In the Republic of Moldova, a country of about 4 million located between Romania and Ukraine, journalism education is evolving. With the help of international media development organizations and Western universities, journalists in the country are learning and adapting to Western media standards.

In the capital city Chisinau, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) is celebrating its 15th anniversary. For 15 years, the non-governmental IJC has implemented training programs for journalists, with the participation of foreign and local experts. The Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism is one such program.

Last week, IJNet spoke to Nadine Gogu, the Interim Director of the IJC, who is currently visiting the Eurasia Foundation in Washington, D.C., as a Bill Maynes Fellow, a program for outstanding individuals and future leaders in Eurasia.

IJNet: What does the Independent Journalism Center provide for journalists in Moldova?

NG: The Center was established in 1994 and became independent in 1998. A lot of work has been done since we started in different directions, first of all, in terms of support of the independent press in Moldova. When our country became independent [in 1991] and the press started developing, many media outlets went to "yellow journalism," and focused mostly on celebrity news. We considered it very important to develop journalism standards in our country, so we organized trainings and developed standards.

One of our main activities is the work of the Media Law Unit, which monitors media legislation, provides free media law consultations, publishes articles on media law, and, if necessary, provides free legal representation of journalists in court. In Moldova, libel law is included in the Civil Code, not the Criminal Code [it used to be a part of the Criminal Code in the former Soviet Union]. Our journalists do not face imprisonment in libel law cases, but they often face huge fines which can bring the newspaper or any other media outlet to bankruptcy. Our lawyers represent journalists in the courtroom and this is free. It is a very important help to journalists in the society where freedom of speech is limited.

Our Research and Publications Unit prepares annual reports about the press, opinion polls, and thematic analyses. This year, the forth academic year started at our School of Advanced Journalism. The students study the standards and practices of Western journalism and its applications in the Republic of Moldova in a newsroom style.

We also organize in-house trainings. Our trainers travel to different parts of Moldova and teach journalists at their newsrooms. This has turned out to be more effective than bringing them to the capital city.

IJNet: How many students do you enroll annually? Do they need to have a journalism background?

NG: This year the School enrolled 17 students. The majority of them have a background in Economics and Philology [study of languages] - only one student graduated from the School of Journalism. The other students have backgrounds in arts, law, management, political science, healthcare and history. They are from the Republic of Moldova, including Transnistria and Gagauz Yeri regions.

For ten months they will study the basics of journalism -- from news reporting to photojournalism. The students do not specialize in certain majors in journalism, instead, they are prepared to start working in any medium.

IJNet: This is huge work. Who has been helping you organize all these activities?

NG: The Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism was launched in September 2006 in partnership with the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia [in the U.S.] and the Center for the Professional Training of Journalists in Paris, France. The Project is supported financially by MATRA Program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the help of Press Now.

The founders of the Independent Journalism Center are the Soros Foundation Moldova and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington, DC.

The Missouri School of Journalism helped us a lot with the curriculum, and prepared syllabi according to U.S. standards and methods of teaching. Our trainers visited Missouri and the faculty from Missouri came to Chisinau. This is a long-lasting relationship and they advise us on a regular basis.

For more information, visit http://www.ijc.md/eng/ or http://scoaladejurnalism.md/en/