A local nonprofit that frequently hosts journalists from all over the world has been selected to lead this year’s Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists. The seven-day event will host 100 journalists from more than 80 countries.
World Partnerships, Inc. is a St. Pete-based nonprofit that partners with the U.S. Department of State to facilitate meetings between professionals abroad and those in the United States. Its International Visitor Leadership Program has been considered the United States’ most prestigious professional exchange program since 2000.
Visiting journalists will examine the essential role of independent media in order to protect freedom of expression and democracy. Globally.
Many of the working journalists come from countries that don’t enjoy the same freedom of press and open-government laws on which the United States was founded.
They come from places where free-thinking reporting or digging too deep into government corruption could very well get reporters jailed or, worse, killed.
Countries represented include several in the Middle East, South America, Asia, Europe, Central America and Australia.
The program is geared toward bringing journalists together to share journalistic practices, examine foreign affairs reporting and to network with other professionals.
The program has been found to increase global understanding of U.S. policy, government and society, knowledge of human rights, diversity, corruption and women in society as well as current trends in the media and a desire to consult a wider variety of sources.
The seminar will include a two-day advanced journalism-training symposium at the Poynter Institute. Journalists will also meet with media professionals throughout the Tampa Bay area during their stay. The group will also meet with the U.S. Central Command and participate in a community service project at a local beach.
The Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists is named after famed radio reporter Edward R. Murrow. During his career, Murrow famously reported on World War II and U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whose name yielded the term “McCarthyism.”
Murrow later served as the appointed director of then U.S. Information Agency, a part of the U.S. State Department.
The seminar is November 4-10.
Here is a complete list of participating countries
- Afghanistan
- Australia
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Belize
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Chad
- Chile
- Columbia
- Comoros
- Congo
- Costa Rica
- Cote d’Ivoire
- Czech Republic
- Dominican Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Ethiopia
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Kenya
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Macedonia
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Mali
- Malta
- Mexico
- Moldova
- Morocco
- Nepal
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palestinian Territories
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Poland
- Qatar
- Republic of Korea
- Republic of South Sudan
- Romania
- Russia
- Rwanda
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Slovakia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Uganda
- United Kingdom
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
