Peñaflor is the First-Filipino Journalist EJI Scholar
Rhea B. Peñaflor is the first Filipino journalist recipient to the 2009 European Journalism Institute (EJI) which will be held in Prague,Czech Republic from July 11 – July 18, 2009.
Peñaflor is a BS Mass Communications, Major in Journalism cum laude graduate at the West Visayas State University and Bachelor of Laws graduate at the University of Iloilo. She is a freelance journalist based in Iloilo City. She writes for various Western Visayas local papers as well as in the Consumer and Business Forum, a national magazine. She has also authored a prose and poetry book entitled “Breaking the Fiberglass” in 2002. Currently, she is the Advocacy Officer of the Kabataang Gabay sa Positibong Pamumuhay (KGPP), Inc. and the Asst. Public Relations Officer of the Iloilo Youth Orchestra (IYO), both of which are non-profit organizations based in Iloilo City.
The European Journalism Institute was launched on July 2004 by The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) in response to a growing recognition that journalists must be empowered with the knowledge and skills needed to objectively and ethically report stories with credible and meaningful information. As economic growth advances, private enterprise burgeons, nations reconfigure, governments rise and fall, and globalization interconnects national economies and interests, it becomes increasingly critical that the public is presented with a fair and accurate picture of social, political and economic policies, decisions and forces.
Instructors and guest lecturers are drawn from the United States and Europe. Lecturers include economics and public policy experts, journalists who cover business and finance, and government and corporate leaders. Those selected to attend EJI will receive a generous scholarship to attend the institute.
EJI is a seven-day intensive program of seminars, lectures and discussions about journalism and its role, its power, its responsibilities. For a full week in July, about four dozen practicing journalists, student journalists and those drawn toward critical examination of the intricacies of the free press gather in Prague in EJI.
EJI is organized by The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) in cooperation with Charles University.
Peñaflor is strongly supported by the Office of the President of the Philippines, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation
(PAGCOR) and partly sponsored by Mang Inasal, one of the fastest growing barbeque fast food chain in the Philippines.