San Jose State Journalism Professors Headed To Afghanistan

SAN JOSE (KCBS) - Journalism professors at San Jose State University will be spending a considerable amount of time in Afghanistan over the next three years after receiving a grant to train journalism teachers there.

San Jose State Assistant Journalism Professor Diane Guerrazzi, a former TV news reporter, said the grant provides the university with a unique opportunity.

KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:

They will establish a media center at Herat University in western Afghanistan and also exchange faculty members. The grant will also provide internships in Bay Area news outlets for students from Afghanistan.

"It's a huge opportunity to promote freedom of speech in Afghanistan. Freedom of speech is important everywhere, but especially there where it's so limited," she said. "We'll be able to train their budding journalists into the western way of journalism. They are asking us to provide them with western instruction in journalism."

Project director Peter Young said journalism teachers in Afghanistan will be trained in radio and television reporting.

"We want to make sure that we provide opportunities not only for just budding journalists, but we want to make sure that we provide female journalists with an avenue for both training and exercise in their profession," said Young.

San Jose State beat out a number of prestigious schools, including Northwestern and Syracuse, for the State Department grant.

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