IVLP Alumni Spotlight: E-learning and Media Literacy

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Eugenie and Fellow IVLP Alumni Attending

This blog post was contributed by Lee Norrgard, Program Officer in Meridian’s Professional Exchanges Division. Even before the stay at home orders closed 124,000 elementary and secondary U.S. schools last spring, a survey of approximately 17,000 U.S. teachers and administrators almost unanimously indicated digital learning is now an integral part of teaching and learning. However, with the coronavirus acting as a catalyst, e-learning is dramatically changing education as millions of students remain distance learners. Without the internet, there would be no teaching and learning right now; but on the same internet, disinformation, misinformation and malinformation flourish. In a Stanford...

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The Truth Wins Hearts and Minds: Journalist Exchange Shifts Views of U.S.

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Murrow participants from Africa work with a University of Minnesota student to make banners for the Gophers game that afternoon. Photo by Cynthia Norcross Willson

The world has never needed truth more than it does today, Secretary of State John Kerry remarked to a group of journalists earlier this month. His remarks came in early November 2016 at the beginning of the U.S. Department of State’s Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists, a 3-week professional exchange for journalists from around the world. Journalists are our truth-tellers and purveyors of nuance in a world becoming increasingly polarized. Continue  

Ukraine – Communicating Strategically

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Posing with Robert Johnson, Legislative Affairs in the Office of Senator Mark Kirk and also the former officer of Senator now President Obama.

Ukraine has been a constant topic in the global news cycle over the past year or so, especially since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014.  The public narrative and the news cycle around that particular event and the subsequent unrest in eastern Ukraine have been driven primarily by Western media on one hand and by Russian media outlets on the other.  Little in this global discussion and debate has been shaped by Ukraine’s own narrative.  One may legitimately ask, “Why is this the case?” In part this has to do with the reality of...

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Freedom of Expression Key to U.S.-France Counterterrorism

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Political debate is a critical part of French culture.

As in the United States, journalists and independent media play a critical role in French society. Dating back to the establishment of “fourth estate” the French have protected their right to investigate, critique, and lampoon those who hold positions of power. During a recent dinner with French journalists in Washington on the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), I was reminded of our shared values and challenges. My discussion with French journalists Vincent Jarnigon and Violette Lazard underscored a fundamental challenge binds us together. Both nations have nurtured the notion of freedom of expression and tolerance....

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