Prof. Moritz spent over a year writing about the traumas left in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre. She produced a documentary film on the ethical issues journalists had to tackle when covering that story and the response of the community faced with the coverage it was getting.

The school, which lies close to the University of Colorado campus, was attacked on April 20, 1999 by two young men armed with guns, knives and bombs leaving 12 students, a teacher and the attackers dead.

"I got interested in the bigger topics, the demands on society that came to the surface in covering these major stories," she said.

The story got a lot of national and international coverage because it was seen as atypical, in the sense that such a story could well happen in inner city schools but it was now coming to suburbia.

Another trauma that, for her, revealed some of the weaknesses of the media was Hurricane Katrina, which showed the inability of the government to react effectively to a natural disaster.

Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the US on August 25, 2005, destroying lives and leaving thousands penniless.

People had not been aware of the low level of poverty that was exposed among black people as a result of the storm. The American media does not provide much coverage of the disadvantages of certain sectors of society, targeting mainly the middle class in the stories it covers.

"The press cover the concerns of the middle class who are the readers of these items until you get a story like Katrina," Prof. Moritz noted.

From the marginalised black population of New Orleans, the Mississippi Coast and Alabama, we move on to another facet of Prof. Moritz's research: Hate speech against gays.

While New York and California tend to be more liberal towards people of a different inclination, rural small towns and the American south tend to be more conservative. "You won't, in such places, see that kind of openness and there are many cases of violent discrimination against gays."

In her paper Hate Speech Made Easy: The Virtual Demonisation Of Gays, Prof. Moritz looks at a series of court rulings that basically said the internet is like the newspapers, not like TV.

Laws in America are more restrictive of TV than they are of newspapers because TV comes into your home on airwaves that belong to the public, she said. There are ways to shut down a TV channel if it is using sexually explicit words while newspapers enjoy total freedom of expression.

The court ruled that the net is to be treated like newspapers. There are restrictions in the press relating to child pornography but anti gay, anti semitic and anti black language can be used without it being illegal.

It's hard to argue whether such campaigns on the net constitute incitement, she said. "Maybe, if you were in a gay parade, you may be moved to hit out, but words themselves are not considered criminal.

"The court cases dealt with how such hate speech affects us and internationally because the net crosses borders. Some sites, let's say, that are not allowed in Germany will potentially have a global readership."

Through her interest in China, Prof. Moritz has created a course for Colorado University on Images Of China In Western Media. Students compare what the media is focusing on and what stories are not told at all. They look at what is being written in the US in the run-up to the Olympics and about Tibet, in this case.

"We look at English language Chinese media in China and compare when a story happens like Tibet, how it is reported in China, and how is it reported in the New York Times and by the BBC.

"Stories are more than just facts. One looks at the choice of stories that are reported, which are emphasised and which facts are not part of the story, to see how distorted the coverage is. Students, maybe, don't question as much what's the story behind the story."

The questions one has to ask are: Can you trust this story? Is there an agenda being served by having the story on the front page?

"News is just not neutral. You cannot escape your own perspective and understanding and that makes you better at doing your job."

In her work with several universities in China, France and Turkey, Prof. Moritz promotes network and relationship building. She would like to do the same with the University of Malta.

She was on a four-week visit recently as a Fulbright scholar in a programme laid out in conjunction with the Centre for Communications Technology (CCT) at Tal-Qroqq.

She has looked into the International Masters Programme on Integrated Marketing Communications that the CCT is organising with San Diego University.

CCT is now thinking of doing a Masters programme on journalism and another in new media production. Prof. Moritz is preparing a report to CCT director Prof. Saviour Chircop, to outline the direction such programmes would take.

The student population would be from the Mediterranean but could easily include Chinese students.

"The major selling points are that classes are in English and Malta is a very hospitable and safe environment. The third point is that a student would get dual degrees: One from Malta and one from the US partner institution.

"The strength of these programmes ( www.um.edu.mt/imp ) lies in the fact that careers are being forged in the kind of global world we are living in."

Exposing students to networks and research in other countries is a very good way to get them up and running with an international profile," Prof. Moritz said.

• Prof. Moritz holds the Unesco chair in International Journalism Education and is assistant dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado (Boulder). She is working for the vice president of research at Colorado to internationalise the work of graduate students and faculty through enhanced and expanded research programmes.

She has a doctorate in radio, television and film and is a visiting professor at the Sorbonne, a Gannett fellow in Asian Studies and a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Communications.