The 2024 World Press Institute (WPI) fellows will kick off their fellowship in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, followed by visits to several small towns across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. They will then travel to six major cities across the United States, where they will engage with community leaders, business executives, political figures, policy experts, and fellow journalists.
This year’s program is set to address some of the most critical issues of our time: the complexities of the 2024 U.S. elections, the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism, and the exploration of innovative business models in the fast-changing digital media landscape.
Here’s an overview of this year’s schedule:
Sept. 6: Fellows arrive in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Sept. 8: Welcome reception with Minneapolis/ St. Paul host families.
Sept. 9: Orientation to the program with WPI Executive Director Zach Mullinax and others.
Sept. 10-13: Three days of briefing and discussion of journalism and other issues with the University of St. Thomas faculty, plus visits to Minnesota Public Radio and to Hubbard Broadcasting/KSTP-TV. Fellows also will meet with Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon; with U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim, who headed a federal panel that declassified many of the documents about the John F. Kennedy assassination; and the Fellows will be featured in a public forum on global elections.
Sept. 15-20: The fellows will visit the picturesque town of Grand Marais, on the North Shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. During their stay, they’ll participate in a local community forum, explore the Gunflint Trail, and visit the Cook County History Museum and the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe (native American people). Later in the week, back in the Twin Cities, they’ll meet with professors from the University of St. Thomas, engage with legal and elections expert Barbara McQuade, and make a brief trip to Wisconsin to speak with farmers and local voters in this critical swing state for the U.S. elections.
Sept. 22-27: The week kicks off with visits to farm country and various agricultural organizations, including the Amana Society near Iowa City. Fellows will then engage in meetings, participate in community forums, and tour the Living Building Challenge-certified eco-friendly facility in Muscatine, Iowa. Returning to the Twin Cities, they will meet with Tom Hanson, a former U.S. diplomat, and connect with representatives from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The week will conclude with a workshop on AI and the modern newsroom, led by WPI alum and board member Camilla Bath.
Sept. 28 – Oct. 4: Washington, D.C., where the focus will be on the 2024 elections and the changing face of journalism, including visits with Washington Post, Politico, Axios, CBS News, the Foreign Press Center, the Heritage Foundation, and more.
Oct. 5-11: New York City, where fellows will meet with a variety of news outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, The Associated Press, and others.
Oct. 12-15: Miami, where fellows will visit the Miami Herald and the Spanish language television network Univision, meet with the Knight Foundation to discuss their work in media and journalism, and speak with a political science professor who specializes in political conspiracies.
Oct. 16-21: Phoenix, where the fellows will explore Arizona politics in this key swing state, meet with experts at Arizona State University, and visit the U.S.-Mexico border to discuss trade and immigration.
Oct. 22-25: Off to the West Coast and San Francisco, where fellows will visit new media companies, the Center for Investigative Reporting and Reveal, Subtext, Google News, and San Quentin Prison’s media department, and speak with policy experts at California universities.
Oct. 26-30: Chicago, where visits include the MacArthur Foundation, experts at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, a tour of the Chicago History Museum, and a walking tour with the Chicago Architecture Center. The Fellows will also participate in another AI workshop.
Oct. 31 – Nov. 9: 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 Nov. 8 and the fellows will depart Nov. 9.