The International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins'
School of Advanced
International
Studies has received a five-year $1.6 million grant
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to
provide fellowships to U.S. editors to improve the news
media's coverage of global health and
development issues.
The grant from the Seattle-based foundation will be
used to support fellowships for 24 senior
U.S. journalists per year in the IRP's Gatekeeper Editors
Program, which conducts in-depth reporting
trips overseas through which participants can learn more
about key international topics.
"We're delighted that the Gates Foundation supports
our efforts to bring compelling
international health and development stories to the
attention of the public," said John Schidlovsky,
founding director of the IRP.
Twice each year, the IRP selects 12 senior editors or
producers at leading news organizations in
the United States to travel for up to two weeks on an
intensive fact-finding trip to an important
country or region, usually in the developing world. The
editors interview heads of state and a cross-
section of leaders in various fields. Since 2000, the
project has taken participants to Indonesia,
Brazil, South Africa, Lebanon and Syria, India, Egypt and
Nigeria. A trip to the Korean peninsula is
planned for next month.
"From its beginning, the IRP Gatekeeper program has
examined critical issues of health,
education, environment and rural development," Schidlovsky
said. "Now, with the Gates Foundation's
support, we will intensify our focus on global health and
development."
The IRP was created in 1998 to encourage U.S.
journalists to cover global stories that are
neglected or underreported in the media. In addition to its
Gatekeeper Editors Program, the IRP
offers individual fellowships to U.S. journalists to study
at SAIS in Washington, D.C., and then report
overseas. More than 250 journalists have participated to
date.
Additional support for the IRP is provided by the
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Stanley
Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Carnegie Corp. of
New York, Philip L. Graham Fund, New York
Times Company Foundation and others.
The Gates Foundation grant brings total commitments to
the Johns Hopkins Knowledge for the
World campaign to more than $2.8 billion.
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