News

Green to Greenbacks: Covering the Business of Climate Change

Climate change is not all about looming disasters. It's also about business: There's money to be made in helping fight the effects of climate change under programs known as clean development mechanism. Just one element, carbon markets, generated trades worth $64 billion (or about Rs 2,560 billion). The Energy Resources Institute and the Knight International Journalism Fellowships Program of the International Center for Journalists organized a seminar for business and environment reporters and editors on this complex subject.

Knight International Fellow Addresses International Leaders in Climate Change at Athens Conference

Knight International Journalism Fellow Arul Louis spoke about "Climate Change, Development, Democracy and the Media" at the Athens Summit 2008 Global Climate and Energy Security. He was one of the six speakers at the session on "Journalism and the Environment: Motivating the Public Opinion."

The conference brought together senior government officials, international civil servants, corporate leaders, financiers, academic and market analysts from the energy and environmental communities.

Louis is based at The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi.

What difference can a newsletter make?

What difference can a newsletter make? Quite a bit, judging from the launch of a modest new publication in Uganda. Designed to serve health journalists, the “Uganda Health Reporter” is making a bid to help spearhead diverse training programs and become a rallying point for professional development.

“The first step is always the hardest.”

"Green City:" Indonesian Newspaper Launches Weekly Environmental Report

On March 17, 2008, Tribun Pekanbaru, a local newspaper that is part of the Persda newspaper group in Indonesia, published a photo showing used syringes floating in the drain of Ibu dan Anak (Mother and Child) Zaenab Hospital. A private hospital in Pekanbaru, capital of Riau Province in Sumatra, Ibu dan Anak Zaenab treats mothers and children. Like all but three hospitals in the province, it does not have a waste water treatment facility, nor does it have an incinerator to burn medical and hospital waste.

Of Demons and Public Health

Editors Note: A group of journalists set out to investigate reports of demons in rural Uganda, but they ended up learning a few things about public health.

As I sped down a narrow dirt road enveloped in a cloud of dust in Hoima District, Uganda, I must admit I wondered what in the world I was doing. I had begun a stint as a Knight health journalism fellow three weeks earlier, but here I was with a reporter and photographer from New Vision, Uganda’s largest newspaper, bouncing toward the isolated village of Kiziranfumbi about three hours west of Kampala.

What the media needs to better cover climate change

Journalists at the Editors' Consultation on Climate Change in New Delhi on Feb. 9. The journalists at a recent round table that brought them face to face with key leaders who shape global climate change policies discussed the problems they face covering the issues and suggested ways to help them better cover the beat.

At the Editors’ Consultation, organized by ICFJ's Knight International Journalism Fellowships and The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi on Feb.

Global leaders on climate change discuss media’s role

ICFJ's Knight International Journalism Fellowships and The Energy and Resources Institute  recently brought together key leaders who shape climate change policies and the coverage of the topic to discuss the role of the media and the problems in reporting about the subject.

Russian journalists interview New York Times correspondent

Russian journalists had the opportunity to discuss journalism, politics and the relative merits of subway systems in a wide-ranging discussion with a New York Times correspondent based on Moscow. About a dozen journalists at Moi Rayon-Moscow got a personal introduction to Western-style journalism when Andrew Kramer, correspondent for The New York Times, visited the newsroom for a lunchtime discussion on Feb. 18, 2008. Discussion topics ranged from reporting styles to the comparative merits of the New York City subway and the Moscow Metro.

New York Times reporter shares experiences with Russian journalists

One of the three Moscow-based New York Times reporters recently visited the news room of Moi Rayon for an informal discussion about reporting, politics, and the relative merits of the New York City and Moscow metro systems. While the US has many positive aspects, the New York Times reporter on the record preferred the Moscow metro.

Dmitri Surnin, editor-in-chief at Moi Rayon-Moscow, listens as Andrew Kramer, New York Times correspondent, discusses his work with Russian journalists at Moi Rayon.

Observing training sessions in foreign cultures is valuable experience

Cultural differences come to the fore as participants and trainers work together to solve organization's problems

Academics argue about what “culture” is – but anyone who has lived in a foreign country knows that clear differences in social behavior and expectations exist. I have been living in a foreign country – Russia - for nearly three months, and at this point cultural differences don’t usually get my attention. Sometimes, however, they do.