The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program

President-elect Barack Obama at a rally in Manassas

Readers and listeners all over the world enjoyed special insight into the U.S. presidential election as a result of the Elections 2008 Visiting Journalists Program, which brought 48 journalists from 46 countries to cover the historic campaign and vote.

The program, which ran from Oct. 22 to Nov. 6, was designed to let the journalists see American democracy at work. To achieve that goal, it placed them at the center of the electoral storm.

The visiting journalists fanned out to battleground states around the country and worked in newsrooms as far north as New Hampshire, as far south as Florida and as far West as Colorado, reporting alongside American reporters and watching both the political process and the role of the U.S. media.

During the two-week program, which was sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Press Center, the journalists attended campaign rallies of the major candidates and talked to political experts and ordinary voters. They also received a series of briefings in Washington, D.C., from election scholars and political leaders, including Sen. Richard Lugar on Indiana, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

To view a complete list of participants, click here.