ICFJ Knight Fellowships

Mrs Siti Zurina Hassan and the Bank Negara Malaysia - One Proof Point in the Local News Model

At MalaysiaKini’s start-up community news operation, KomunitiKini, we have been working on bringing three things together into a business model for local community news – trained community based citizen journalists (CJ’s), an online platform for communities to create their own local newspaper and finally local advertising.

Medcom -- Telemetro promotes Mi Panama Transparente

Rafael Candanedo, Vice President of the Forum of Journalists for Freedom of Expression and Information, made a presentation on Mi Panama Transparente in an interview in Telemetro Reporta, a very popular morning TV news show in Panama.

During the interview, Aracellys Leoteau, Telemetro Reporta's anchor said that Mi Panama Transparente is a program not only for citizens to send reports about crime and corruption, but also for journalists to play a role of social change.

Leoteau make reference to Panamanian journalists involved in producing stories based on the citizen reports as a way to h

Why Do People Laugh When You Tell Them You Are Studying Journalism Ethics?

-- Why do people laugh when I tell them I'm taking a journalism ethics course?--, I ask Flor when I see her smiling face.

-- Because I think you don't need it--, says Flor Ortega, a Panamanian journalist and ethics university professor.

I feel honored to hear Flor saying I don't need a journalism ethics course. She has been a university professor for a number of years and she has also been a founding member of the National Council of Journalism's Ethics Committee.

However, I think I need to keep studying journalism ethics.

Witchcraft in Malawi Provides Challenges for Journalists

Editors note: Knight Fellow Edem Djokotoe discusses the challenges and various methods of identifying and prosecuting withcraft.

The witchcraft stories that make the news range from spine-chilling and spooky to downright bizarre to fatally tragic. Take the case of 26-year-old Leticia Wyson from Nkondilile Village in central Malawi, for example. On January 15, villagers say she gave birth to two plastic bags containing a millipede, a snail, two mango seeds and nine small stones instead of a baby.