By Rudie van Meurs / POLDERPERS.NL

To Albana Shala
Press Now
Linnaeusstraat 35F
1093 EE AMSTERDAM

Report, written by Rudie van Meurs, about his training-experiences in Baku from 5 until 22 December 2005.

Dear Albana,

This is a rather good news story. Indeed the first two days at the school of journalism in Baku were pretty tough because I needed to find a balance between discipline and desire in attending the course. It turned out to be effective. On the third day it happened that almost every student arrived at ten o’clock in the morning. So it continued until the last day. Finally, I came to the conclusion that the students in Baku are not so much different from Yaroslavl, Almaty, Pristina or Tirana – to mention any given examples. It is not, I am able to correct now, laziness they sometimes show. It is lack of initiative, it is an attitude of expectation, may be an expression of timidity caused by almost a century of paternalism, authoritarian regime and a hostile environment for journalism.

From the first it was clear that students lack practical experience. They need skill in the art of writing. Hans (Smits) trained them to write a lead and a news story and they liked it. After he left, Barend (de Ronden) reported and I experienced myself, that our two amiable local trainers Aynur Bashirli and Zeynal Mammadli emphasized theory and teaching how to write. So I decided to take up the thread again: computers off, telephones off, attention on, I asked them. In consultation with my two fellow-trainers, I gave – after a short introduction – practical lessons everyday. Sometimes they joined me, sometimes they assisted in correcting the assignments I asked students to make. And, the other way round, I assisted my colleagues to divide their lives between the state faculty and the school. So we trained the students two days to write leads. Then we ordered them to make news stories. By example I handled the students a lot of information about the Aral Sea in Kazachstan with the assignment to select the news and to write it down in thirty lines.

I send the students on the streets to interview people from 70plus how they survive in a society of classes and masses. The other morning two students told me they were not able to find someone to talk with. Immediately I send them back, giving a last chance to fulfil their assignment. They did and they liked it. Once I asked my students to go to the exits of the town and talk with drivers of minibuses who maintain efficient services all over the country. The stories were not yet brilliant written but the information sometimes was amazing. The last week, I started every morning to simulate a newsroom. I asked the students to come with ideas for the newspaper to be made and they commented the news in general. They loved it.

Because the teachers-manual dictated me to realise a magazine as described under week 8-9-10, I hastened to develop my idea to write about health care in Azerbaijan. My fellow-trainers agreed with the proposal and together we find out the different subjects. One morning I taught about how to produce a magazine, how to select format, formula and target and to think about illustrations. And because a guest-speaker, an editor of an illustrated magazine in Baku, did not show up, I continued. Finally we asked our students to mention their ideas about subjects to make for a magazine about health care. And how miraculous, their ideas agreed very much with the ideas developed by the teachers. So it was easy to start. Students went out and came back for consult and discussion, again and again. During these sessions, I learned a lot about the sad and hostile atmosphere journalists have to operate. Government and civil servants are absolutely inaccessible for newspapers that are critical or belong to the opposition – they don’t give a damn. Information nor communication doest exist. Hanneke, my wife, who joined the students three days to different places inside and outside Baku to make photo’s in hospitals and policlinics, experienced how the slightest request for cooperation was rejected in a rude and crude way. So, to assist and teach students often means to show them creative ways to collect information. I myself wrote an eight hundred words article about health care in Azerbaijan, based on reports from WHO and OSCE, collected by the students – see attachment.
Most of the students worked hard but their inability to write avenged oneself. Zeynal and Aynur put a lot of attention to the stories. Students have to write and rewrite again. When I left, three stories were almost ready. The others still need a lot of attention from the writers and the teachers. We, the trainers, decided to print the magazine as soon as all the articles can stand the test. Because our expectation run high, we will distribute the magazine in different hospitals and places where health care is organised. We think about a circulation of five hundred copies.
To realise this, we will ask Press Now to finance an additional amount of money of 500 euro.

The description above is the answer how I support the implantation of the programme. In the different attachments you will read about the improvements we, the trainers, proposed to director Zardusht Alizada. Three times, teachers deliberated about progress and always the director was invited. I got very much the impression that Zardusht organises a well run school. He has dedicated people around him. In principle school is open the whole day. As I understand Zardusht thinks to extend his school from three months to half a year. He will meet in January the ambassador of Norway to ask him about a possible (financial) cooperation.
Every moment we met, the Azeri teachers and the Dutch trainer shared opinions about the course. I handled copies of my lessons to Aynur. During my time there were, because I asked for, no guest-teachers. So the training was not interrupted and I liked that.

I like both local teachers Zeydal and Aynur. They are very serious and think in a decent way about journalism and teaching journalism. I found we have a lot in common. But of course their cultural environment differs from the world, Press Now originates. So, in order to prevent that the new School of Journalism in Baku will become a copy of the State Faculty of journalism, Press Now has to invest time, knowledge and money also in the next courses in the coming year.

As long as Dutch trainers will play a role in the School of Journalism in Baku, they have to take the initiative in parts of the program. They have to show up with ideas and proposals about assignments and I experienced that my fellow teachers appreciate this.

I also recommend my successor(s) to continue every day simulating the editorial meeting because students are pushed to think about news, are challenged to come with ideas, are pressed to realise they need sources and are forced to come in time.

Rudie van Meurs, Herwijnen December 27th, 2005