Beyond the FPC

Thematic Tours
The Centers provide a broader view of American society than journalists might get just in Washington, New York or Los Angeles. Periodically, the Centers organize tours for the foreign media. The tours range from something as short as a visit to the chambers of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice to three- or four-day trips to several states to facilitate coverage of key political campaigns. Center staff members handle logistics, provide ground transportation and try to negotiate for group discounts on accommodations and travel. Journalists pay their own travel, meal and lodging.

The Foreign Press Centers work closely with U.S. Embassies to assist journalists visiting the United States to cover news events and stories. If you are not based in the U.S. but plan to travel to the U.S. on assignment and would like our help, contact the press officer at the U.S. Embassy when you begin to plan the visit.

Examples of recent programs organized by the Foreign Press Centers include a visit to the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina where participants looked at the roles of government, industry and universities in fostering growth of technology-based industries, and a tour to Seattle that exposed reporters to the Asia trade and high-tech orientation of the Pacific Northwest. Other tours focused on political issues, such as the expansion of NATO, or helped journalists cover U.S. domestic issues such as women's roles and feminism, election campaigns, welfare reform, race relations, and the workings of Wall Street.

International Media Centers
When major news events occur outside Washington or  New York City, the Foreign Press Centers set up a filing center at the site and sends officers to assist journalists.

In the last few years, the FPC has set up filing facilities at the Democratic National Convention, the Republican National Convention, the Summit of the Americas in Miami, the meeting of APEC economic leaders in Seattle and the 50th Anniversary NATO Summit. Foreign Press Center officers assisted at the U.N. Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, President Clinton's meetings with President Yeltsin in Vancouver, the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid, the Denver Summit of the Eight, and the Wye River Middle East Peace Talks. We were heavily involved with support for the 4,000 journalists visiting Washington for the 1999 NATO 50th Anniversary Summit.