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RF-US working group on mass media opens int’l conf in Moscow

It is expected that the Moscow conference will be crowned with the adoption of an exchange program for young journalists in 2012-2013

MOSCOW, October 3 (Itar-Tass) —— An international conference on mass media opened at Itar-Tass on Monday. The conference is organized by the Russia-U.S. working group on mass media of the Russian-U.S. bilateral presidential commission.

The conference will focus on ways to overcome cultural and political barriers between the two countries. Among the subjects for discussion are issues of easing the visa regime for journalists, settlement of disputes in organizing exhibitions of arts and books of special cultural significance, and professional problems of journalists and media businesses.

It is expected that the Moscow conference will be crowned with the adoption of an exchange program for young journalists in 2012-2013.

Such exchanges will be co-organized by the Moscow Union of Journalists and the Washington-based International Center for Journalists. Taking part in the exchange program will be journalists and reporters both from Moscow and from other Russian regions, and their number will be equal to the number of U.S. participants in the program. Administrative and financial support to the program will come from the Knight Foundation, an American private, non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting quality journalism, advancing media innovation, and fostering the arts.

The Russian-U.S. working group on mass media is coordinated by Itar-Tass First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman and head of the Bureau of International Information Programs of the U.S. Department of State Dawn McCall. The group held its first meeting in March 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Russian delegation to that meeting included editors-in-chief of Russia’s leading printed and online media.

A representative U.S. delegation is taking part in the Moscow conference. The delegation includes eleven media leaders from the Newspaper Association of America, leading online media, sectoral public organizations, and a number of schools of journalism.

The media conference was organized by Itar-Tass, and its plenary meeting and sessions will be also held at the Russian State University of the Humanities.