"Gathering of international students brings insight to Central, Eastern European journalism issues."

Article by Ginny Andrews and Kelly Dengel in the Friday, October 15, 1999 issue of The Chart.

Clear turquoise waters, palm trees, sandy beaches, ancient history, and plenty of sun with an island offering so much pleasure, it may not seem to be the ideal place to hold an international journalism conference and expect students to attend the sessions.

The third-annual gathering of international students for the international Student Voice conference on the island of Hvar in Croatia offered participants more than sessions and lecturers. Due to this year's emphasis on propaganda in the media, it was the eye-opening experience of learning the troubles faced by student journalists all over the world, especially in the former Yugoslavian countries.

"We live in an area which was in war for months, four years," said Zoran Gligorov, Webmaster of the Studentski Zbor in Skopje, Macedonia. "They (Macedonians) feel the propaganda and censorship, and it is still present."

The international Student Voice conference has a clear mission of establishing a communication network between students all over the world and promoting exchanges that will help develop professional skills in a new generation of journalists, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

Because of recent events in the Balkans, this year's conference emphasized propaganda within the framework of an armed conflict and issues that stem from that subject, including public relations. Although public relations has been commonplace in the United States for many years, it is just beginning in many eastern European countries with the downfall of communism.

Kresimir Macan, head of public relations for Croatian Radio-Television, spoke to students regarding the pressures journalists face in reporting the news. He said that though there is still some government control over the media in Croatia, the news media are pressed to print truthful material because of competition as more television stations and newspapers are forming.

"You still need good sources and rumors have to be confirmed," he said. "I don't sell lies. If I sell lies, I'm finished."

Slobadan Milajlovski, student editor of, the Macedonian student paper Studentski Zbor, said the breakup of Yugoslavia started a basis for independent newspapers to emerge. Unfortunately, he said political parties still control the media.

In the U.S., the word propaganda is often associated with brainwashing or Hitler's Nazi Germany, a negative connotation. For Macan, public relations is image-making. For those in the U.S., propaganda might be called public relations. "Propaganda is image-making," he said. "No one likes [public relations] because the opposition will call it propaganda."

Sophia Karadojova, editor of The Aspector at the American University of Bulgaria, saw both the positive and negative aspects of the conference. "I think there are a few improvements they could make for next year, which might include making a bigger effort to make discussion topics a little more international," she said.

Karadojova thought most of the conference emphasized issues in central Europe, and would be interested in knowing about propaganda in many different cultures. She was disappointed in the absence of the Serbian student press.

During the conference, students attended small-group sessions on various topics. Karadojova went to a Web publishing session. "This was new information to me, and it will be very useful because we are hoping to go online soon," she said.

Those present at the conference were as much an asset to Karadojova as the sessions in the area of information and future contacts. "Sometimes the content is not as important as the opportunity to meet people," she said. "It was a good mix."

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