Riya V. Anandwala | May 18, 2009
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| Photo by Evan A. Martin |
| Graduate student Joseph Linstroth interviewed the consul general of the Bulgarian Consulate, Ivan Sotirov, in Chicago in April. He and photographer Evan Martin reporting in Bulgaria this summer. |
Aspiring to be international reporters, both have been keen on taking the leap from the academic institutions to the professional milieu. They will be in Bulgaria for the rest of the summer, studying its social structure and discovering various untold stories. Roy W. Howard Professional-in-Residence Joe Coleman, who taught the class in the spring, will be the adviser-cum-editor for their project.
“This will be a pretty intense project. We plan to do a lot of social networking to know the people and search for stories. I have already gotten in touch with my friends there,” said Linstroth. “This project will result in a number of stories and couple of photo stories by Evan.”
“I think there is a lot of uncovered newsworthy stuff in there,” said Martin.
The School of Journalism is providing some travel assistance, but the two also are using their own money and some graduate loans to pursue the project.
Linstroth has had few chances to bond with the Bulgarian culture before. After graduating in 1999, he went to Bulgaria for a short while to teach English in a high school.
It was the love for the place that he called him back, though this time it will be to write stories. For Martin, Bulgaria is the story which no one is telling. He has been reading about the country.
The two will focus on the Bulgarian wine industry, political corruption, the Muslim penetration in the villages and the rose oil industry. They will be hitting the Balkans at the right time as the Bulgarian elections will make waves this summer.
Coleman said the advantages of a place like Bulgaria is that it’s under-covered in the Western media. In this case, it gives students a clean slate for reporting, he said.
“Joe speaks some Bulgarian and knows the country pretty well, so that’s a plus. And in the end, a good story is a good story, and editors usually like unusual datelines, so if they can put together some nice pieces and try to sell them, they could meet with some success,” said Coleman in an e-mail.
While Linstroth will be writing the stories, Martin will invade all Bulgarian corners with his camera.
“But we might switch roles sometimes,” said Linstroth.
Linstroth has some connections in the country, which will help him get through. They also will hire a translator.
“We will not be following designed work,” said Martin. “What we will do now is what we want to do as international reporters.”
The two plan to attend the Bulgarian media conference, where they hope to network and build contacts.
While the students will be investigating, writing and shooting, Coleman will play the role of a demanding editor. Linstroth and Martin already have given a list of general story ideas to him, but he expects them to come up with much more while they are there.
“The hope for all of us is publication. Aside from that, this trip will give them a real taste of what it’s like to be a foreign correspondent,” said Coleman, who is former AP bureau chief in Tokyo and has worked as a correspondent.
Apart from that, Coleman thinks this trip will be valuable in the job market as the two will come away with on-the-ground reporting and writing experience that the classroom can’t provide.
“They will get experience in trying to get published, so there’s some entrepreneurship training involved, which is really essential for freelancers,” he said. “Then, if they get published, they’ll have clips, which are the first things any potential employer is going to ask for.”
