After training at the Missouri School of Journalism, the Alfred Friendly fellowship Class of 2022 produced a range of incisive stories during their first month in host newsrooms.
Somesh Jha and Parth Nikhil are reporters from India and fellows from our partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Project. Alfred Friendly Fellows often spend much of their first few weeks observing and learning, but Jha and Nikhil quickly got bylines with explanatory articles for the Los Angeles Times.
Jha used a question-and-answer format to explain why bitcoin, luna and other cryptocurrencies crashed in May. Nikhil informed California readers about an unseen problem below the beautiful blue water of Lake Tahoe: trash, tons of it that a team of scuba divers is collecting. 
The Kansas City Media Collective is also getting double barrels from a pair of Alfred Friendly Fellows: Chencho Dema, a reporter from Bhutan working for NPR-affiliate KCUR, and Saurav Rahman, a multimedia journalist from Bangladesh working for KCPT, a PBS station.
Dema, a staffer for Business Bhutan back home, wrote a story for the radio and digital platforms about an outreach effort launched by a local Heart to Heart organization. The group from suburban Kansas City delivered $15 million worth of medical supplies to a warehouse in Slovakia, which will then be transported across the border to help those in Ukraine.
Rahman, who hosts a popular business show for his TV station in Dhaka, wrote a story and created graphics for the digital platform called Flatland. The article was about the rate of business failures in Kansas and Missouri. Here’s the lead:
Colorful balloons, ribbons, unlimited drinks, food and of course music. There was everything at the ribbon cutting of Pirate’s Bone Burgers second outlet in town on May 12.
On top of all these joyful arrangements, though, was something that could not be seen in a tangible sense – a dream. A dream to grow as much as possible, so that a small initiative on Main Street can happen again in another state, and someday spread the brand beyond the country.
