Washington, DC – Fifty journalists from around the world have been selected to participate in a program that will provide a close-up look at the U.S. electoral process, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) announced today.

The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program will take place from October 22 to November 6. It is sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Press Center and administered by ICFJ.

Journalists will participate in a two-day orientation in Washington, D.C., and then undertake assignments at news organizations in battleground states. The journalists will cover the election for their own news organizations and benefit from the experience of participating at U.S. news outlets reporting on the political process. On October 23, a public reception for the group will take place in Washington. After Election Day, the journalists will return to Washington for two days to share insights before returning home.

“The presidential campaigns showcase the dynamism of American democracy, but our electoral process is often poorly understood overseas,” said Washington Foreign Press Center Director Gordon Duguid. “By offering international journalists this opportunity to work side by side with American reporters, we will give them what they need to understand these elections and explain their impact to their audiences at home.”

The participants are newspaper, magazine, online and radio journalists from around the world, including 11 from sub-Saharan Africa, eight from East Asia and the Pacific, eight from Europe, 11 from the Middle East and North Africa, five from South Central Asia, and seven from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The international participants by country:

Afghanistan: Sanjar Sohail, reporter, Hasht-e-Sobh, Kabul.
Algeria: Brahim Takheroubt, editor in chief, L’Expression, Algiers.
Angola: Suzana Mendes, editor of the daily newspaper, Angolense, Luanda.
Argentina: Luciana Geuna, reporter, Critíca, Buenos Aires.
Burkina Faso: Brahima Ouedraogo, correspondent, National Radio. Ouagadougou.
Cameroon: Charles Ndi Chia, editor in chief, The Post, Yaounde.
China: Liang Jianfeng, vice director of News Center and director of International News Sector, New Express Daily, Guangzhou.
China: Tian Hong, vice chief editor, People’s Daily, Shanghai.
Colombia: Juan Pablo Tettay, international reporter, El Colombiano, Medellỉn.
East Timor: Mouzinho Lopes de Araujo, editor in chief, The Timor Post, Dili.
France: Ahmed El Keiy, chief editor, BEUR FM, Paris.
Guatemala: Sylvia Maria Gereda, managing editor, El Periódico, Guatemala City.
Haiti: Dieudonne Saincy, reporter and anchor, Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince.
Honduras: Mario Roberto Cerna Palacios, investigative journalist, El Heraldo, Tegucigalpa.
India: Arundhati Mukherjee, chief of news bureau, Aajkaal, Kolkata.
India: Shekhar Presanna Rajan Pillai, editor at large, India Today news magazine, New Delhi.
Indonesia: Dedi Irawan, reporter/producer, Smart FM, Jakarta.
Israel: Jackie Khoury, anchor and news director, of the Arabic language radio station, Asha Tel Aviv.
Israel: Wa’d Al-Shrouf, station manager and chief news editor, Amwaj Radio, which serves the Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem.
Jamaica: Vernon Davidson, executive editor in charge of publications, The Jamaica Observer, Kingston.
Jordan: Mohammad Adnan Ma’aita, editor, international section and opinion columnist for Al-Rai, Amman.
Kazakhstan: Gulnara Mukhanova, reporter, Ekspress K, Astana.
Kenya: Louis Otieno, current affairs editor, Royal Media Services, Nairobi.
Kosovo: Brikenda Rexhepi, assistant editor in chief, Koha Ditore, Pristina.
Lebanon: Zoya Mezzawi, head of lifestyle department, Al-Balad, Beirut.
Macedonia: Biljana Lajmanovska, foreign affairs reporter, Kanal 77, Skopje.
Malaysia: Veera Manickam, deputy multimedia editor, The Star, Kuala Lumpur.
Mali: Agathe Diama, reporter and producer, Radio Kledu, Bamako.
Mexico: Maria Luisa Diaz de Leon, deputy editorial director, Excelsior, Mexico City.
Mongolia: Dangaasuren Narantuya, Managing director, of the daily newspaper Ardyn Ekh (People’s Right), Ulaan Bataar.
Morocco: Ahmed Benchemsi, director of the weekly news magazine, Tel Quel, Rabat.
Mozambique: Jeremias Langa, editor, País, Maputo.
Namibia: Soine Negongo, specialist editor, radio show host, Namibia Broadcasting Corp., Windhoek.
Nepal: Youbaraj Acharya, reporter, Kantipur Publications, Kathmandu. Nigeria: Misiliu Layiwola Lawal, controller for news and foreign desk editor, Radio Nigeria, Abuja.
Pakistan: Saeed Minhas, resident editor of the Urdu-language daily Aaj-Kal, Islamabad.
Russia: Alexander Artemyev, foreign affairs reporter of the online news site, Gazeta.ru, Moscow.
Serbia: Tatjana Aleksic, reporter, RTV B92, Belgrade.
Syria: Eiad Wannous, editor and analyst, Al-Watan, Damascus.
Tanzania: Abdulla Mohamed Juma, editor, Zanzibar Leo (Zanzibar Today). Zanzibar.
Thailand: Jeerawat Na Thalang, senior writer, The Nation, Bangkok.
Tunisia: Mourad Tayeb, journalist, L’Expression, Tunis.
Turkey: Ali Husrev Abaday, foreign desk editor of the daily newspaper Taraf, Istanbul.
UAE: Ali Barada, Beirut bureau chief, Al-Bayan and senior reporter at the Beirut-based Arabic language daily An-Nahar, Dubai.
Uganda: Charles Odongtho, senior reporter, New Vision, Kampala.
Ukraine: Mykhailo Biletskyy, senior correspondent for Stolichnye Novosti and its sister news Web site MigNews, Kiev.
United Kingdom: Murtaza Ali Shah, journalist, Daily Jang/The News UK, which serves the ethnic Pakistani community in London.
United Kingdom: Zaki Chehab, author and London correspondent for the online pan-Arab news site Elaph, London.
Vietnam: Vu Manh Cuong, vice editor in chief, Lao Dong Daily, Hanoi.
Zimbabwe: Vincent Kahiya, editor, Zimbabwe Independent, Harare.

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), a non-profit, professional organization, promotes quality journalism worldwide in the belief that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition. Aiming to raise the standards of journalism, ICFJ offers hands-on training workshops, seminars, fellowships and international exchanges to journalists and media managers around the globe.

The United States Department of State has Foreign Press Centers in Washington, D.C., and New York. The Foreign Press Centers support U.S. policies by helping foreign media cover the United States. Their goal is to promote the depth, accuracy, and balance of foreign reporting from the United States by providing direct access to authoritative American information sources. Visit the FPC home page at http://www.fpc.state.gov