News

Knight Fellows in Africa Develop Tools To Improve Health Data Reporting

Knight International Journalism Fellows collaborated with Measure DHS (Demographic Health Surveys) in Entebbe, Uganda, to develop tools that can be used to train other journalists to accurately report on health issues using data. The complexity of understanding health data, coupled with the thoughtful and sensitive coverage necessary when reporting HIV prevalence, makes training health journalists critical to improving public health in Africa.

Knowledge for Health wrote about the event on their blog.

A Journey to the Source: Reporters in South Africa Learn How and Where to Find People Behind the Stories

Stretching across a broad expanse of wilderness along South Africa’s Eastern Cape, the Transkei is the region set aside for the Xhosa people by the old apartheid regime, ostensibly as an experiment in black self-governance. It is also the birthplace of some of South Africa’s greatest freedom fighters, among them Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Thabo Mbeki.

African Media Trainers Focus on Health Data

Entebbe, Uganda – Leading journalists from across Africa have teamed up with international demography experts to train journalists how to report on important demographic and health data.

Knight Fellow Advances Media Sustainability in Liberia

Liberia is taking steps towards greater press freedom through media sustainability, according to Knight International Journalism Fellow Luisa Handem Piette. Recent improvements in legislation encourage free reporting, but bolstering media sustainability remains pivotal. Piette, with support from UNESCO and ICFJ, brings together media owners and journalists in monthly exchanges to formulate plans for increased private investment in Liberian media, with promising results.

After Rio+20, the Role of Journalists is Even More Important

At the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, I came prepared to learn about new challenges journalists around the world will face as they try to find accurate information about environmental and development issues. As a Knight International Journalism Fellow, I also came armed with some practical approaches for addressing these new challenges – at least here in the Amazon region where my work is based.

National Geographic Highlights New Digital Map Designed to Track Problems and Progress in the Amazon

With its focus on global environmental issues, NationalGeographic.com is highlighting a digital map launched by Knight International Journalism Fellow Gustavo Faleiros, including the use of layered filters that can help data journalists track the effects of forest fires, deforestation and extractive industries like mining.

Digital Map Brings Change for Good: A Reason to Celebrate in Panama

One of the most important goals of the Knight International Journalism Fellowships Program is to produce impact that benefits society. I think we have done that in Panama. In the two years since we launched Mi Panama Transparente, the digital map has provided a platform that helps journalists and citizens track crime and corruption across the country.

InfoAmazonia: A Visual and Graphic Exploration of the World’s Largest Rainforest

I am thrilled to announce that InfoAmazonia, a data and mapping platform focusing on the largest rainforest on the planet, launched on Sunday at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. As a Knight International Journalism Fellow working to help reporters here in Brazil use data to track deterioration of the Amazon, this is a key component of my work and an exciting step.

South Asian Journalists Learn to Cover Climate Change Using Multimedia

During a new regional training initiative, South Asian journalists from six countries created iPod Touch videos of farmers in southern Sri Lanka, where rising sea levels have increased salinity in fields and changes in rainfall patterns have disrupted the rice-planting season.

Climate changes have contributed to the farmer’s loss of income – but so have the drainage channels they dug initially to drain the fields, which now bring in seawater.

First Pan-African Health Journalism Network Created

Bellagio, Italy—Journalists from across Africa announced the creation of the first continent-wide professional association of health journalists.

The new organization, the African Health Journalists Association, aims to improve the quality and quantity of reporting on health issues so that people across the continent can make healthy choices for their lives. The group’s media coverage will encourage the best possible public health programs and policies throughout the continent.