PANAMA -- Journalists working from the Panama provinces are not quite fortunate in regard to training: they live and work to far away from the country's capital and don’t have the same opportunities to take seminars and workshops usually available for their colleagues in Panama City.

Reporters and editors working in the provinces are usually non-staffers, working as free-lancer correspondents for the main newspaper, national TV and radio companies; Unless they are willing to travel to Panama on their own to attend the workshops, they rarely receive training.

In some instances the m

Diez editores y reporteros comenzaron el taller de periodismo de Mi Panamá Transparente. La primera sesión trató el tema de la ética periodística y el debate fue intenso y productivo.Panamá -- ¿En qué casos está justificado el uso del engaño para conseguir información sobre un caso relevante de impunidad o corrupción? Todo periodista debe respetar la ley, pero ¿cuáles son los dilemas éticos en aquellos casos en los que el reportero se ve obligado a violar alguna ley para conseguir y publicar información de alto valor público?

As a Mexican journalist living at the U.S.-Mexico border, I recognize the footprints of organized crime: drug-related executions, drug seizures, and drive-by shootings. I have seen these same signs in Panama. That’s why I think my project as a Knight International Journalism Fellow will be crucial for my Panamanian colleagues.

Citizens can tweet or submit an online form with their crime report. Soon they will be able to text as well. The reports are geo-tagged on a digital map using Ushahidi, an online platform that originated in Kenya to track violence during the elections.

Freelance journalists working in the Panama provinces are usually the last ones to receive training and support.