Professor Emeritus Eric B. Easton recently returned from Kosovo, part of the former Yugoslavia, where he spent two weeks as a Fulbright Specialist at the University of Prishtina. Here is his first-person account of his experience.
I was asked to give lectures to undergraduate and graduate journalism students on the topic of challenges posed by the new digital news media environment. I also made two television appearances during Global Media Education Week to discuss the issues of fake news and media literacy.
I was accepted to the Fulbright Specialist Program roster in June 2019 and shortly thereafter expressed interest in this assignment. After reviewing my credentials (I hold a Ph.D. in Journalism and taught media law at UB for 25 years), the University of Prishtina’s Department of Journalism asked the Fulbright program to select me for the project.
Prof. Emeritus Eric Easton, second from left, appears on Televizioni 7 during his visit to Kosovo.
It was a wonderful experience, and I recommend this short-term program to any of my colleagues. It is the perfect opportunity to see places you might never go as a tourist without committing a semester or more. And the students I met with were incredibly bright and knowledgeable.
Kosovo is a tiny country with an ancient and complex history, whose independence was only recognized in 2008. Nearly everyone there under 30 seems to speak English, and they love Americans for rescuing them from Serb aggression in 1999. Every town has “Bill Klinton” and “Madelin Olbrajt” streets, and Prishtina even has a “Klinton” statue. As a bonus, Prishtina is a great food town. Who knew?
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