For his work as a Knight International Journalism Fellow, Harry Surjadi has won the 2013 Communications for Social Change Award. He developed a groundbreaking news channel in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, using mobile and FrontlineSMS texting. He also trained hundreds of indigenous citizens to be reporters for this new platform.
In the remote regions of India, demand is growing for access to Shu Choudhary’s cell phone network -- which allows citizens to send and receive news reports in their own language for the very first time.
Indian magazine Hardnews features citizen journalists who traveled to Delhi for a six-day workshop organized by Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary. These journalists from rural India report local issues using Choudhary's mobile news network, CGNet Swara. CGNet team member Smita Choudhary discusses the marginalization of Indian tribes by mainstream news sources. “Media is politically and commercially controlled these days. Nobody wants to hear a villager’s story,” she said.
Himanshu Kumar runs a non-governmental organization in Chhattisgarh district, where Knight International Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary has created a mobile phone news network called CGnet Swara. When Kumar heard from colleagues who described a brutal police attack on several villages, he filed a report using his cell phone. He alleged the police had killed two people and raped five women.
Down To Earth profiles Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's project, CGNet Swara, a mobile news network that crowdsources tips from tribal populations of India.
Professor Sandeep Junnarkar of the City University of New York speaks with Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary about his fellowship project, CGNet Swara, an alternative news network enabling tribal Indians to report local issues using mobile technology.
A website promoting international technology projects that increase government transparency, the Technology for Transparency Network, highlights Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's project, CGNet Swara - a mobile news network that enables tribes in Chattisgarh, India, to report on local issues. The website features an audio interview and its transcript with Choudhary discussing his goals for the project.
The Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) website features a radio broadcast about Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's mobile news network, CGNet Swara, which provides a new form of news gathering for tribal populations in central India. The broadcast story contains input from Choudhary explaining the evolution and necessity of the project.
