News

Meet the New Director of the Knight International Journalism Fellowships

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) has named Benjamin Colmery as the director of the Knight International Journalism Fellowships. He replaces Jorge Luis Sierra, who will become a Knight Fellow specializing in global security initiatives for journalists.

Since 2010, Colmery has been the deputy director of the program.

Mariana Santos at 'Cracking the Code' Event: Where are the Women in Digital News?

Former ICFJ Knight Fellow Mariana Santos was featured in PBS MediaShift’s coverage of the Women Digital News Entrepreneurs Summit, “Cracking the Code.” The event was hosted by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) at the Ford Foundation in New York.

Business Insider Uses InfoAmazonia Maps to Visualize Fires in Amazon Rain Forest

InfoAmazonia, a data visualization map created by former ICFJ Knight Fellow Gustavo Faleiros, was used in a Business Insider article to visualize the grave danger facing the Amazon rain forest region.

“While the annual rate of deforestation has slowed in recent years...another, less talked-about issue the rain forest faces, is the threat of wildfires,” the story in the popular online site reads.

Periodistas en Riesgo Site Provides Safety Resources for Mexican Reporters

The name of Moisés Sánchez has been all over the news in Mexico the past few weeks, after his kidnapping in the state of Veracruz.

Former Knight Fellow Recreates the First Human Diaspora

Former ICFJ Knight Fellow Paul Salopek is quite literally on the journey of a lifetime: he is walking on foot for 30,000 miles, from Africa to South America, to recreate the migration of the first humans.

Key Tips for Understanding Freedom of Information Laws in Your Country

Independent Mexican journalist Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab shared a Pulitzer Prize with New York Times reporter David Barstow for their investigation into Walmart's expansion in Mexico, shrouded by corruption and bribery.

Xanic attributed the Prize to Mexico's young Freedom of Information Act; the investigation required more than 800 FOIA requests. Here she shares tips on how journalists can use their own countries' freedom of information laws.

Enhance Your Digital Security in 2015 with These Eight Tools

2014 has been a wakeup call for journalists to protect their sources and themselves, following Edward Snowden's release of NSA data showing that privacy is rare in this digital era.

News organizations began to protect data and readers by using HTTPs instead of HTTP.

Knight Fellow Rahma Mian on the Rapidly Changing Media in Pakistan

Media development consultant and ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow Rahma Muhammad Mian is creating a citizen-engagement lab in Pakistan to support data-driven media projects.

How Nigerian Journalists Use Design Thinking to Understand Their Audience

The way we told stories in the past doesn’t always work today. Traditionally, editors and reporters would think of stories they believed the audience needed, and then deliver those stories as best they could. But in our increasingly mobile and wired world, audiences change quickly. How can an editor be confident that a story that seems important to the audience really is?

The short answer: By getting to know the audience so deeply that their needs are revealed. If that sounds impossible, take heart.

How to Encrypt Emails Using Digital Plugin Mailvelope

Encryption is important. There are very few people that would doubt that, especially in media.

Too often the places we work in and the people we seek to expose are in a position to intercept, listen and read our communications. There are many tools available, but they are frequently difficult to understand, much less use.

There are many levels of efforts to assuage paranoia, from fully encrypted VPN-only communication to air-gapped laptops.