Joyce Barrett, adjunct faculty in the Department of Communication, has unusual ideas about what to do on a summer vacation. While other people went to the mountains or the beach, Barrett, an award-winning journalist and faculty member, taught journalism in two dangerous places: Iraq and Burma.

“Joyce Barrett has a long and distinguished career in international journalism education,” said Brian McGee, Chair of the Department of Communication.  “She has worked in many countries with no history of a free press, where journalists can be threatened or killed for doing their jobs.”

“Barrett has taken risks most of us would never contemplate, all because of her conviction that a free press goes hand in hand with a free society and the protection of human rights,” said McGee.

This summer, Barrett consulted with Iraqi journalists and government officials during a two-week trip to Iraq from July 26-Aug. 9, under the U.S. Department of State International Informative speakers program. In Baghdad, Barrett conducted a four-day interactive workshop for almost 40 Iraqi
journalists on investigative reporting techniques and ethical behavior. The workshop was cosponsored by the Iraqi Journalists for Freedom Organization.

In addition to the longer workshop, Barrett led a separate one-day workshop in Baghdad, which was hosted by the Combined Press Information Center maintained by Multi-National Force-Iraq that was entitled, “Practicing Journalism in a New Democracy.” This training session focused on methods for
obtaining accurate information, interviewing techniques, the importance of cultivating good relationships with government officials, what government press officers look for when considering interview requests, and how to work with sources.

Also in Baghdad, Barrett consulted for three days with public affairs offices of the Iraq President’s Council on how to convey their message, how to deal with journalists, and how to organize press conferences.

Barrett’s work took her elsewhere in Iraq, as she traveled to forward operating bases in the southern Iraq cities of Diwaniyah and Najaf to conduct training workshops for more than 20 journalists in preparation for the January Iraq elections.

Barrett also addressed ethical behavior and international standards of journalism. Participating journalists from all three regions seized the opportunity to discuss the state of journalism in Iraq, including their views on the highly controversial draft press law and government proposals to block
certain Internet Web sites.

In addition to her work in Iraq, Barrett worked with journalists in Rangoon, Burma, from June 21-July 3 to help prepare them to cover national elections expected in 2010. Topics of debate included beat reporting, issues-based election reporting, interviewing techniques, and international standards of journalism.

Barrett joined the Department of Communication in 2007. She teaches introductory and advanced courses in media and media writing. In addition to her previous service as a two-time Fulbright
Fellow at the University of Belgrade in 2003 and at the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso in 2008, Barrett has been a Knight International Press Fellow on two occasions at the University of Botswana in Gaborone. She has lectured and taught in numerous foreign countries, including Jordan, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Swaziland and Algeria.

In 2008, while studying the relationship between politics and media in the Republic of Georgia, Barrett was forced to evacuate Tbilisi as a result of the brief war between Georgia and Russia.

Barrett also has had a lengthy journalistic career stateside, with positions in Washington D.C., Alexandria, Va., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.

With one of the largest undergraduate majors at the College of Charleston, the Department of Communication enrolls more than 800 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs. Students in the department study such topics as political communication, interpersonal communication, journalism, and public relations. The department is housed in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.