Newsroom grants access to world news

Now, international students on the VCU campus can watch television broadcast from their home country.

Peter Kirkpatrick, executive director of the office of International Education, said he came up with the idea of an international newsroom when he first arrived at VCU as a French professor 14 years ago.

“International students have access to news from their home countries, where language majors can research and where mass communications students can observe how news is broadcast and recorded in different countries,” Kirkpatrick said.

The International Newsroom is located in the southeast corner of the first floor ofthe James Branch Cabell Library. It consists of 12 television monitors that students can control themselves.

“Different variety, different languages, different video, different cultures,” said Saeed Rostami, an engineering student who is originally from Iran. “You will get in the International Newsroom what you won’t get on an American channel.”

Dan Ream, the head of instruction and outreach services for VCU Libraries, said he looks at it as a gesture of good will to the international students and considers them of importance.

Kirkpatrick said the newsroom officially opened in April of 2004, and in October of 2005, a second newsroom was opened in the office of Multicultural Student Affairs.

“The newsrooms are in phase one, which the satellite dish picks up 86 different international channels from the 12 that the VCU cable system offers,” Kirkpatrick said. “Phase two is now in process where three additional satellite dishes are being added onto the library making 180 additional channels available.”

The university cable system already offers 12 international cable channels. Ream said the students can request any channel through the library that’s not yet available.

“Most of the channels are from Arabic and Asian-speaking countries,” Kirkpatrick said. “More faculty and staff teaching other languages have requested that we add channels for the prelogical use of the newsroom.”

“Different variety, different languages, different video, different cultures. You will get in the International Newsroom what you won’t get on an American channel.”

– Saeed Rostami,
engineering student

Kirkpatrick said this will be part of phase two, which will be available next semester. “It will make the channel-request process easier and will offer channels for different languages that are taught at VCU, such as Spanish, French, German and Italian.”

Rostami visited the international newsroom at least three times this semester when he felt like he needed a break.

Ream said the newsroom is available for use when the doors to the library open until the doors to the library close.

Kirkpatrick said, “After securing funds from different units of the campus, it took a year for the newsroom to be developed.”

According to information provided on the VCU Libraries Web site, developed by Ream, funding for this project was provided by VCU Academic Technology, VCU International Education, the Higher Education Equipment Trust Fund and VCU Libraries.