Friday, January 1, 2010 - It's so tough to be critical these days, unless you're a member of the online media when, apparently, you're instantly believed, or at least heard.

There's a funny limbo I suspect many are in ... well-to-enormously experienced, with many thoughts about where the media is and should be, who make timid attempts to write about their thinking, and then immediately get responses about their "cynicism," their "negativism," their "selectivity."  So, while we are absolutely drowning in idiotic quasi-insights by the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Keith Olberman, those with actual decades of experience are dismissed.  The fact that more than 50% of Americans believe the collective group above have "the answers," beyond being profoundly depressing, deserves some serious analysis.  How does this happen? Why are people so dumb?

My sense is this is not a new question.  In the early days of the Republic, it was clear that there was an elite with finely-honed differences of opinion.  They were very busy thinking and writing. Now, we're much closer to the notion of democracy that the Founders could never have foreseen ... and which is problematic.  Viewing the U.S. media scene from Eastern Europe these days is not at all supportive of the democratic ideal - "Why would anybody here think that there is hope and order in the Freedom of Speech being practiced in the U.S.?" ask many of my students when I try to pitch the idea that our concept of journalism is a pillar of our democracy.  A cogent response is a tall order.

It's especially difficult in the environment of AUBG, where the commitment to fairness, honesty, and transparency is irregular, at best.  We're so busy assessing the alleged marketplace that we've lost all understanding and belief in the key constitutional guarantees that we happily regurgitate but seldom think about.  Consider this:  AUBG has actually said that the most important evaluative tool of faculty practice is student evaluations.  So, instead of any other faculty member visiting a class and assessing the teaching therein, we officially rely on the flip perceptions of 19-and-20-year-olds.  Can you think of anything more crazy?  That's about as American as sub-prime mortgages - i.e. corrupt.

I've noticed a serious over-sensitivity about being pro-American continuing in various former Soviet states since I started working and consulting in the region.  It's very interesting in its contradictory manifestations.  Obviously, for many years, the U.S. presence in most countries, from Vietnam to Tokyo to South Asia to Central Asia, has been very careful and overly-sensitive.  By the time we left Tokyo in the late 1980's, one of the most unpleasant experiences, even for an American, was to visit the U.S. Embassy.  The logic of this attitude, especially toward Americans, was unclear to me.  Later, in Kyrgyzstan, the new, equally curious reality was to move the Embassy to a secluded, suburban location with a snake-like entry road and three barriers of security to get in.  Concurrently, the USIA Library in downtown Bishkek, which has been for years the informational access point for many foreigners, was shut down.  The reversal of this kind of nonsense is what many of us have been looking for from our new President and SecState.  It hasn't happened, yet.

These days, at the American University in Bulgaria, the idea of being American is not a positive.  Local professors, many of whom can speak only average English, even though we teach entirely in English, are openly dismissive of U.S. professors.  The university's attitude seems to be almost apologetic about being American.  We're now frantic because the percentage of Bulgarians coming to AUBG has dropped by almost 50%, even though the logic of Bulgaria's entrance into the EU is obvious, as is the competition for cost-based higher education.  After all, there is nothing more American than competition, and if AUBG can't compete on a quality basis, plus the uniqueness of the residential, liberal arts style of education, then perhaps we should perceive ourselves as the "Survivor" of higher education, and lose with grace.  Instead, though, AUBG is aggressively going after students in Turkmenistan, China, North Korea, and Turkey.

Who knew?  We thought we were just signing up for an adventure and career change, and we've accomplished that.  But we find ourselves involved in something we think is much more important - a sense of hope and opportunity - which has defined our country for a century. My family members think this notion is stupid; could be, but I have to admit that I've had this idea since I was in Vietnam and knew that the people there thought of us as the "light at the end of the tunnel."  Thus, even with all our problems and excesses, we should know that the freedoms we've enjoyed need to be universal; they are  fundamental to the modern idea of democracy.  Is that so difficult?

Frankly, there is nothing better than teaching some of the best-and-the-brightest from 30+ nations, most from former Soviet dictatorships.  They're hungry, smart, multi-cultural, and endlessly curious; it is the classic two-way-street of education, where we teach and learn - terrific!  But to really teach, I think you need to believe, in something ... your subject might do it, but it has to conform to an exigent reality, and that's what's missing here.  We're JMC professors, and journalism and media in Bulgaria - and student media at AUBG - is anything but free.  How does one teach quality journalism and media in an environment where it doesn't exist?  Show largely irrelevant news videos from the U.S.?  Critique local news coverage that is not in your language and doesn't adhere to your standards? Worse, should we model our instruction on such pathetic, ubiquitous sources as CNN, MSNBC, or FOX News?  Happily, here we have BBC World, EuroNews, and Al Jazeera which offer a broadly pertinent sense of the news.

For 2010, we have some worthwhile options, including (finally) a  Multi-Media course and the prospect of a thorough curriculum revamping that has the potential of solidly launching the program into this new century.  That's what makes the work at AUBG JMC so exciting and worth the effort.  Now, if we could only get lucky with some real TV production capabilities and vastly improved internet capacity, including capturing software and streaming speeds, we will be very close technically to moving into the 21st century.