U.S. Elections - East Asian and Pacific Journalists

September 18-October 2, 2004, Washington, DC, Chicago, IL, Detroit and Lansing, MI, Seattle, WA
Contact: Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer: Joe Bookbinder
Telephone: 202-504-6354, Email: bookbinderja@state.gov

Eleven East Asian and Pacific journalists participated in a reporting tour on "U.S. Elections."  The journalists who represent newspapers and television and radio stations in Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, produced more than 120 stories on their trip.  The journalists, whose newspapers have a combined circulation of 16.1 million and whose television and radio stations have a combined audience in the tens of millions, visited Washington, DC, Chicago, Detroit, Lansing and Seattle. 

In Washington, they attended an election overview briefing and conducted interviews with experts on grassroots organizing, campaign finance, television advertising and the role of foreign policy in the 2004 elections.  The group also held a roundtable discussion with politically active George Washington University students, attended a live broadcast of CNN's "Crossfire" talk show and enjoyed a VIP tour of the Congress.

In Chicago, the journalists were ably hosted by Derrek Hull, the Director of the International Press Center - Chicago.  They attended the Heartland Institute's Emerging Issues Forum, a conference which featured panel presentations by public policy experts on issues that play a major role in domestic U.S. public policy debates such as health care, the environment, free trade and outsourcing, economic forecasting and tax policy.  The group also had the opportunity to hear syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who was the keynote speaker at the Heartland Institute's lavish 20th Anniversary Benefit Dinner.  The group also conducted interviews with editors at the Chicago Tribune, with the leadership of the Chicago Federation of Labor and with officials of the Chicago Board of Elections.  The group also found time to attend a campaign rally for Barack Obama, the rising Democratic star and now Senator-elect from Illinois.

In the Battleground state of Michigan, the journalists interviewed leaders of the Michigan Democratic and Republican Parties as well as the Michigan Secretary of State and the Director of the Michigan Board of Elections who provided an overview of the election process from a logistical and legal perspective.  The group also interviewed Wayne State University Political Science professors, the leading members of the Dearborn League of Women Voters and the News Director of WDET, Detroit's Public Radio station.  The journalists also enjoyed tours of Detroit and a home-cooked dinner courtesy of members of the International Visitors Council of Metropolitan Detroit.

In the battleground state of Washington, the journalists interviewed a wide range of political experts including campaign managers for Congressional candidates, the head of the Christian Coalition, the editorial writers of the Seattle Times, a top Political Science professor from the University of Washington, the Publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly and the Seattle Chinese Post, a leading Seattle political blogger and members of the Alki Foundation (a group of Washington state business leaders who endorse candidates).