International Journalism at The University of Arizona
International Journalism is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide undergraduate and master's
students with the background in journalism, regional studies and language that they need to provide
informed, comprehensive reports about events and issues in other countries, and the effects these
events and issues will have on readers, viewers or listeners.
The importance of having a press corps that is educated and knowledgeable about the world has become
more crucial in recent decades, with the increasing use of humanitarian and other military
interventions as instruments of international policy, the growth of the global economy, and
the revolution in communication technologies and transnational news media. These conditions
make it essential that U.S. journalists have a broad understanding of the factors that have
caused or contributed to global events and issues, so they can inform the public about the
international, national and local ramifications.
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Alan Weisman
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Maggy Zanger
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Perhaps no single event brings this into sharper focus than what happened at the World Trade
Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and what has happened as a result of that incident in the years since.
Even before that event, the Department of Journalism, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Center
for Middle Eastern Studies and Center for Latin American Studies had begun discussions about
creating a program that would provide students with the knowledge, language skills and journalistic
experience to provide meaningful reports from countries and regions around the world.
Two faculty members have been hired for the program. Both have half-time appointments in the Journalism
Department, so they can teach one semester per year, and spend the rest of the time working in the field.
This will enable them to bring their knowledge and experience from the newsroom into the classroom.
Alan Weisman is the faculty member concentrating on Latin America. He is an award-winning journalist
who has covered the region for decades. Professor Weisman is the author of four books, and numerous
articles for publications such as The New York Times Magazine and Harper's. He also has helped produce
international documentary series for National Public Radio.
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UA students (L-R) Anton Daughters, Emily Wakile, Nancy Hand, Rox Ann Martínez, and Jimmy Klepek, taking a break at Plaza de La Moneda, Santiago, Chile.
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Maggy Zanger will focus on Middle East journalism during spring semesters when she is in
residence at the UA. She is the in-country director of the Institute for War and Peace
Reporting in Iraq. The institute, supported by international human rights organizations,
trains Iraqi journalists who want to work for independent news media. Professor Zanger
previously was a faculty member at the American University in Cairo, and the director
of the publications program of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown
University.
During the first three years of the program, the focus will be on the following:
Developing new courses to be taught on campus or in the field. In Spring 2004, Professor
Weisman took the first International Journalism class to Chile for 2-1/2 weeks, and produced
a series on political and economic issues that was published by the Tucson Citizen.
Click here to read the Tucson Citizen series.
Professor Zanger has developed a new focus for the Journalism Department's News Analysis course, which
will emphasize news coverage of wars and humanitarian crises in the Middle East. Classes are open to
all undergraduate and graduate students in the Journalism, Latin American Studies and Near Eastern Studies programs.
Working on plans for the medium- and long-term direction of the program. This includes developing
relationships with universities in the Latin America and the Middle East, and discussing ways to bring
professional journalists into the program through speakers series, conferences and training programs.
Working on development of joint master's degrees in Near Eastern Studies and Journalism, and Latin
American Studies and Journalism. Students will take half their classes in regional studies and language,
and the other half in Journalism. Internships in the region will be developed and encouraged, and a
thesis or master's project will be required.
Expanding the scope of El Independiente, the bilingual newspaper that the Journalism Department has been
publishing for more than 25 years. The newspaper, which serves the city of South Tucson, is produced by
journalism students as a senior capstone project. The department plans to have El Independiente cover
issues on the U.S.-Mexico border, so students can gain experience with political, economic and social
issues that have profound consequences on the local, national and international
