On Wednesday, November 4th, citizen diplomats and international visitors participating in an Edward R. Murrow International Visitor Leadership Program gathered via Zoom to discuss their thoughts on the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. Their national program was arranged by Mississippi Consortium for International Development and their local program was arranged by Gulf Coast Diplomacy.
With coffee and tea in hand, the conversations took off as guests were sent to breakout rooms to discuss current events in a casual, coffee-house style setting. Following the historical presidential race, journalists from eleven European countries had the chance to pose questions to a range of American participants about their views and faith in U.S. journalism. It provided the unique opportunity to have an open forum amongst candid citizens and to learn more about international perspectives on U.S. politics.
As a participant myself, I found the conversations to be refreshing compared to the tension normally felt when someone brings up politics in mixed company. Though the discussions centered on hot button political topics, I found a respectful audience of curious listeners who were open to understanding the diverse perspectives of each group.
While being bounced around to new groups after each twenty-minute conversation, participants had the opportunity to talk to journalists from Austria, Finland, France, Greece, Montenegro, Poland, the Republic of North Macedonia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom.
Over the course of these conversations, topics ranged from the spread of misinformation during the 2020 Presidential race, individual preferences for national or regional news sources to obtain credible information, and perspectives of individuals living in election swing states. With this breadth of topics, I was able to understand several international perspectives on the current socio-political climate in the U.S. and the views of my fellow Americans. The conversations were enlightening, as the professional perspectives of career journalists and media fact-checkers shared their concerns and interests in how Americans perceived their government and media outlets during an unprecedented election cycle.
The structure of the event provided ample room to build off conversations and added more to the next round of group discussions. By making the most of the current climate of a pandemic, Gulf Coast Diplomacy was able to host yet another engaging and educational event that seemed too short for all the enthusiastic participants. In a timely fashion, it allowed for international perspectives in peoples’ minds during a critical time in U.S. history, and primary sources for the international journalists to gain key knowledge from as they followed the current events from their respective countries.
– Eden Davenport, 2019 Youth Diplomats graduate
