The application deadline for the Fall 2008 program was June 4. Applicants will be notified of the Selection Committee results by Friday, July 25.

Theme:	The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
Dates:	October 18 - November 9, 2008
Travel Destinations:	Honolulu, Hawaii; Phoenix, Arizona ; Erie, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC
Funding:	All program and travel costs for participants funded by a grant from The Freeman Foundation, of Stowe, Vermont.
Who May Apply:	Working print, broadcast or on-line journalists from Asia Pacific and the United States
Application Deadline:	Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Americans will go to the polls on November 4, 2008 to elect a new President and Vice President and to vote for a host of other national and local offices. For the first time since 1952, there is no incumbent President or Vice President seeking election, and for the first time ever, the primary field includes both an African American and a woman as front runners. The race for President will certainly be about personalities, character and experience. It also will turn on the candidates' positions on key issues that have a major impact on the lives of ordinary Americans as well other countries. This year, the war in Iraq, national security, the U.S. economy, globalization, trade, health care and immigration top the agenda. But as was seen in 2004, there are other factors that can sway the electorate: Will "values" voters again exert their influence? To what extent will a candidate's likeability play a role? And this year, what impact will gender or race have on the election?

This special Jefferson Fellowships program will provide journalists from Asia, the Pacific and the U.S. with an opportunity to explore the important issues in this 2008 election, learn about the U.S. political process, observe this historic election and finally, discuss the outcome with U.S. analysts and one another. The Fellows in this program will benefit from the rich opportunity to share among themselves the perspectives of journalists from across the region and the concerns of their governments and people.

After one week of discussion sessions with regional experts and one another at the East-West Center in Honolulu, participants will travel to various areas of the United States to discuss election issues and attitudes with policymakers, business leaders, community activists, and most importantly, voters from a range of important constituencies such as recent immigrants, retirees, blue collar workers, factory owners, religious groups, African American communities, young people and women. In Phoenix, Arizona, John McCain’s home state, Fellows will explore the complexities of health care and immigration. In Erie, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio, cities in America’s “rust-belt,” an area hard hit by globalization, the program will focus on attitudes toward the economy, trade, social values, and America’s future. Fellows will observe the election in Ohio, the state that determined the 2004 contest in favor of George Bush and which is predicted to serve as a bellwether again this year. They will then travel to Washington, DC for a discussion with analysts, policymakers, journalists and others on what the results mean for the United States and its relations with Asia, the Pacific and the rest of the world.

Please download the program announcement for full information about the Fall 2008 Jefferson Fellowships program.

Applicants must submit the two-page Jefferson Fellowships application form and all of the following:

• A letter outlining your issues of interest, a brief description of your news organization, and what you expect to accomplish if an award is granted. Please suggest topics you propose to address in your paper and presentation at the East-West Center (maximum three pages, double-spaced, please).
• Names, addresses, phone/fax numbers and e-mail of three people who may be contacted by the Center as references. Two of these references should be people outside your news organization. 
• A letter of recommendation on official letterhead from your supervisor describing your suitability for the Fellowship and the benefit the organization hopes to derive from your participation in the program.
• The “Employer’s Statement of Support” form completed by your employer (form is included in the downloadable application).

NOTE: Samples of your work are not required. If you wish to include samples, we prefer web links to articles (when possible) rather than hard copies.

Program and Application Downloads:

Fillable Adobe PDF version of application form

Fillable MS Word version of application form.

Adobe PDF version of program announcement.

Application deadline is Wednesday, June 4. Applications may be sent by post, fax or email. Contact details are as follows:

Jefferson Fellowships
East-West Seminars
East-West Center
1601 East-West Road
Honolulu, Hawai‘i  96848-1601, U.S.A.
Phone: 808-944-7682; Fax: 808-944-7600
E-mail: jefferson@eastwestcenter.org

The Jefferson Fellowships program was launched in 1967 to enhance public understanding through the news media of cultures, issues and trends in the Asia Pacific region, broadly defined as Asia, the Pacific Islands and the United States. The long-range goal is to help news organizations build staff expertise about regional concerns and trends, so that their readers, viewers and listeners may be better informed.

The Fellowships provide the participating journalists with a wide range of perspectives through dialogue with professional colleagues, participation in seminars and meetings with business and government decision-makers, scholars and students, social activists, cultural analysts and others. These contacts, and a network of close to 500 former Jefferson Fellows, provide participants with resources on whom to call when they plan, assign, edit and produce news coverage involving or affecting the region.

The first week of the program consists of dialogue among the Fellows, including a short seminar led by each Fellow; lecture discussions with East-West Center researchers and other experts; and field visits. This will be followed by a study tour to cities in Asia and/or the United States.

Australia:         Ms. Karon SNOWDON, Senior Journalist/Finance Correspondent,
                          ABC Radio Australia, Sydney

China:              Mr. PAN Zhongming, Deputy Director, China Daily, Beijing

India:               Ms. Ruhi KHAN, Principal Correspondent, New Delhi Television
                          Limited (NDTV), Mumbai

Indonesia:       Mr. Metta DHARMASAPUTRA, Managing Editor, Tempo Magazine,
                          Jakarta

Japan:             Mr. Shimpei IDE, Staff Writer, The Mainichi Newspapers, Osaka

Nepal:              Mr. Surendra PHUYAL, Correspondent, BBC World Service (BBC
                          Nepali Service), Kathmandu

Taiwan:            Ms. HSIEH Ching-Fang, Senior Journalist, China Times, Taipei

United States:  Mr. Thomas LEE, Business Reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune,
                           Minneapolis, Minnesota

                           Mr. Richard KATZ, Editor, Oriental Economist Report, New York 
                           City, NewYork

                           Ms. Kayla ROSENFELD, News Director, Hawaii Public Radio,  
                           Honolulu, Hawaii

                           Ms. Elizabeth YUAN, Duty Editor, CNN.com, Hong Kong

Vietnam:          Ms. NGUYEN Thuy Mien, Journalist, Thanh Nien Newspaper, Ho   
                          Chi Minh City

 
The 12 Fellows in the Spring 2008 Program, May 3-25, will explore the theme, "Beyond the Boomtowns: Development Challenges in 'the Other China.'" After one week of discussion sessions at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Fellows will travel to regions at different stages of economic and political development in China. The first leg starts in Beijing, where Fellows will look at that city’s efforts to stage the world’s biggest sporting event – the 2008 Olympics. After Beijing Fellows travel to Chongqing, China’s newest provincial-level municipality established with the direct aim to help manage the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Project. In Chongqing, Fellows will not only visit the city proper but also travel to its eastern districts, areas challenged by a variety of economic, social and ecological problems, first of which is the relocation of thousands due to the rising waters of the Three Gorges Reservoir. In the final leg, Fellows will travel overland through the province of Sichuan to the provincial capital of Chengdu, another epicenter of China’s effort to develop the west. 

 

Ann Hartman
1601 East-West Road
Honolulu, Hawaii 96848-1601
Phone: (808) 944-7619; Fax: (808) 944-7600
Email: jefferson@eastwestcenter.org