Program News

Burns Alumnus Covers Stories from Across the Globe

CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen (Burns 2005) covered breaking stories around the globe this year. Pleitgen conducted an interview with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi just days after she was released from house arrest.

Knight International Fellow Wins Another Tech Award For "Voice of Chhattisgarh" Project

A project developed by Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary has won a technology award in India that recognizes unique initiatives to improve information sharing and citizen services through social media and Web 2.0 developments.

The 2010 India eGov 2.0 Award for Social Media Useage was presented Oct. 28 to Choudhary for his CGNet Swara , or “Voice of Chhattisgarh” project. “Voice of Chhatisgarh” enables trained citizen journalists in the remote Chhattisgarh region of India to produce news reports that local villagers listen to on their cell phones.

Citizen Journalists in Tribal India Use Cell Phones to Send and Receive News

In a remote region of central India, a citizen journalist reached for a cell phone recently, and with the push of a few buttons filed a report to a mobile phone news service developed by Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary. The story was about school workers going unpaid for more than a year, and included contact information for the education secretary.

Once it was confirmed and approved by professionals, the story was made available publicly. Subscribers to the news service got a prompt on their own cell phones that a new story had been posted.

Sikorski Mourns the Decline of Foreign Reporting in Berlin Dinner Speech

More than 150 Burns alumni, board members and guests gathered in Berlin on an unseasonably chilly June evening to hear from two Central European foreign ministers on topics as varied as transatlantic relations and the future of foreign correspondents.

Burns Alumna Sarah Wildman Wins Weitz Prize

Sarah Wildman (Burns 2008) won the Peter R. Weitz Prize for excellence and originality in reporting on Europe for a series she wrote for Slate. She conducted research for the series during her Burns fellowship. The $10,000 prize is awarded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and will be presented at an awards luncheon in July in Washington, D.C.

India’s Tribal Citizens Use New Cell Phone Network to Produce Local News

Dozens of citizen journalists in India’s chronically neglected tribal communities are producing and sharing audio news reports for the first time through an innovative cell phone system launched by a Knight International Journalism Fellow.

Members of India’s 80-million-strong Adivasi tribal community now have easy access through their mobile phones to reports on important issues such as housing evictions, police abuse and rural education.

Burns Alumni Gather for 2010 Dinner in New York

A crowd of about 100 alumni, trustees, staff and friends gathered for the annual Arthur F. Burns Fellowship alumni dinner at the Ritz Carlton in New York on February 23. They battled a fierce rainstorm to hear keynote speaker E. Gerald Corrigan, a managing director of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and chairman of the firm’s regulated bank subsidiary.

Coverage of U.S. Home Foreclosure Crisis Wins 2009 Burns Award

The 2009 German Burns Award winner looks at resistance by stressed U.S. homeowners facing eviction, while the Kennan Commentary Award winner looks at the changed meaning and interpretation of German “angst.”

Robert Zoellick Encourages Media to Shed Light on Economic Crisis

The Honorable Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank and former trustee of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, recently spoke about the state of the world economy to alumni, trustees and friends of the fellowship. The Goldman Sachs Group hosted the sixth annual alumni dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC, on Feb. 19.

ICFJ Boosts Climate Change Coverage in India

When the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) sent longtime journalist Arul Louis to boost reporting on climate change in India, he knew he faced a challenge. In the media of India, one of the developing world’s biggest and fastest growing economies, the topic of climate change has rarely bubbled to the surface.