Reporting Tours – Foreign Press Centers

The Foreign Press Centers organizes press tours around key policy themes, and aspects of American society, culture, and politics. Tours are designed for resident foreign media in the United States as well as select international journalists.

  • NYFPC Earth Day Tour Focuses on Sustaining Resilient Coastal Land­scapes:  On April 17, 2024, Journalists visited the future site of the Center for Climate Solutions on Governors Island, which will feature a $700M academic and research campus when it opens in 2028.  The Center is considered a key part of the city’s blueprint for its economic recovery.  Governors Island is a 172-acre island in New York City’s Harbor, and a hub for education and research focused on the climate crisis as well as recreation destination.  The tour also made a stop at another island tenant, the Billion Oyster Project, a non-profit that is restoring oyster reefs in the harbor.  The island’s thriving ecosystem depends on public-private partnerships and a shared commitment to nature-based climate solutions and native habitat restoration. 
  • Reporting Visit to University of Maryland Quantum Researchers:  In the run-up to World Quantum Day  on April 14, foreign reporters visited the University of Maryland , an international powerhouse on quantum research and application to highlight American technological advancements.  The journalists in this FPC-arranged visit heard from University officials and leaders of IonQ, a start up company launched from the university’s quantum community, about the cutting edge research being done in the US. The scientists and researchers stressed the need for the U.S. and its partner nations, where patent law is respected, to lead global advancements in what promises to be game changing technology.

  • Journalists Explore U.S. History and Culture at the Apollo Theater: On March 20, 2024, the NYFPC organized a local reporting tour to the Apollo theater in Harlem. Executive Producer Kamilah Forbes and Apollo historian Mr. Billy Mitchell led a behind the scenes tour and briefing for FPC credentialed journalists. They expounded on the history of the Apollo and its centrality to American culture and social movements. They previewed the Apollo’s expansion with a tour of the historic theater that is soon to be closed for renovations and their new state-of-the-art theaters at The Victoria.

