Social Media Across Europe: The Cronkite Euro Experience

Cronkite Global Initiatives' philosophy is "To see the world. To know the world. To report the world." According to the Cronkite School, Cronkite Global Initiatives is designed to build connections between students, staff, faculty and media professionals internationally. The Cronkite study abroad programs have been built under this mission. The Cronkite Study Abroad Program originated in the summer of 2003 with students traveling to London, Paris and Rome. Since then students have had the opportunities to travel to Barcelona, China, Brazil, Paris, Milan, Berlin and London. While abroad, these students have had many different opportunities, including the chance to cover the Summer Olympics in London. In 2016 students will be able to travel to Jordan, Greece and Israel to study social media and its impact in the Middle East and social justice within these counties. Cronkite Euro 2014 visited London, Paris and Milan, studying social media and how media organizations in each country utilize it. Cronkite Euro 2015 visited Berlin, Milan and London, also looking at social media and news organization abroad. Cronkite Euro is a three week study abroad program put on by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication during the summer semester. The focus of the program is to look at news organizations across Europe and how they utilize social media to reach their audience. Over the span of the trip students work as journalists in the field reporting on stories within each city. Throughout the trip students consistently tweet, write Facebook posts, created Storifys and do stand-ups abroad. Students experienced what it is like to live in each of these cities as well as what it is like to work as a journalist overseas. Over the three weeks students have the opportunity to visit over 10 news organizations across Europe, meeting with journalists and learning how these news organizations implement social media into their reporting. The trip is designed to teach students about social media and help them develop a strong social media presence while they are abroad. While abroad students have the opportunity to explore the cities both journalistically as well as culturally, visiting locations such as the Louvre, Big Ben and the Berlin Wall. The purpose of this thesis project is to put together a comprehensive video portraying how the trips affected student and faculty's view on journalism across the globe. The video can be viewed at this link: https://youtu.be/Eog-stwglxw