The culmination of a year of planning by both the Havighurst Center and journalism program was launched Monday, with the first sessions of the Russian Journalism Under Fire conference.

Six Russian journalists and members of journalism advocacy groups spoke on the dangers of journalists in Russia, and the history and current state of Russian media.

The conference began with a DVD project senior Lindsey Wagner created for an international journalism capstone class taught by assistant professor of English, Cheryl Heckler.

"I was a little nervous, but I've been working on it for months so by the time it was ready to play I was just happy that the day was here," Wagner said.

The video, which listed 13 Russian journalists who have been murdered because of their work, sparked disagreement among the panel - many of whom personally knew victims - as to the true or most accurate number of journalists killed. Totals ranged from 44 to 211, depending on the panelist, but several of them pointed out that many journalists have simply gone missing and others are persecuted in more discreet ways.

"It was interesting that at least my video started dialogue about the situation," Wagner said.

A discussion continued about the challenges and risks that reporters, and especially investigative journalists, face.

Igor Zevelev, Washington D.C. bureau chief for the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, spoke on the wide range of threats reporters around the world may receive.

"In some countries the danger is to be killed," Zevelev said. "In other countries it is not being promoted on time."

Andrei Zolotov, editor of Russia Profile magazine and Web site, recognized the importance of journalists to the foundation of society.

"Somehow we think we are privileged as journalists," Zolotov said. "Somehow our lives should be protected to a greater degree than people of other professions. We are self-elected representatives of the general public. Sometimes we submit ourselves to a greater degree of danger, but it is a self choice."

The second session in the conference focused on past media practices, rights and ownership, while the third session was a debate on the current state of Russian media.

Alexey Simonov, president of Glasnost Defense Fund, told a story of four young Russian journalists who arrived in Moscow 14 years ago. One is now dead and the other three are heads of state departments.

"Russian media makes us wonder, 'Who is alive now?'" Siminov said.

He added that not only is it a danger for journalists to die, but for loyalty to be placed with the government.

"Imagine the figure of the human body," Siminov said. "It is one-fifth head and four-fifths body. In the mirror of the Russian press, this is vice versa. It's like a dwarf with a tremendous head and one-fifth body, totally dedicated to local officials and parliaments."

Simonov presented results of a survey in five regions, looking at local news, radio, and television. He said at least 80 percent of Russian news is dedicated to a portrait of the state.

"The news reflects the state, but not the abilities of the state because the abilities are much less than their presence," Siminov said.

Director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, Oleg Panfilov, provided statistics from research his team had done on the amount of time state-controlled media spends on discussing President Vladimir Putin and the government, versus the amount spent by independent media.

"Russia has never had traditional freedom of speech in its history," Panfilov said. "Russian journalism is just starting to develop in small steps. There is no tradition of fighting for rights together."

The session ended with a discussion of Russian Internet.

"Russian Internet media is very driven by political campaigns and funded by governments," Zolotov said. "Unlike Western Internet, where the biggest Internet media are traditional media that went online, Russia is the opposite."

Many of the guests have planned to stay at Miami for a week or more, which is atypical of the normal one to two day whirlwind visit for the majority of guests on campus.

Patricia Gallagher Newberry, lecturer for the journalism program and chair of the planning committee for the conference, said that the logistics of such a long stay have been interesting.

"It's a challenge to keep them busy, but they're journalists and they are very independent and can take care of themselves," Newberry said.

To help fill their schedules, several professors have booked the journalists to come speak in their classrooms.

There will also be meetings with the Havighurst Center, lectures and luncheons.

As for the future, Newberry said that several areas of study coming together again to sponsor an event could be a positive experience.

"As we move forward, more of this program mixing is healthy," Newberry said. "I think it really plays off the interdisciplinary nature of journalism how we are bringing together journalism, political science and international studies. It really is reaching across many disciplines."

There will be two more sessions Tuesday detailing the challenges of journalism in its attempts to cover the Putin administration and what's being done to preserve freedom of the press, followed by a student DVD presentation of about recently murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya.