By Tokpa Tarnue,tarnue82@gmail.com
Washington DC (USA)- A Liberian double Award-Winning Journalist Tokpa Tarnue and 23 other African Media Personalities are currently benefiting from a three-week professional media tour in the United States of America.
The three weeks activities are part of the U. S. Department of State International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP).
The 2023 Edward R Murrow Program for Journalists Media Responsibility in an Age of Disinformation is running from September 1-23, 2023 in Washington DC with travels off participants to other strategic locations including Helena in Montana, Orlando in Florida, St. Petersburg in Florida and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
A cross-section of participants from around the world
While in these locations, participants are engaged with key stakeholders within the U. S. systems to explore the roles of government agencies, NGOs, academia including traditional and social media in the fight against the spread of disinformation/misinformation and or deceptive or fack news.
The three weeks program founded by the U. S. Department of State is being implemented by the Family Health International (FHI) 360, a global organization forcing on improving the lives in lasting ways.
Some key topics being discussed over the three weeks include: Introduction to U. S. Federal Government Structure, the threat and impact of Disinformation on Global Society and Security, Global initiatives to Combat Disinformation and Strengthen Journalism and Media Literacy.
Others are, Combating Disinformation in Local and State Government, Local initiatives to Combat online hate campaigns, Government Media Relations, Journalism in the Digital Age with site visits to local print, television and radio news stations among several others.
These visits reflect the visitor’s professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the U. S. government.
Participants during this stay are expected to gain a greater understanding of the cultural and political influence in the U. S. and are to return to their respective communities and undertaker initiatives that positively impacts their countries.
The International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) launched in 1940s seeks to build mutual understanding between the United States and other nations through carefully designed professional visit to the United States for current and emerging foreign leaders.
Each year, over 4,500 IVLP participants from all over the world are selected by the U. S. embassies to travel to the United States to meet and confer with their professional counterparts.
Over 320 current and former heads of government and state and many other distinguished world leaders in the public and private sectors have participated in the International Visitors Leadership Program