Conference With University of Tehran
Nov 6th, 2008 by ariannarana
Our teleconference with the University of Tehran really opened my eyes to how the rest of the world is watching and knowing so much about everything we are doing, while we know so little about them. When one student was able to mention so many television programs such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show with John Stewart, Saturday Night Live and 24 I was so surprised. I supposed I shouldn’t be, but I think it’s very interesting that they watch our programs even though it isn’t their culture. It is very rare that anyone would be able to mention even one television program in another country that they haven’t even visited. This was embarassing on our part when they asked us what we think of their president as well as what we know, and none of us were really able to respond because we didn’t know much of anything, and what we do know, as college students studying this is much more than the rest of the country probably knows. I think this is very important to see and recongnize as journalism students and while learning about new media, because all of that information and all of those news sites are out there. My dad is from Iran, and I hardly know anything, and it isn’t because the information isn’t out there, it’s because I’ve never really been interested in it. As the professor from Tehran asked us, we need to go to other sources besides just American news sites, because we aren’t learning enough about the rest of the world. If we are pursuing careers and a future with new media and/or journalism we need to make sure we are knowledgeable and up to date on what’s going on everywhere, not just in America, and I think that became a huge realization through our teleconference.