Good Morning Montenegro: Transplanting American Television News Culture into an Emerging Democracy. A Case Study of Media Training in the Balkans

What happens when you take a staple of the American morning news diet—a hybrid recipe based on ingredients found in NBC's The Today Show and ABC's Good Morning America—and serve it up in the state-run television newsroom in Montenegro? Why would the U.S government facilitate and fund this effort, and what's the impact on local journalism routines during and after the training? This study reports about one faculty member's experience working as a broadcast news media trainer in Montenegro, reflects on the short- and long-term value of such training, weighs the benefits for the country's media environment, and recommends guiding principles for others who might conduct similar “overseas” projects. This research builds upon the scholarly record of the international media trainer's role, its potential impact on the newsroom culture of foreign nations, and, perhaps most importantly, what the teacher-trainer learns from overseas professionals that can benefit stateside classrooms and newsrooms. Journalism educators play an important part not only in training, but secondarily, in mediating cultural transformations.