BELLVILLE — Journalists representing news agencies across the globe visited Bellville on Thursday during their three-day tour organized by the U.S. Department of State.
“What we do is facilitate coverage of the United States in the foreign press, so we work exclusively with foreign journalists who are based in the United States and reporting on the United States back to their home countries,” said Monica Shie, foreign service officer at the State Department. “We try to facilitate coverage by giving them access to officials, by giving them access to other venues and people and places that they might not ordinarily think of going to or think of meeting.
“Our objective with the state department is to tell America’s story and to make sure that the United States is represented in the foreign press in a way that is accurate and then on top of that, if possible, positive and that really reflects our American values.”
Tom Whatman of Whatman Realtors and Auctioneers and Whatman Farms hosted the journalists at his Bellville home.
“A friend of mine who lives in New York had a conversation with the State Department about this tour that they were bringing to Ohio and she suggested that they contact me about potential stops to make on their tour,” he said. “We talked about how they were going to be in Columbus and Cleveland and that since they were going to be going through the area it would be nice to make a stop in Richland County to get a different perspective.”
The tour began Wednesday in Columbus.
“We had a lot of meetings with, for example, the Democratic Party leadership, the Republican Party leadership, the Ohio secretary of state, the Ohio Supreme Court,” Shie said. “We went to OSU and interviewed students there, and now we’re moving toward Cleveland.
“We’re very grateful that Mr. Whatman invited us for lunch. It’s really an example of Ohio hospitality.”
After visiting Bellville, the tour stopped at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University and then the Bliss Institute at the University of Akron. The group will finish the tour in Cleveland on Friday.
The countries represented included Bulgaria, China, Congo, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Nigeria, Qatar, Sweden and Switzerland.
With the primary on March 15, the theme of the tour is elections.
“I think most of the journalists here are talking to different people about who they’re voting for and why and what are the issues and things like that,” Shie said.
The journalists had the opportunity to interview local elected officials, business owners, retired professionals, among others.
“We wanted to have a bipartisan group of voters here today,” Whatman said, as well as a variety of industries represented “to try to give as much perspective as possible.”
Mladen Petkov, a correspondent with Bulgaria National Radio, is intrigued by the election process.
“I follow issues that are very important and that shape American reality, and obviously the 2016 presidential campaign is something that everyone talks about,” Petkov said.
He noted that many people are fascinated with the American presidential election because of Donald Trump and his ratings.
“We met so many people who are against him, but still we see so many supporters,” Petkov said. “I’m just trying to figure out to what extent Trump’s rhetoric is indicative of American opinion about issues that he’s discussing.”
Anna Guaita, a correspondent for an Italian news agency, Il Messaggero, praised the State Department for organizing this tour.
“This trip has been really fruitful for me, and I think for all my colleagues here,” she said.
