FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2008

Contact: Felisa Neuringer Klubes 202.663.5626
E-mail: fklubes@jhu.edu

International Reporting Project Fellows Selected at JHU SAIS for 2008 Program

Washington, D.C. - Eight U.S. journalists have been awarded International Reporting Project (IRP) Fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) for the 2008 program, including the first recipients of fellowships supported by the Stanley Foundation and the PBS program “FRONTLINE/World.”

The eight-week fellowships, which are designed to encourage coverage of international issues by the U.S. news media, will begin in late August 2008.

The 2008 IRP Fellows will report from Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Sweden. The IRP Fellows, their affiliations and the countries from which they will report are:

• Stéphanie Giry, deputy managing editor, Foreign Affairs - Russia
• Ruxandra Guidi, freelance writer and producer - Haiti
• Macarena Hernandez, staff writer, Dallas Morning News - Mexico
• Amelia Newcomb, deputy world editor, Christian Science Monitor - Japan
• Betsy Rate, producer, “Bill Moyers Journal,” Public Affairs Television - Afghanistan
• David Rochkind, freelance photojournalist - South Africa
• Alisa Roth, reporter, “Marketplace,” American Public Media - Sweden (European Union)
• Delphine Schrank, freelance writer - Democratic Republic of Congo

The fellowships awarded to Giry, Newcomb, Rochkind and Roth are supported by the Iowa-based Stanley Foundation as part of its “Rising Powers” initiative. The fellowship awarded to Hernandez is made possible with the collaboration and support of the PBS program “FRONTLINE/World.”

“We’re delighted to partner with ‘FRONTLINE/World’ and with the Stanley Foundation in supporting more overseas reporting at a time when so many news organizations have cut back on international coverage,” said IRP Director John Schidlovsky.

Since its founding in 1998, the International Reporting Project has enabled more than 250 U.S. journalists to pursue independent reporting projects overseas from more than 85 countries. IRP Fellows’ prize-winning stories have appeared in hundreds of U.S. media organizations, including online, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines.

The next deadline for applications for the IRP Fellowships is April 1, 2009, for the program to be conducted in the fall of 2009. For more information, call 202.663.7761, fax 202.663.7762, e-mail irp@jhu.edu or visit www.internationalreportingproject.org.

For 10 years, IRP has been based at SAIS, one of the country’s leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Located in downtown Washington, D.C., the school enrolls more than 550 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals and has trained more than 15,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs.