International Reporting Project Fellows Selected at JHU SAIS for Fall 2005 Program
Washington, D.C. - Eight U.S. journalists have been awarded International Reporting Project (IRP) Fellowships at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University. The 13-week fellowship, part of a program to improve the quality of international news in the U.S. media, begins 09/5/2005.
The U.S. journalists will focus on stories in China, India, Indonesia, Libya, the Middle East, Romania and West Africa. The journalists are among 122 IRP Fellows selected since the program began in 1998. The program combines eight weeks of study in Washington and five weeks of individual overseas reporting.
"This is our 15th group, and we continue to add new countries for the journalists' destinations," said John Schidlovsky, program director. This is the first time IRP Fellows have been selected to report in Libya and Romania. Since 1998, Fellows have reported from more than 70 different countries.
Each year, two separate groups of eight U.S. journalists are selected as IRP Fellows. The journalists spend eight weeks in Washington studying international issues at SAIS and then travel overseas on their individual overseas projects, returning with stories to offer to their news organizations.
The IRP Fellows for fall 2005, their affiliations and the countries on which they will focus are:
Nina Alvarez, freelance video journalist, New York - West Africa
Alan Bjerga, Knight Ridder newspapers, Wichita - China
Michael Gartland, Post & Courier, Charleston, S.C. - Indonesia
Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal - India
Dave Michaels, Dallas Morning News - Libya
Tina Nguyen, freelance video journalist, Boston - Romania
Julie Schlosser, Fortune, New York (also a SAIS graduate) - India
Rebecca Sinderbrand, Newsweek, New York - Middle East
Two of the IRP Fellows, Alvarez and Nguyen, are focusing on international health issues. Each year, four IRP fellowships are supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support coverage of global health issues.
The fall 2005 Fellows were selected by a committee of distinguished journalists that included: Josh Benton, reporter, Dallas Morning News, and an IRP alumnus; Tom Bettag, executive producer, ABC News "Nightline"; Steven Butler, foreign editor, Knight Ridder Newspapers; Arlene Getz, senior editorial manager, Newsweek.com; Marilyn Greene, media consultant; John Maxwell Hamilton, dean, Manship School of Journalism at Louisiana State University; Andrew Metz, national correspondent, Newsday, and an IRP alumnus, and John Yearwood, foreign editor, Miami Herald.
The next deadline for applications is 10/1/2005, for the program beginning in 01/2006. For more information, call 202.663.7761, fax 202.663.7762, email [email protected].
The International Reporting Project is supported by grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Philip L. Graham Fund, the New York Times Company Foundation and others. The program is based at SAIS, one of the country's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Located in downtown Washington, the school enrolls more than 450 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals and has trained more than 11,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs.
For more information, contact Felisa Neuringer Klubes in the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].