July 30 - More than 30 current and former participants, partners and friends of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Knight International Journalism Fellowships gathered in Amman, Jordan, this month at the first alumni reception designed to create a community and establish links among professionals who support media development.

Knight International Director Elisa Tinsley hosted the event at the Wild Jordan Restaurant, which overlooks one of the fastest-growing cities and media markets in the Middle East.
 
“We are working with the Knight Foundation … to develop an alumni network that is meant to connect and reconnect us to current and past participants and build a community of like-minded media specialists,” Tinsley said. “This is the first such gathering and we hope it will be the prototype for similar networking sessions around the world.”

She added, “I hope this reception gives you an opportunity to renew links to acquaintances and establish new ties. More importantly, I hope it will spark ideas that will strengthen media here, across the region and across the globe.”

Among the leading journalists and other members of the media community at the reception was Mahasen Al Emam, 2002 Knight International Journalism Award winner and Director of the Arab Media Women Center.
 
Tinsley was in Amman to participate in the first on-site orientation for a new Knight International Fellow: Mariam Sami, the program’s first Arab Fellow. The on-site orientation is among significant changes made this year to the Fellowship program, including the first global Fellows, the requirement that all Fellows speak the language of their host country, an emphasis on high-impact projects, implementation of monitoring-and-evaluation techniques, and the flexibility to initiate projects at any time to respond quickly to opportunities.