Democracy is in crisis partly because of the deep erosion of accurate, fair and trusted journalism, keynote speaker Serge Schmemann of The New York Times told a rapt audience in the Cosmos Club ballroom during ICWA’s centenary dinner on Nov. 14, 2025.
But the message from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist—who’s reported about some of the most consequential global events in Russia, the Middle East and Africa over the last half-decade—wasn’t all sobering. Foreign correspondents “used to tell everyone who would listen that we had the best job in the world. And most of us actually believed it,” he said. “Now here this evening… I find that all along there’s been an even better gig out there.”
“It turns out that for a century now, ICWA has been providing fellows with everything we had back in the day, funds to travel, whatever they want to do to have crazy adventures,” he added. “Now that’s a gig!”
Former ICWA fellow Andrew Weil also spoke by video about his fellowship in South America and elsewhere, which he said laid the foundations for his pioneering work in integrated medicine.
Ahead of dinner, former fellow and current trustee Bacete Bwogo led a rousing performance of South Sudanese music. The fabulous evening was the centerpiece of a weekend of events marking the centenary of the institute’s founding in 1925.
Top photo: Andrew Weil fellow in Brazil, Rowland Robinson accepts congratulations.