  • The FPC’s Super Tuesday Reporting Tour took FPC credentialed journalists to the Raleigh-Durham region in North Carolina to observe the state’s presidential, statewide and local primary elections on March 4-5, 2024. Journalists met with academics and state election officials and had the opportunity to interview candidates and voters in the swing state. On the tour, they met the executive director, information director and general counsel of the North Carolina State Board of Elections in Raleigh, setting the stage for elections administration in the state. At Duke University in Durham, journalists spoke with a panel of students representing different voter engagement organizations such as “Duke Votes,” a non-partisan student-led organization mobilizing students to vote discussed their engagement and experiences on campus. They also engaged with a panel of Duke political science faculty on subjects ranging from democracy and self-governance to polling and the information space. On the second day of the tour visited two polling locations led by an Associate Professor from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Participants observed and interviewed campaign volunteers and voters at each location, before finishing the trip at the John Locke Foundation where journalists learned about the organization’s policy influence in North Carolina.
  • From aircraft carriers to helicopters, the FPC’s NATO reporting tour offered journalists a comprehensive look at the capabilities of the U.S. Navy & NATO in North America. On November 29 and 30th, 2023, media from around the world engaged with top military officials & discussed global challenges. During the two-day visit, U.S.-based FPC journalists visited the Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia and toured the world’s largest naval station and visit the NATO commands, the only two in North America. 
  • On October 25, 2023, over 40 foreign reporters attended a press briefing with executive leadership from NYC Tourism + Conventions, the City of New York’s official destination marketing organization. The new Perelman Performing Arts Center, which opened in September as part of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, hosted the engagement and then led reporters on a tour of the facility.
  • From September 6 to 16, 2023, the FPC brought 12 foreign journalists representing different countries and global regions to the U.S. for an international reporting tour (IRT) focused on AI and technology. In Washington, DC, the group was briefed by the National Security Council, R, S/Tech, and NASA, as well as industry leaders, and members of Congress. They also toured the NASA Earth Information Center with climate data displays from NASA satellites in real time. Prior to their program in DC, the group traveled to Boston and Detroit, and met with leading academics from the University of Michigan, Tufts University, and learned about leading AI and tech companies such as Autodesk, Our Next Energy (ONE), and Waymo (a leader in driverless cars). They also explored lab incubator spaces and attended the Battery Show and Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo. The reporters have produced dozens of stories focused on tech innovation in the United States, the need for thoughtful regulation on AI, and the danger tech advances can pose to international security.
  • From July 23 – August 1, 2023, the FPC provided foreign journalists from African nations the opportunity to travel to the United States to explore the power of youth civic engagement while highlighting key themes of bilateral engagement from the December 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
  • On June 29, 2023, a local reporting tour took foreign journalists to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where the Kennedy Center Director and others discussed the role of the arts in addressing and leading discussions on issues around social justice and racial inequities, with a highlight of the Tony-award winning Best Musical 1776, as performed by a cast that reflects multiple representations of race, gender, and ethnicity. They also explored the legacy of President Kennedy by touring the Center’s fairly new permanent history exhibit.
  • On June 22, 2023, foreign journalists visited the Port of Baltimore as a part of a special Media Day program aboard the future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) that was commissioned on Saturday, June 24. Participants toured the ship and conducted interviews with Commanding Officer Cmdr. Kelly Craft and Command Master Chief, CMDCM Mark W. Melia.
  • On June 21-22, 2023, FPC credentialed journalists traveled to Houston Texas to participate in the domestic reporting tour “Energy Security: Powering the World.” Journalists explored the expansion of liquefied natural gas exports from the United States to help meet global energy demands. Participants toured the Sabine-Neches Waterway, which houses the United States’ largest energy manufacturer sites (including three LNG export terminals) in the country, visited Rice University’s Baker Institute, the Greater Houston Partnership, and the Energy Workforce and Technology Council. Journalists also received a briefing on Houston’s Climate Action Plan from Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston.
  • Marking World Refugee Day on June 20, 2023 the Foreign Press Centers arranged meetings in Salt Lake City for reporters from Brazil and Japan to report on refugee resettlement efforts.  Ranked as one most welcoming states for refugees, the reporters met with resettlement agencies, the State Refugee Coordinator, and spoke with several newly resettled refugees about their experiences.  Meetings underscored the significant positive political, social, and economic contributions refugees make to U.S. communities.
  • The DCFPC organized a reporting tour to the USAID Ops Center on June 16, 2023, with a briefing by Tim Callaghan, the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Director of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance . Journalists learned about USAID Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs), how the agency tracks disasters, and how they mobilize their experts to provide assistance. The briefers highlighted the bi-lateral partnerships inherent in USAID’s humanitarian assistance work and efforts taken to ensure emergency supplies truly end up in the hands of those in need during a crisis.
