastern Europe (or in the United States at times...) and as a former eastern block country tNoMac does not have a long tradition of journalism without government interference. But there is a growing group of active investigative journalists in the region doing good work.https://birn.eu.com/ and I have made some connections with them.


I will be teaching journalism at Sts. Cyril and  Methodius University in Skopje, the capital of NoMac. According to wikipedia, Saints Cyril and Methodius were "two missionaries, brothers from Thessaloniki, who popularized Christianity among Slavic peoples. We have Cyril to thank for the Cyrillic alphabet....so hopefully I'll be able to at least learn two letters: WC!! 

Monolingual Annie will be teaching in English. I am told the students will be able to comprehend my mumbling....but I am preparing lots of visual presentations just in case. Classes do not start until mid- February. 


 


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