UNC Picked for International Journalism Program

Posted on Dec. 29, 2005

Carolina is one of six universities chosen as partners with the Aspen Institute and the U.S. State Department in the Edward R. Murrow Journalism Program to promote excellence in journalism internationally.

Beginning in April, the program will bring 100 invited international media professionals to engage with U.S. journalists at leading U.S. journalism schools.

Participants will be invited to travel to state capitals to study media coverage of state politics and government. They will attend academic seminars and will work directly with U.S. journalists.

The Aspen Institute, along with the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, will organize an international symposium on curriculum practices and trends in journalism.

“This program emphasizes many of the democratic principles that guided Mr. Murrow’s practice of his craft: integrity and ethics and courage and social responsibility,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a December speech.

“We all know that the bedrock pillar of a free society is a free press and that it is crucial for the foundation of any democracy.”

The Edward R. Murrow Fellows Program is named for the renowned journalist and former director of the United States Information Agency, Edward R. Murrow.

This new journalism program is an innovative public-private partnership, led by the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program and supported by the seven partners.

The other participants are journalism and communication schools at the universities of Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Southern California, and Texas at Austin.

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