Ohio University announces 2024 Kiplinger Fellows

Eighteen veteran journalists with experience covering immigration and migration issues across the globe have been selected for the 2024 Kiplinger Fellowship in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio University.

The Kiplinger Fellows will come to Columbus and then travel to Ohio University, April 14-20, for a weeklong fellowship aimed at improving immigration and migration reporting. The majority of the fellows this year are freelancers who extensively cover immigration and migration issues for large media outlets or for dedicated online sites. 

Some of the fellows in this year’s class are also immigrants, moving from their original birth places because of economic or political strife, such as wars. The selection of these seven U.S. journalists and 11 international ones concludes a two-month review process of nearly 300 applications.

“We are again blessed with an amazing class of fellows from all over the world,” Kiplinger Program Executive Director Kevin Z. Smith said. “This topic is one of the most current and relevant anywhere you look in the world. Understanding immigration and migration issues and being able to convey the complexities of these stories is one of the most important jobs for a journalist in 2024, and we have an excellent class to take on the challenge.”

During the week at Ohio University, Fellows will have an opportunity to hear from leading experts on immigration and migration policies, from humanitarian organizations, as well as other journalists who cover the issues exclusively. The fellowship will consist of workshops and focus of themes like economic, climate, or political forced migration; border policies and immigration quotas, human trafficking and other related topics. 

The fellows will meet daily at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in Schoonover Center.

The U.S. Fellows include:

• Jordan Gass-Poorè, independent investigative journalist, podcast creator, New York City, N.Y.
• Alexandra Locke, executive producer, The Take, an Al Jazeera English podcast, Cambridge, Mass.
• Katie McQue, investigative freelance reporter, New York City, N.Y.
• Sophia Qureshi, publisher, 285 South magazine, Atlanta, Ga.
• Clavel Rangel, immigration communities freelance journalist, Miami, Fla. 
• Ralph Thomassaint, immigration journalist, Documented, New York City, N.Y.
• Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, communities correspondent, PBS Newshour, Dearborn, Mich.

International Fellows include:

• Amir Hadi Azmi, correspondent, South China Morning Post, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Morgan Black, reporter/anchor, Global News, Edmonton, Canada
• Alienor Carrieré, online freelance journalist, Lille, France
• Francisco Javier Carrión, reporter, El Independiente, Madrid, Spain
• Liz Cookman, freelancer British journalist, Kyiv, Ukraine
• Mahmoud Elsobky, freelance journalist, Brussels, Belgium
• Juan Luis Garcia Hernandez, reporter, Causa Natura, Mexico City, Mexico
• Cristina Lai Men, producer, TSF Radio, Lisbon, Portugal
• Erkinbek Kamalov, freelance immigration writer, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
• Magdalena Rojo, freelance journalist, Oaxaca, Mexico
• Pierina Sora, founder, Cápsula Migrante, Lima, Peru

The April gathering marks the 51^st year of the fellowship which was started in 1973 at Ohio State University following a generous gift from the Kiplinger family in honor of patriarch Willard Kiplinger, founder of the Washington Editors (WE). WE produced the Kiplinger Newsletter and Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine from 1920-2019. 

The Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism moved to Ohio University in 2019. 

In addition to the fellowship, the Kiplinger Program maintains a robust training schedule for professional journalists in the United States and abroad.