In November we had the pleasure of welcoming twenty-one journalists participating in the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists to northwest Florida and southern Alabama.
The diverse group represented 18 countries from Asia & the Pacific. They first met at Pensacola City Hall with Councilman Sam Hall for an introduction to the area and were also presented with certificates of honorary citizenship from the city at that time. After this meeting, the visitors briefly met with Laura Lee, the Media and Communications Manager at the Pensacola Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, where they were welcomed with area information packets.
Major General (Ret) Alfonsa ‘Al’ Gilley of STRIDE (Students Taking Responsibility in Developing Excellence) next met with the journalists to share the work of his community-based mentorship program that targets at-risk fourth and fifth grade male students. Later in the week, the journalists met with STRIDE mentors and students at Cordova Lanes and served as mentors themselves over several games of bowling.
At the end of the day, the group attended the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners Board Meeting to observe citizen’s participation in local government. Commissioner Gene Valentino recognized the group and thanked the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council for its efforts in bringing foreign visitors to the region.
For their second day in the area, our council split the journalists into different groups. Some remained in Pensacola while others went to Fort Walton Beach or Mobile. The group ranked this multi-city experience as one of their most beneficial as it gave them the opportunity to observe and interact with their American counterparts. One visitor, a newsroom editor from a Malaysian radio station, met with Dave Hoxeng at News Radio 1620, experiencing the live radio broadcast early in the morning and spending the remainder of the morning in the news department. Others who stayed in Pensacola shadowed journalists at the Pensacola News Journal (PNJ) and also met with Dick Schneider, executive editor of the PNJ, the most-widely read daily newspaper in the region.
The group that visited Mobile went to the studio of WALA Fox 10 where they had a brief tour and overview of the history of the station, followed by a meeting with the News Director and the opportunity to sit in on an a.m. news meeting. At the conclusion of this, some then traveled with reporters to cover current news while others remained in the studio and met with Fox10 managers. In the meantime, journalists in Fort Walton Beach met with Colin Lipnicky, editor of The Northwest Florida Daily News, and shadowed reporters covering local interest stories.
The final day began with a brief walking tour of the University of West Florida (UWF) journalism classrooms and labs. Dr. Bruce Swain, professor and head of the journalism program, gave the group a tour of the school’s facilities and coordinated a break-out session with UWF students & the foreign journalists were able to interact with each other. The journalists shared information about their home countries and gained insight on our country through by examining the students’ perspectives on current events.
Following the visit to UWF, the group headed downtown to meet Sava Varazo, the Environmental Programs Manager for the Water Quality and Land Management Division of Escambia County. Mr. Varazo discussed the local environment and a local public-private environmental partnership, Project GreenShores. Afterward, the visitors and Mr. Varazo went to the site and continued the conversation about the environment and development projects. Following this, the group visited WEAR Television where they toured the studio with Marilyn Leddy and observed part of the news broadcast.
Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council members Mr. & Mrs. Dick Schneider, Mr. & Mrs. Mike Bass, Bradley Proctor, Susan Smart, Dr. & Mrs. Allan Ford, and Keith Wilkins added much to the program by having the journalists to dinner in their homes. Enid Wilson and Mike Jurkowich also provided hospitality by driving interested guests to church on Sunday while Rita the Dreamcatcher driver went out of her way to help the group set up an impromptu barbeque on her day off. Thank you, everyone for working together to make this visit a success.
