Voyages with Johanna Cleary: December 2008

Study Abroad 2009 A Fun Memory!

The study abroad trip to France was 28 days of fun, culture, media visits and learning experiences! Students in Ethics and Problems and Travel Reporting met with NPR correspondent Eleanor Beardsley and visited France 24, France’s 24-hour news channel. They also visited important sites in Paris, Bordeaux and Lyon and shared great times with other Florida Gators and new international friends.
For information on next year's trip to England and Ireland, and to see a slide show of highlights from this year's trip, go to: http://www.drweigold.com/!

Dec 26, 2008

Final Book Lists Announced

New books have been added to the reading lists for RTV 4930 and 4931. All are available through on-line services such as Amazon and Books-A-Million and many can be purchased through local retailers.

There will be assignments related to both reading lists due during our time in France, so it’s a good idea to get an early start on the reading!

For RTV 4930 (Ethics and Problems) the new addition is: Travelers’ Tales: France, edited by James O’Reilly. San Francisco: Travelers’ Tales (2002). This collection offers vignettes written by travel writers about France, including life in rural and urban France.

For RTV 4931 (Travel Reporting) the new additions are: Travelers’ Tales: France edited by James O’Reilly. San Francisco: Travelers’ Tales (2002); and Best American Travel Writing 2008, edited by Anthony Bourdain. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company (2008). Part of an annual series, this book includes travel stories collected from leading publications, featuring great writing and exotic locations around the globe.

This completes the required books for the two classes, but each class will also have a required course pack which will be available later this Spring. Stay tuned for an announcement on that.

The rest of the required books for the two classes are listed below.

What We Observed

Students in Ethics and Problems were asked to make some observations about differences in the U.S. and international media while in France. Here’s a synopsis of what they saw:
Lee Ziesche: How long the sports section is on the BBC!
Jessica Gable: The French press seems to be less polar in deciding what opinions are expressed in talk format programs. This allows us to pick up the nuances better.
Lexy Scheen: BBC offers a much broader range of stories in their coverage. Specifically, there was coverage of the economic crisis in Japan.
Jamie Berkovitz: The French media seems to be more open to a variety of viewpoints and more open about acknowledging those viewpoints exist, even among journalists.
Kelsey Abel: The news is more “blunt” in its writing and delivery. Also, there is much more open coverage of nudity and sexual content.
Hamardo Sinclair: The BBC framed stories about the U.S. in terms of struggles between the government and the people.
Kendall McCrory: One observation I've made about the French media is that there isn't a lot of it in public places. In America, it seems, the news is a common program to have on in an office, restaurant or business. Here, however, the TVs seem to almost always be showing a "Futbol" game, or even a soap opera. I've rarely seen news.
Erica Rakow: The first thing I noticed was that they were airing stories from all over the nation. I also noticed that when they reported a story, they brought on several different perspectives from experts and correspondents. The main story of the hour was [Aung San Suu Kyi] who is on house arrest [in Burma]. I did notice that just like CNN, they discussed the story for a good amount of time and brought on different people to discuss it.
Ashley Yanover: Since being in France I have noticed that the media covers less about the Swine Flu than the media in America. On BBC when they did cover the Swine Flu they very rarely talked about people being infected in France.
Carling Ponder: One of the main things I have noticed is the media coverage of President Obama and President Sarkozy. If you compared that to media coverage in the United States, we never hear as much about President Sarkozy as they do about President Obama in France. It would be interesting to see how much media coverage Bush got here in France.
Andrew Ruiz: In watching BBC World News and CNN International, I have noticed that the news is presented in wider perspective and is arguably prepared to be shown across the world. In America we have news that is more local and national as opposed to international news. The BBC, which focuses widely on international news, does provide insight to stories in the UK more frequently. In the future, I think we should report on more international news that is not just about national security to inform the American people of events going around the world.
Johanna Cleary: I noticed that there seems to be much more coverage of the arts and “high culture” on BBC versus CNN. For example, on one Saturday and Sunday night, BBC World News ran a 1-hour prime time special on the Picasso exhibit at the National Gallery in London.

Voyages with Johanna Cleary

Study Abroad 2009 A Fun Memory!

Dec 26, 2008

Final Book Lists Announced

The City of Light

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About Me

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Lyon Poppies

Bordeaux Fields

Versailles Market

2009 France Trip

Classes Visit France 24

What We Observed