News

We Will Not Be Silenced

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is outraged and saddened by the gruesome attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people were murdered and others injured in the magazine's offices in Paris by masked terrorists.

"We exist to expose acts of barbarism—and it's terrifying when the press is the target of such acts," said ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan.

ICFJ Knight Director Featured on Al Jazeera's 2015 Media Trends Segment

Jorge Luis Sierra, Director of ICFJ’s Knight International Journalism Fellowships program, was featured on a segment of Al Jazeera English’s The Listening Post.

ICFJ VP of Programs on Jailed Al Jazeera Journalists, State of Free Press in Egypt

During a panel discussion marking the one-year anniversary of the imprisonment of three Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt, ICFJ Vice President of Programs Patrick Butler emphasized the importance of freedom of the press in Egypt and around the world.

Al Jazeera’s Bahar Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste were arrested in Cairo on Dec. 29, 2013 after interviewing members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an opposition group banned in Egypt shortly after Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s takeover.

ICFJ VP of Programs Discusses Pros and Cons of New Technologies at VOA Urdu Town Hall

ICFJ’s Vice President of Programs, Patrick Butler, recently participated in Voice of America Urdu’s first Student Town Hall panel discussion, where he emphasized the importance of new and emerging journalism technologies but also stressed the value of traditional reporting practices.

The Town Hall discussion, “Digital Journalism: Challenges and Opportunities,” took place on Nov. 19 and featured several other media leaders from both the U.S.

Journalist Rescue Fund Could Protect Threatened Reporters, Promote Free Press

Over the past 22 years, 1,059 journalists have been killed. Worldwide, some 430 journalists are in exile from their home countries. Hundreds more are injured, persecuted, muzzled, and threatened, mostly by governments and sometimes by influential non-governmental forces, all interested in stifling a free, fearless press. Much of this happens in countries where autocratic regimes are the norm and press freedom is ignored.

Meanwhile, there’s a lot of lip service paid, often after the fact, to such threats. In December, for instance, the U.N.

ICFJ Focuses on Media Startups, Data Journalism at Guadalajara Book Fair

Thought leaders from the International Center for Journalists, including ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan and two Knight International Journalism Fellows, headlined panel discussions on media innovation at the Guadalajara International Book Fair.

Sponsored by the Universidad de Guadalajara, the nine-day fair featured panel discussions and workshops aimed at tackling challenges faced by journalists around the world.

Barnathan gave two speeches during the Book Fair.

How Reporters Can Ask the Right Questions of Databases

Investigative journalists often look to numbers to back up or fuel their reports, but the data they need can't always be found in a tidy spreadsheet or gathered straight from a source.

"As a journalist obviously your main tool is talking to people; it’s being able to ask the right questions of the right people," said ICFJ Knight Fellow Friedrich Lindenberg in a recent webinar on digital tools for investigative reporting.

How to Prevent the Spread of AIDS? Teach Girls to Save Money

During a recent visit to Kenya for an ICFJ exchange program, PBS NewsHour editor Ellen Rolfes reported on a groundbreaking program: Teaching girls to save money so they will be less dependent on men – and therefore less susceptible to sexual assault, pregnancy and HIV. PBS.org published the story on World AIDS Day.

The Safe and Smart Savings program is offered at Zeyln Academy, a school in Kenya’s largest slum, where an alarming number of young girls are susceptible to HIV and sexual abuse.

How ICFJ is Incubating Media Startups in Latin America and Beyond

On Dec. 4, ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan spoke at the Hackathon of Science and Journalism Innovation, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank. The gathering took place at Guadalajara International Book Fair.

Here's an adapted version of her remarks:

We all know how much technology is transforming the news industry. There is unprecedented potential now for science and tech to help deepen news coverage, expand access to information and engage citizens in the news process.

“Hala Nigeria” Helps African Journalists Track Ebola Outbreak

“Hala Nigeria,” a program of ICFJ’s Knight International Journalism Fellowships, is helping Nigerian journalists do a better job of tracking the deadly Ebola virus. As a Knight Innovation Fellow in Nigeria, I am helping Vivienne Irikefe of Television Continental (TVC) to show how the virus is spreading across West Africa.

Irikefe won the story contest as part of the Hala Nigeria program (which means “Speak out, Nigeria” in pidgin English). The program is designed to spur better coverage of vital health issues and increase audience engagement in those stories.