Gatekeepers in Motion   

Steven Smith enjoyed Indonesia so much that he stayed an extra week.

Smith, the wire editor of the Myrtle Beach Sun News, was one of 12 editors chosen by the Pew Fellowships in International Journalism for a week-long expedition in June to discover more about Indonesia's culture.

The first "Pew Gatekeeper Fellowships" were awarded to these wire editors to help them become better gatekeepers--the ones deciding what international news makes it into the paper--by gaining an understanding of a foreign land.

"I didn't apply to go on the trip because of my paper's interest in Indonesia," Smith says. "I applied because of our interest in the world as a whole. It's good to get out and see another country, especially one that is just beginning to build a democracy."

Indonesia's recent transition from autocracy to democracy was one of the reasons it was chosen for this first expedition. Editors from across the United States received an expense-paid trip and the opportunity to mingle with factory workers, students, cabinet officials, U.S. ambassadors and Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. The editors reported on what they discovered, sending stories back to their papers throughout the course of the trip.

"It was an experiment, but a very successful one," says John Schidlovsky, director of the Pew Fellowships in International Journalism. "The idea is to let editors see for themselves what is happening in other countries."

This time, applications were limited to newspaper editors, but next spring, the program plans to include broadcasters.

Smith calls the trip an enlightening experience. And Schidlovsky says that the range of participants, from newspapers of various sizes, added something to the discovery.

"Not only did the gatekeepers learn about Indonesia," Schidlovsky says, "they learned about each other."