29 October 2010
State Department’s Program Welcomes Foreign Journalists
Washington — The State Department welcomed more than 150 young international media professionals representing 125 countries to the nation’s capital as part of the fifth annual Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists that lasts from October 25 to November 12.
The program, named for one of American journalism’s greatest figures, provides foreign journalists the opportunity to experience the United States firsthand while exchanging ideas with their American colleagues. The journalists participate in nine separate projects during the three-week program. They explore the role of a free press in a democracy, learn about the media and the social, economic and political structures of the United States and engage in professional development seminars and an international symposium with their peers.
“We believe that a free press and the practice of journalism are critical elements for any successful society,” Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale told the group. “These elements cannot exist without you, the individual journalists who have the skills, resources and most of all the commitment to provide your audience with the news they deserve and require.”
More than 600 journalists have participated in the program since it began in 2006. For most of them, it was their first visit to the United States.
“I think the world knows more about America than America knows about the world,” Anton Aleksejev, a Russian-language correspondent for Estonian Public Broadcasting and a 2010 Murrow journalist, told America.gov. “I did not have any strong impressions of Washington. I was like a blank sheet of paper. I was ready to accept whatever the city would write on it.”
The program gives foreign journalists the opportunity to compare their preconceived ideas of America with the reality they discover. It also allows Americans to better understand the culture of the visitors and their perspective toward the United States.
This year, for the first time, the Murrow journalists have the unique opportunity to see American democracy in action during the November 2 midterm elections. They will interact with working American journalists and witness election coverage in the U.S. media. As Aida Kasmalieva, a television producer from the Kyrgyz Republic, told America.gov, “It will be interesting to talk to the average American voter. What is his reasoning? How does he vote? It will be interesting to see how American TV will cover the elections.”
The Murrow Program, a public-private partnership, was developed by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as part of its International Visitor Leadership Program, together with the Aspen Institute and leading American schools of journalism.
Murrow, a pioneer in broadcast journalism, is renowned for his radio reports from London rooftops during the Blitz bombings of World War II, including his famous sign-off to courageous Londoners, “Good night and good luck.” His career became synonymous with investigative television journalism through his innovative See It Now television program and coverage of some of America’s most difficult social issues — hunger, poverty and McCarthyism — of the 1950s. Following his successful journalism career, he became the director of the U.S. Information Agency under President John F. Kennedy. He was a firm believer in the importance of international engagement and understanding.
Continuing in the Murrow tradition, the journalists visited the U.S. State Department for the Aspen Institute Symposium on Current Issues in Journalism, featuring an address by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William J. Burns; a conversation with Bob Woodward of the Washington Post; and a panel discussion with leading journalists and representatives of new media, including Arianna Huffington, editor of the online political journal Huffington Post. Participants also attended lectures on the midterm elections, briefings on Capitol Hill and meetings with foreign policy analysts at local universities and policy research organizations.
The participants will divide into smaller groups to visit 10 journalism schools, located throughout the United States, for intensive seminars on journalistic practices in a democratic society. They will also experience life on American college campuses and interact with journalism students.
During their last week in America, the participants will visit cities including Austin, Texas; Pensacola, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; and Portland, Oregon, to get acquainted with grass-roots civic and political life in the United States. Before their return home they will reunite in New York City to meet with representatives of major media outlets and visit the U.S. mission to the United Nations.
For more information visit the State Department’s Edward R. Murrow Program website.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
Podcast on the Fifth Annual Murrow Program for Journalists