News

In Haiti, A Vote for an End to the Chaos Brings More of the Same

2010 hasn’t been kind to Haiti. Not that the past few decades – or even two centuries – have been generous, but an earthquake, hurricane and the introduction of cholera have made these past eleven months particularly challenging. It’s also why there has been so much hype about Sunday’s much-anticipated presidential and parliamentary elections.

Sick Girl Highlights the Power of the Press in Peru

The first thing you notice when you meet Emily is just how tiny she is. She’s small because she suffers from a genetic disorder which makes it nearly impossible for her to defecate. The medicines to keep her alive cost about $12 a day… and her parents make only $10 a day between the two of them, while feeding three children.

Brazilian Blog Gets An Impressive New Home

Editors Note: A web address change for Mural, a leading citizen journalist blog in São Paulo.

Mural, the blog that comprises news stories and videos by more than 50 volunteer bloggers and citizen journalists, is moving today to a new address.

A toxic debate around a smelter

Until June this year, the only bypass I knew had to do with heart surgery. But I discovered another kind of bypass when the Mozambican government authorized the Mozal smelter to emit its fumes and dust directly into the air (bypassing filters) during four months.

El periodista que vende publicidad: conoce tu audiencia y tu medio

Muchos periodistas independientes tienen miedo de vender publicidad o patrocinios en sus medios digitales.

Pero si saben hablar de su audiencia y el posible valor al cliente, hasta un periodista inhábil puede lograr vender publicidad.

La regla dorada del mercadeo y las ventas es Conocer al cliente. Aquí el cliente es el usuario-lector-suscriptor. Si conocemos bien a éstos, podemos tratar mejor con los anunciantes-patrocinadores.

Encontrarse frente a vender, los periodistas tienen varias inquietudes:

-- No sé o me da vergüenza pedir dinero por servicios.

Ethics and professionalism don't stop bullets, but reduce risks

As a part of the ICFJ's program in Panama, we are training correspondents who frequently work under risk covering not only community issues but also crime in cities affected by drug trafficking. Ethics, professionalism and methods of verification and bullet-proofing stories are crucial elements in the workshops.

Panama -- For a brief moment, I felt like being in a Mexico province, not in Colon, at the Caribbean port of entry of the Panama Canal.

Malawi President Lifts Midwife Ban After News Reports Paint A Grim Picture for Pregnant Women

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika had just returned home from New York where he had been attending a UN heads of state summit to review the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), making a detour through Havana—a city known more for its cigars than for its pies.

As is customary, he held a press conference when he touched down at Chileka International Airport and used the occasion to flay his critics for complaining that his numerous foreign trips were draining the national treasury.

Election of Brazil’s First Female President Offers Lessons for Reporters

The election of Brazil’s first woman president should be hailed, but has not aroused many celebrations. A dirty campaign in which the media has a lot to answer for has much to do with that.

This Sunday, for the first time in its history, Brazil elected a woman to the country’s highest political office. Even for those with differing political views, this should have been hailed as an historic milestone in a nation with a male-dominated workforce. And yet, many people, weary of an incredibly negative, shallow campaign season, were just eager for it all to end.

A mountain is going to the provinces

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

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.