The 2022 World Press Institute fellows will begin their fellowship in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, spend time in several small Minnesota towns, and then visit seven (7) major cities across the country meeting with community, business and political leaders as well as policy experts and journalists. Themes this year are racial equity & police reform, nuclear threats and security, the upcoming 2022 congressional elections, and new business models for journalism in the digital age.
Here is an outline of this year’s schedule:
March 18: Fellows arrive in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
March 20: Welcome reception at the University Club with Minneapolis/ St. Paul host families.
March 21: Orientation to the program with WPI Executive Director David McDonald and WPI staff. Visit with Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, John Tunheim, former head of a federal panel that declassified many of the documents about the John F. Kennedy assassination.
March 22-25: Three days of briefing and discussion of journalism and other issues with University of St. Thomas faculty, John Ullmann, former Assistant Managing Editor for Investigations at the Star Tribune, and Tom Hanson, former U.S. diplomat, and a briefing on nuclear threats and security by an expert from the MacArthur Foundation. Also, visit to George Floyd Square and discussion with George Floyd Global Memorial Executive Director and meeting with Minneapolis City Council President Andrea Jenkins.
March 27-April 1: A visit to the town of Grand Marais, on the North Shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. Fellows will engage in a local community forum, a visit to the Gunflint Trail, Cook County History Museum, and Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center. Later in the week, back in the Twin Cities, a meetings with St. Thomas professors, and the State of MN Agriculture Commissioner Thom Peterson.
April 4-8: The week begins with visits to farm country and various agricultural organizations and projects. Back in the Twin Cities, meetings with MN Attorney General Keith Ellison, Northside Achievement Zone, a reporter shadow day, and a visit to Hubbard Broadcasting/KSTP-TV.
April 9-16: New York City, where fellows will meet with a variety of news outlets including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, MSNBC, NYU’s School of Law – The Policing Project, the Council on Foreign Relations, the United Nations and the 911 Memorial & Museum.
April 16-22: Washington, D.C., where the focus will be on nuclear threats and security and on the changing face of journalism including visits with Washington Post, Politico, Research, the Arms Control Association, the Stimson Center, the Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institution, and more.
April 22-27: Miami, where fellows will visit the Miami Herald, a Hispanic political polling firm, Univision (the Spanish language television network), and a political science professor who specializes in political conspiracies.
April 27-May 1: Austin, Texas, where the fellows will explore Texas politics, polling and the media with visits to The Texas Tribune, meetings with political experts and University of Texas academics, and a visit to cattle country outside of Austin.
May 1-5: Chicago, where visits include the MacArthur Foundation, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, policy experts at the University of Chicago, a visit with the Co-Directors of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, a tour of the Chicago History Museum, and a walking tour with the Chicago Architecture Center.
May 5-10: Off to the West Coast and San Francisco where fellows will visit new media companies, the Center for Investigative Reporting and Reveal, N Square (a nuclear policy organization), and policy experts at California Universities.
May 10-14: Los Angeles where the journalists will visit with a variety of new media companies, policy experts, and local journalists.
May 16-21: Back to the Twin Cities for a final week of activities with faculty and students at the University of St. Thomas, host families and WPI sponsoring companies. A graduation ceremony and final banquet will be held on May 19 and the fellows will depart on May 21.