Media planner Ryan Kreider and journalist Esther M.K.D. Verhalle will discuss "Living, Working, Reporting in the New Russia" on Friday, Sept. 28, at 4 p.m. at Hope College in the Maas Center conference room.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Kreider has been a project associate with the Media Viability Fund in Moscow since 1998. The fund is a joint project of the Media Development Loan Fund and the Eurasia Foundation, and supports independent media in the Russian and Ukrainian regions through low-interest loans and technical assistance.

He has been in Russia since 1995, previously working with Monsanto Europe S.A. in Moscow, with Serendipity Consulting at the American Home in Vladimir and as an English language teacher in Krasnodar. He graduated from Hope in 1994 with a history major, and did additional study in the Russian language, international relations and history at Beloit College in Wisconsin.

Verhalle has been with the Moscow Bureau for Dutch Public Television, Radio and Newspaper since 1997. She is producer for "NOS-Journaal," a nationally televised daily news program and for "NOVA," a nationally televised current affairs program broadcast six times weekly. She is also a correspondent for the current affairs television program "Twee Vandaag," for "VRT" on Belgian (Flemish) public radio and for the Dutch national newspaper "Algemeen Dagblad."

She was also with the bureau in 1995. In 1996 she was served as a producer in the Netherlands for project with the Russian television station NTV.

Her career experiences also include working with the Moscovia Consultancy Amsterdam and Moscow. She holds a master's in Russian studies from the University of Amsterdam, and has also studied at the Media Academy in Hilversum, The Netherlands.

The talk is being presented through the college's History Colloquium Series, and is sponsored by Hope's department of history, chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta history honorary society, and department of economics and business administration. The Maas Center is located on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street.