Join us this summer in Prague for a special one-month course, where you will critically examine and document this milestone anniversary, 25 years of post-communist transition in Europe. Practice the art of reporting. Be a part of the story telling. Start your journey now.

Tales of Transition: Democracy in Post-Communist Europe, 25 Years Later

A multimedia, journalism-and-training project by TOL Education

In 1989, as Germans swung sledgehammers at the Berlin Wall and revolution swept out the communist dictatorships of Eastern Europe – as well as the Soviet troops that occupied them – hope, dreams, and optimism hung in the air. Freedom. Democracy. And the chance to take our rightful place in the West. Some even believed that they’d soon be like the Austrians, with a BMW in every driveway.

Twenty-five years later, it’s time to take stock. Sure, these democracies are firmly entrenched within Western institutions, such as the European Union and NATO. Yet never before in history had states carried out such a grand social experiment: transforming communist dictatorship to free-market democracy. There was no blueprint, no road map to follow. No one foresaw how traumatic it would be. And a quarter-century on, much of the region is mired in disappointment and disillusion.

On this milestone anniversary, no media organization is better positioned to illuminate the good, the bad, the ugly of the post-communist transition – than Transitions. We’ve been here since the beginning: from Prague, not only producing journalism from across the region, but training local correspondents to cover their own countries’ transitions. This anniversary, then, is important to us, too.

With that, we invite you to join us on a landmark project: a four-week training and reporting adventure that will produce a multimedia website, even a digital e-book. Our film, photo, radio, and print pros will train you for one week in Prague; set you loose into the region for two weeks of reporting; then, back in Prague for the last week, our faculty will lead you through the writing, editing, and polishing process.

From beginning to end, you’ll do more than help capture this unique moment in the region’s history, preserving it online as if in a time capsule. You’ll also produce fine journalism samples for your portfolio – and earn at least three credits for your efforts.

Michael Jordan
Senior Journalism Instructor
TOL Education

Early Bird Fee: € 2,400 or US $3,300 (before March 24)

Standard Fee: € 2,600 or US $3,570

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