In August 2019, the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council had the pleasure of hosting a group of four journalists from Thailand through the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on a project titled Journalism: Research and Investigation. On their visit to the United States, these journalists had specific objectives they hoped to accomplish. They included: “exploring the role that journalists play in U.S. society, analyzing the values and ethics that underlie media investigation and the impact of investigative journalism on U.S. history and current politics and society, assessing the impacts of social media and citizen journalism on finding credible information, and reviewing the efforts made by communities and experts to ensure the sustainability of accuracy in news reporting.”
Upon arriving in Pensacola, the group had a first impression of the friendly and hospitable community life we hold dear in our area by being hosted for lunch by Faye & Bob Robinson and for dinner by Drs. Megan & Jerry Pratt.
The next morning, the visitors were officially welcomed to Pensacola by City Council Executive Don Kraher and District Six Council Member Ann Hill in the City Council Chambers. The visitors learned about the history of the area as well as the current local economy and demographics. Public Information Officer Kaycee Lagarde was also present as the guests attended Mayor Grover Robinson’s press conference.
After attending this meeting, the visitors went to a volunteer activity at Serving the Hungry with Volunteer Coordinator Katie Ramsey. The purpose of this activity was to expose them to American volunteerism and to give them the chance to work alongside volunteers so they could understand their reasoning for contributing time to feeding the less fortunate. After this activity, Joyce Black of Visit Pensacola greeted them with a smile and souvenir.
They then had a site visit to the WEAR TV studios, where they met with fellow broadcast professional News Anchor Bob Solarski. Mr. Solarski led a discussion on the workings of the newsroom at WEAR and explained the studio’s process of news research, reporting, and broadcasting to the public. Afterward, the visitors observed a live broadcast from the studio floor.
The next day, the visitors interact with members of the community during a community coffee. Here, they met League of Women Voters member Suzanne Carpenter and two recent high school graduates and members of the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council Youth Diplomat’s Program, Eden Davenport and Maurice Parker. Their topics of discussion included the role of investigative journalism in Thailand and the U.S. and media literacy in American youth.
At their next meeting, the visitors met Rick Outzen, publisher & owner of InWeekly. He shared his paper’s role in investigative reporting in the community and discussed the operations of running an independent weekly newspaper.
At their last appointment, the visitors met with Attorney Meredith Crawford of Wade Palmer Shoemaker, Attorneys at Law, to explore the Florida Sunshine Law.
Thank you, everyone, for contributing to the success of this IVLP project.
