The Elections 2012 Visiting Journalists Program

About the Program

Though the results of the 2012 U.S. Presidential elections were announced to the world on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 49 foreign journalists were able to provide first-hand reports on the outcome to their readers, listeners and viewers in their home countries. This opportunity came from their participation in The Elections 2012 Visiting Journalists Program.

The program, which ran from Oct. 25 to Nov. 8, offered each participant a front row seat to history, as they were stationed in battleground states across the United States.

With reports coming from Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada and others, readers and listeners in Pakistan, Russia and 44 other countries followed stories about the voters, about the issues that dominated the U.S. election coverage and about the candidates themselves.

During the two-week program, which was sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Press Center, the journalists also sat in on a series of briefings in Washington, D.C. Sessions and panels were conducted by media trainers, seasoned campaign reporters and election scholars, giving the journalists a glimpse into the democratic process before they witnessed it themselves.

Participants for this program were nominated and have been selected.

Hosts and Participants

Colorado:

• The Denver Post, Denver: Imran Mukhtar (Pakistan) and Dumitru Ciorici (Moldova)

Luciana Guena, a participant in the 2008 Elections Program, at a rally in Kissimmee, Fla.

Florida:

• South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Ft. Lauderdale: Alisher Sharipau (Belarus) and John Njoroge (Uganda)

• WGCU FM, Fort Myers: Celia Dede F. Manko d'Almeida (Mali)

• WOKV, Jacksonville: Luiz Fernando Andrade (Brazil)

• The Miami Herald, Miami: Joyce Alvarez (El Salvador) and Nicole Belinda Best (Grenada)

• WMFE 90.7 FM, Orlando: Tito de Jesus Filipe da Costa (Timor-Leste) and Samuel Endale Mengesha (Ethiopia)

• Treasure Coast Newspapers, Stuart: Hussain Alsari (Bahrain) and Pedro Pablo Perez (Guatemala)

• The Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee: Paul Ciocoiu (Romania) and Johardy Maulana Ibrahim (Malaysia)

• The Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay: Olga Kuzmenkova (Russia) and Hanane Jazouani (Morocco)

• WFSU 88.9 FM, Tallahassee: Konstantin Vulkov (Bulgaria) and Kingsly Ngwane Asah (Cameroon)

Iowa:

• The Sioux City Journal, Sioux City: Do Hieu Trung (Vietnam) and Tariq Abdullah Ahmad Al-Eidan (Kuwait)

North Carolina:

• WCNC (NBC), Charlotte: Dwi Anggia Ritmadhini (Indonesia) and Maria Carolina Alcalde Roman (Venezuela)

• The Winston Salem-Journal, Winston-Salem: Tamar Babuadze (Georgia)

New Hampshire:

• New Hampshire Public Radio, Concord: Pavel Filippov (Russia) and Pilirani Phiri (Malawi)

• The Keene Sentinel, Keene: Victoria Dementyeva (Azerbaijan)

Luciana Guena, a participant in the 2008 Elections Program, at a rally in Kissimmee, Fla.

Nevada:

• Las Vegas Review Journal, Las Vegas: Abel Escudero Zadrayec (Argentina)

Ohio:

• The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati: Maricus Agutu (Kenya)

• WCPO 9 (ABC), Cincinnati: Seydina Alioune Djigo (Senegal) and Jawid Jurat Delawari (Afghanistan)

• WCPN Idea Stream 90.3, Cleveland: Peter Zentai (Hungary) and Leang Delux (Cambodia)

• WEWS 5 (ABC), Cleveland: Juhel Francis Browne (Trinidad and Tobago)

• NBC 4 WCMH, Columbus: Carmela Fonbuena (Philippines)

• The Dayton Daily News, Dayton: Anshuman Tiwari (India)

• WKSU 89.7 Radio, Kent: Tarek M'Rad (Tunisia)

• The Toledo Blade, Toledo: Dinouk Chandralal Colombage (Sri Lanka) and Abdulhakim Salah (Palestinian Territories)

Virginia:

• The Connection, Alexandria: Francis Garcia Kreimann (Nicaragua) and Tamara Spaic (Serbia)

• The Roanoke Times, Roanoke: Reem Yousuf Ali S. Al-Harami (Qatar) and Elham Salih (Sudan)

Washington, DC:

• Voice of America: Fayaz Naich (Pakistan)

Wisconsin:

• Wisconsin Public Radio WPR, Madison: Nelufer Elbadri (Libya) and Hira Mureed (Pakistan)

• WKOW 27 (ABC), Madison: Chairat Frank Thomya (Thailand) and Mohammad Sharif Hassanyar (Afghanistan)

• WUWM 89.7, Milwaukee: Pawan Acharya (Nepal)