For immediate release: June 5, 2007
Contact: Dawn Arteaga, Communications Director
Telephone 202.349.7624, E-mail darteaga@icfj.org

Community Journalists will Report from 15 Countries on World Affairs Fellowship

Journalists from small and mid-sized newspapers across the U.S. will cover issues
from AIDS relief to counterfeit goods to biofuels.

Washington, D.C. – Thirteen top U.S. journalists selected as World Affairs Journalism Fellows will spend up to three weeks abroad reporting on issues that are vital to their local communities. The group is in Washington, D.C. this week for training, brainstorming sessions, and an event, open to the public, featuring longtime foreign correspondent for ABC News: John Donvan.

In its fifth year, the program is administered by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and sponsored by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, with additional funding from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. The fellowship covers travel and reporting expenses abroad and provides each Fellow with a mentor who has regional and topical expertise relevant to the reporting project.

“Terrorism, globalization, immigration, climate change: It has never been more important for Americans to understand what is happening beyond our borders. Yet many U.S. news organizations are cutting their international coverage,” said ICFJ Vice President-Programs Patrick Butler. “This fellowship is truly unique because it allows news organizations to make international issues relevant to their audiences across the United States.”

World Affairs Journalism Fellows have won more than 20 top journalism awards for the stories they’ve done on this fellowship since 2002.

This year’s fellows are:

* Antigone Barton*, Reporter, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post
* Linda Blackford, Enterprise Reporter, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader
* Craig Gima, Reporter/Assistant City Editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
* Stephanie R. Heinatz, Military Reporter, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
* Ellen Lee, Technology Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle
* Bob Moser, Business Reporter, The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.)
* Matt O’Brien, Reporter, The Daily Review (Hayward, Calif.)
* Julian Pecquet, Staff Writer, Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat
* Jeffrey Sheban, Senior Business Reporter, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
* J.B. Smith, Staff Writer, Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald
* Laura Ungar, Medical Writer, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
* Carroll Wilson, Editor, Times Record News (Wichita Falls, Texas)
* Dan Zehr, Business Reporter, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman

* Barton is the Pulitzer Center Fellow

In addition to undergoing intense training and planning sessions this week, the Fellows will be honored at a National Press Club reception on June 5. The event, “Global Dispatches to the Heartland: ABC’s John Donvan on Why All News is Really Local,” will include an exhibit of past fellows’ best newspaper layouts and photos.

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The International Center for Journalists, a non-profit, professional organization, promotes quality journalism worldwide in the belief that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition.

Over the past 22 years, ICFJ has worked directly with journalists from 176 countries. Aiming to raise the standards of journalism, ICFJ offers hands-on training workshops, seminars, fellowships and international exchanges to reporters and media managers around the globe.

For more information, or to apply for the 2008 program, please visit www.icfj.org/worldaffairs. To attend the June 5 event, visit www.icfj.org/events.