After 25 years as an investigative reporter/producer/manager in local, syndicated, network television and online newsrooms, Karl Idsvoog moved into education and training. He’s completed highly successful media development/training missions for the U.S. Department of State, the International Center for Journalists, Internews, Radio Free Asia and IREX. He’s conducted a range of journalism training in the Republic of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Botswana, Kenya, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cambodia and Myanmar.

In the Republic of Georgia following the Rose Revolution, Idsvoog served as a founding member of the news advisory board to help Georgian Public Television restructure its news gathering operations. He advised and then developed the broadcast curriculum for the School of Journalism at Yerevan State University in Armenia as the school moved from a theoretical to a hands-on practical approach to journalism education. In Syria (during far more peaceful times), Idsvoog helped management at Syrian National Television pinpoint structural problems in its workflow and production systems. In Cambodia, Idsvoog helped radio journalists become multimedia journalists as they began shooting video and reporting for the web, not just for radio. And of course in this day and age, he helps journalists shoot and edit on the phone, and post to social media.

Idsvoog is a tenured faculty member in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University, but he has never really left the newsroom. He’s continued to train and work with journalists in newsrooms around the globe, and he’s partnered with organizations to produce substantive reports on politics and corruption in college athletics.

Margie Freaney, the founding academic director of the Caucasus School of Journalism and a woman who’s trained journalists throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia calls Idsvoog the “best journalism educator” she’s ever seen.

Idsvoog has a BA and MA in journalism from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he was selected as the school’s outstanding graduate. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. In addition to his consulting, Idsvoog teaches a range of multimedia journalism courses at Kent State University. Idsvoog is a widower with two adult children and two fabulous grandchildren, Eve & Crosby.