  • The NYFPC organized a press tour of the future site of the Universal Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx for foreign media on June 7, 2023. The museum is under construction and will open to the public in late 2024. June is National Black Music Month and August 2023 has been declared the 50th anniversary of hip hop, which traces its roots to the Bronx. Press also viewed an exhibition at the museum’s temporary location and interviewed the museum’s executive director and exhibition curators.
  • On May 25, 2023, the DCFPC organized a local reporting tour to the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum as it opens its new exhibit “To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington.” Participants toured the exhibit, met with curators, and spoke to some of the women of color featured in the exhibit as leaders in environmental justice. They also heard from the Museum’s Environmental Justice Academy, an education program for young students.
  • From November 2-10, 2022, The FPC brought 22 journalists representing different countries and global regions to the U.S. for an international reporting tour (IRT) to cover the midterm elections in Arizona and North Carolina, and explain how our democracy and political systems function. The journalists interviewed voters, attended get-out-the-vote efforts, visited polling locations, attended candidate rallies, and learned about issues of importance to voters. In Phoenix, AZ the group heard from the Arizona League of Women Voters, had a meeting with the Maricopa County Recorder, and toured the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. For Election Day, the IRT participants visited two polling stations in Raleigh and Durham, NC with a final stop at the UNC at Chapel Hill for a debrief. They also traveled to Morrisville, NC to meet with non-profit organizations Democracy North Carolina and Southern Coalition for Social Justice, who work on increasing voting access and limiting the influence of big money. Election day concluded at the Wake GOP’s official Election Night watch party and a watch party for a Democrat Wiley Nickel, where journalists had an opportunity to take pictures, film B-roll, conduct interviews, and watch election results come in. On the final tour day journalists met with the Dean and Associate Professors at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, followed by a meeting with a group of student activists from the Polis Student Committee.’
  • Nine journalists from seven Western Hemisphere countries traveled to Texas and New Mexico to better understand the dangers facing irregular migrants attempting to journey to and enter the United States at its southwest border. The reporters heard from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials while traversing the difficult terrain and observing border infrastructure, including various forms of search and rescue technology.  Additionally, they watched the process of regular border crossings at both vehicular and pedestrian crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border. During their visit, the journalists interviewed people from a number of countries who spoke first-hand of their often harrowing journeys, during which they encountered considerable natural dangers, as well as those posed by human traffickers and organized crime.
  • Twenty-six journalists visited the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library (NYPL) on a May 12, 2022 Foreign Press Center tour.  The NYPL with 92 locations and 56 million items is the nation’s largest library system and the fourth largest in the world.  The NYPL receives approximately 16 million visits through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its online resources.  The president, Tony Marx, spoke to the group about the library’s extensive multilingual resources, including books in over sixty languages through its World Languages Collection; multilingual storytimes; ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) and citizenship classes; and research materials representing other countries.  Journalists also toured the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures, with Declan Kiely, the library’s Director of Special Collections and Exhibitions. 
  • In advance of Earth Day (themed Invest in Our Planet this year), the NY Foreign Press Center partnered with the Javits Center on April 11 to host a press tour for nine journalists. Alan Steel, President and CEO of the Javits Center, underscored the facility’s commitment to sustainability in his welcoming remarks.  Jacqueline Tran, the center’s energy and sustainability director, then led media to the rooftop to view the new $1.5 billion expansion project which includes a one-acre working farm, orchard, and pollinator garden. The expansion project also includes the installation of 3,000 solar panels, making the rooftop solar farm the largest in Manhattan upon completion.  The project achieved a LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2021. The tour included the 6.75-acre green roof which absorbs up to seven million gallons of storm water run-off annually and reduces heat gain throughout the building. Outlets based in Brazil, Finland, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom sent their NY-based reporters to cover the sustainability upgrades at the Javits.
  • Reporting Tour on the “U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC),” September 28-29, 2021.  Foreign correspondents from seven leading financial and economic news outlets in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Hong Kong, and the UK participated in a two-day FPC reporting tour to Pittsburgh, PA to cover the Inaugural U.S.-EU Trade and Technology CouncilMeeting from September 29-30. The participants covered remarks by EU and U.S. officials and participated in a press gaggle with Secretary Blinken.
  • Virtual Reporting Tour on “Combatting the Climate Crisis through U.S. Innovation,” May 10-28, 2021.  Fifty journalists from all regions participated in virtual briefings from Washington DC, Detroit, MI, and Denver, CO. Briefers from the U.S. government, the private sector, NGOs, and others discussed foreign policy priorities on the climate crisis, with a focus on emissions, renewable energy, and U.S.-led research and innovation.
  • Virtual Reporting Tour on “U.S. 2020 Elections”  in the fall of 2020, engaged 181 journalists from 94 countries to participate in virtual on-the-record briefings about the U.S. electoral process from Washington, DC, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Colorado, and Michigan.  This program allowed journalists, unable to travel to the United States, the ability to report and explain the U.S. electoral system of government in the run up to the 2020 U.S. presidential elections to international audiences.

U.S. Department of State

The Lessons of 1989: Freedom and Our Future