(the group)

(big liberty sign outside the front)

Today I went to go see Radio Free Europe, which is headquartered in Prague 10.  They used to be in the main square but after 9/11 and an attempted terrorist attack they moved far away. So back on the metro.  This was an optional trip so it was only me and 4 other students.  This is literally the safest building in prague.  Security was more intense than the airport. We had to hand them our passport, be accepted into a building where we went through a metal detector and had our bags scanned, and immediately following the approval of that we had to wait outside(lucky me I was first) until we could than enter the radio free europe building.  The main press room when you finally enter reminded me alot of The Telegraph(london) headquarters.  There were flags over different sections designating different countrys so naturally I go to take a picture(prime instagram opportunity  and was immediately yelled at. Apparently there is something really secure about the ceilings... our meeting was honestly not that informative because everything is secret and they have many guest writers.  The protection that they can offer their broadcasters is amazing(though is the relevancy of this organization worth 500 billion of our tax dollars...esp when not all media is pro america).  IT was cool to see all the diff media forms, they are very active on social media.  Also interesting is that in some countries the reason they are so popular is because the literacy rates are so low that radio free is the best source. Overall I am glad I went. My favorite quote, "we are in the business of putting ourselves out of business" in response to me inquiring about their future plans as countries stabilize.

I spent the past weekend in berlin but there is way too much to write about now...it was an AMAZING weekend though!


the group pointing to prauge obviously my cheesy idea

DONT LOOK AT THE ROOF!

the broadcast area map