Citizen Journalism

Apr 182012

In the Works: A Mobile App to Help Jordan's Farmers

by Ayman Salah

Tomato farmers all over Jordan face a daily challenge. Should they collect their daily crops and send them to the central vegetable markets without knowing the market availability or price? If there is a big stock of tomatoes in that market, high supply and stable demand reduce the prices. Sometimes there aren't enough buyers and the produce goes to waste. Since there are no tomato processing facilities in Jordan, the result is a direct loss to Jordanian farmers.

Jordan Tomato Farmers

Farmers in Jordan will get reports on their cell phones about price fluctuations and market demand so they can better sell their goods. (Photo by Luigi Guarino)

Apr 112012

Frontline SMS: How Lives Are Changing in Rural Indonesia, 160 Characters at a Time

When Knight International Journalism Fellow Harry Surjadi launched his mobile news network in rural Indonesia, it relied on Frontline SMS technology to work -- allowing citizens to text news reports that are sent to journalists, activists and others, and are aired on Ruai TV.

The project has been so successful -- empowering indigenous people to make their voices heard -- that Frontline SMS is profiling the project as an example of how journalists can use the software as an innovative

Program: 
Indonesia: Launch a Mobile Environmental News Service for Rural Communities
Apr 92012

Jineth Bedoya Lima: An International Woman of Courage

by Ronnie Lovler

There are more than 300 journalists working in the converged media newsroom of ICFJ partner El Tiempo, but one stands out – not just as an award-winning journalist but also because of the trauma and travails she has survived along the way.

It was 2000 and Jineth Bedoya Lima, then just 26-years-old, was covering a story about arms smuggling at La Modelo prison in Bogota for El Tiempo newspaper, where she is now deputy justice editor. When Bedoya Lima left the prison, she was seized by a group of paramilitaries who gang raped her.

Colombia-jineth bedoya lima

Knight Fellow Ronnie Lovler (left) says she is lucky to work alongside Jineth Bedoya Lima in the El Tiempo newsroom.

colombia-jineth bedoya

El Tiempo reporter Jineth Bedoya Lima is receiving this year's International Women of Courage award for her coverage of women and violence in Colombia.

Panama Shootout

Twelve professional journalists and four students participated in the workshop.

Panama Shootout

The workshop featured Alicia Ortega, an investigative reporter and TV anchor from the Dominican Republic, interviewed here by a TVN reporter.

Panama Shootout

The investigative reporting workshop presenters included (l-r) Axel Rivera, news director for Medcom-Telemetro; Alicia Ortega, SIN vice president; Guido Rodriguez, TVN news director; John Law, acting U.S. ambassador, who inaugurated the workshop; Victor Castillo, investigative reporter; and Flor Ortega, executive director of the Forum of Journalists.

Panama Shootout

Knight Fellow Jorge Luis Sierra (left) checks his flip cam video at the TVN facilities in Panama City. To his right, an editor prepares a story on the shootout for broadcast.