MEDIA Getting a Glimpse of different news BY ALEX PROVAN

Most people, if they know anything about a foreign country, know it from reading the newspaper or watching TV news. But after living in southern France for six months, Nicholas Fitzhugh, 24, was astounded when he read about that region in American newspapers. "They just knew nothing about the actual country or the culture," he recalls.

A few years ago, as students at Brown University, Fitzhugh and Kerala Goodkin, 23, started looking for "a more valuable way of talking about foreign news and culture." They started the Glimpse Foundation, a Pawtucket-based nonprofit, that aims to create cultural understanding through cross-cultural dialogue and four main components: A print magazine; an online magazine (www. theglimpse.com); a biannual conference series; and a still-developing fellows program for international study. Financial support comes from private individuals and organizations, and the National Geographic Society.

Glimpse is based on the idea that meaningful exchange is rooted in personal perspectives and experiences. Goodkin and Fitzhugh see this sort of exchange as critical, yet lacking, in the contemporary world. Goodkin recounts her study abroad experience in Bolivia, and how her friends and family expressed concern for her safety before she left. In fact, her temporary home of La Paz, is an extremely safe city. "[But] when virtually any country in South America is covered in our news media," she says, "the story likely has to do with the drug trade or rampant political corruption." The popular image of South America — as a place of "unrestrained violence and political turbulence" — has more to do with the exaggerated focus of the American news media than reality.

The print version of Glimpse Magazine is published seasonally, with a circulation of 3000, and includes a selection of the best articles from the related Web site. Both highlight stories written by correspondents who live abroad long enough to be immersed in a culture. These are mostly American college students or recent graduates who learn about Glimpse through their study abroad office. In the magazine, readers experience a culture vicariously, through the author’s first-hand experiences.

Often, these articles center on the identity of Americans abroad. Goodkin says the foundation’s job is not to "dispel anti-Americanism," but the articles inevitably gravitate toward how Americans are perceived abroad. In one article in the online edition, called "I’m Beth . . . and I’m American," the author talks about her interaction with the Irish and how this helped them understand the difference between an actual American and the America sometimes vilified by international press.

Meanwhile, Glimpse’s semi-annual conference series offers Rhode Islanders a way to experience the sort of dialogue that can lead to cross-cultural understanding. The most recent conference, "Behind the News: US Military Presence Abroad," took place on April 29 at Providence College and focused on how American military activity is perceived by people from different cultural backgrounds.

Most people don’t have the ability to immerse themselves in another country for an extended period — the best way to gain understanding of a different culture. But the Glimpse Foundation offers an opening to insight beyond the usual headlines. The magazine’s writing serves as a complement and a reaction to traditional journalism. As Goodkin emphasizes, Glimpse does not exist to "offer the ‘right’ perspective, but as a way of offering a more complete picture of what’s going on in the world."