U.S. Foreign Policy Formulation - East Asia and Pacific Journalists

June 18 - July 2, 2005, Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles
Contact: Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer: Joe Bookbinder
Telephone: 202-504-6354, Email: Bookbinderja@state.gov

Nine East Asian and Pacific journalists participated in the reporting tour.  The journalists represent newspapers and radio stations in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan with a combined audience exceeding 28 million.  Highlights of the Washington portion of the tour included briefings at the Senate, the Department of State, the Pentagon, and the Arab American Institute and with George Washington University and Georgetwon professors. 

The New York Foreign Press Center's schedule for the journalists provided them with the opportunity to meet with representatives of the American Jewish Committee, visit Ground Zero, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.  The group also received a VIP tour of the United Nations and attended the noon press briefing in which the Secretary General made a suprise appearance.  The group also had meetings at the New York Times and the National Review. 

The Los Angeles Foreign Press Center arranged briefings for the journalists with a senior member of the Rand Corporation, with a prominent UCLA Economics professor, with the General Manager of National Public Radio West, with the Director of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum, with members of the World Affairs Council of Ventura County and with several leading West Coast-based Muslim scholars and the Director of the Omar Ibn Khattab Foundation and Mosque.