Nine professional journalists and university lecturers from Azerbaijan [7], awarded a media fellowship by IREX, are on a study tour in the United States of America.
The group visited The Shelby Star [8] and Greenville News [9] newspapers, which have been successful in transferring from print to online platforms and in using social media, as well as working closely with citizen journalists. They also met with staff at The Charlotte Observer [10], one of the first online newspapers in the USA. The group visited CNN [11] Press Center in Atlanta and had a meeting with the staff there.
Newsplex [12] at University of South Carolina hosted the group for two days and offered workshops on social media, marketing through social media, visual communication, as well as teaching journalism techniques.
Upon returning to Azerbaijan, the journalists and lecturers will teach new media courses at eight universities using more than 100 media modules posted on an open-source online learning portal: www.az.irexlearning.org [13]. The resources (also available in English [14]) promote high professional standards among faculty, students and journalists in Azerbaijan by providing new innovative tools and training. By introducing the online courses using the Moodle platform, IREX will also promote the concept of continuous learning among professional journalists.
The Azerbaijan New Media Project [15] is a three-year, USAID-funded project that will work with professional and citizen journalists to improve multimedia reporting skills and build cooperation between media, civil society, and citizens.