2024 Kiplinger Fellows focus on media coverage of complex immigration issues

Seventeen veteran journalists from around the world are back at home, taking the lessons learned about the coverage of complex immigration and migration issues during the 2024 Kiplinger Fellowship in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio University and applying it to their work. From April 14 – 20, the fellows attended 14 sessions led by fellow journalists and immigration experts in Columbus and Athens learning about how to cover the complicated issue in a way that is fair and understandable to their local audience. 

“Each year we focus on a different topic. The whole purpose of the fellowship is to improve the quality of the reporting in that particular subject matter,” said Kevin Smith, executive director of the Kiplinger Program. “How you do that is put experts in front of them who help them clarify the issues better and colleagues to help them understand their reporting skills.”

Seven of the 2024 Kiplinger Fellows are from the United States, 10 are international (from Malaysia, Canada, France, Spain, Belgium, Mexico, Portugal, Peru and Kyrgyz Republic).

Since 1973, journalists have competed for prestigious Kiplinger Fellowships. In recent years, hundreds of journalists from around the world have applied annually for 20 to 25 slots – positioning the Kiplinger Fellowship among a handful of nationally prominent journalism fellowships. The highly coveted fellowships provide lodging, most meals and free training – thanks to the generosity of the Kiplinger Foundation and Kiplinger family.

Knight Kiplinger addressed the fellows at the beginning of the week in pre-recorded opening remarks. He urged journalists to “lay aside preconceived notions and get behind the myths and angry rhetoric on all sides.”

Kiplinger is editor emeritus of the Washington, DC-based Kiplinger Publications which offers economic forecasting and personal-finance advice. For 51 years, the Kiplinger family has supported education for mid-career journalists via the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs. Since 2019 this program has been based at Ohio University.

Kiplinger told the group that immigration and migration are global challenges which could be solved with honest, fact-based discussion among people of goodwill.

Over the years, Kiplinger Fellows have been chosen from some of the most influential newsrooms across the United States and around the globe. Journalists have been selected from the Associated Press, BBC, CBS News, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, NBC News, New York Times, PBS Newshour, Slate, USA Today, Univision, Washington Post and dozens of other news organizations. International journalists have traveled to Ohio State from Afghanistan, China, Colombia, Great Britain, Greece, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Panama, the Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and other nations.