Unlocking the Economic Potential of Digital Media

Nearly 250 journalists from the Middle East and North Africa learned to use digital tools for public-service journalism in a four-year program.

The Professional Fellows program is open for professional and citizen journalists, media business managers, digital media entrepreneurs and technologists from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The accepted fellows will be asked to create media business models that harness the power of digital tools to generate sustainable new revenue. They will be matched with expert U.S. counterparts in organizations that include traditional media and new digital media start-ups as well as institutions that invent new digital tools and pioneer new ways to use them to deliver news and information and serve the public interest. <p/> Professional Fellows from the MENA region will have four-week programs in the United States anchored by 22-day internships at these institutions, while their U.S. counterparts will visit the MENA fellows’ homelands during two-week programs. The MENA fellows will be exposed to the latest innovations in the digital world while experiencing life in the United States. At the end of their program, they will participate in the Professional Fellows Congresses in Washington, D.C<p/> The common factor linking this group is the interest they share in developing new media business models and products – rooted in digital technology – that are sustainable engines for independent sources of news and information. <p/>