Blog Post

November
7
2012

CNN India Bureau Chief Sees Journalism as a Difficult Path that Yields Great Rewards

CNN’s New Delhi Bureau Chief, Phillip Turner visited students at the 9.9 School of Convergence and World Media Academy to talk about his remarkable journalism career, including 30 years with the world’s first 24-hour news network.

The son of missionaries, Turner spent part of his childhood growing up in South India.

October
17
2012

Colombian Media Rely on Mapping to Track Crime, Corruption, Environmental Issues

There have been changes in Colombia since I arrived here 14 months ago. Peace talks between the oldest guerrilla group and the government are beginning. A free trade agreement with the United States is in place, and a country once known for drug trafficking, violence and kidnappings is now seen as one of Latin America’s most attractive places to invest.

In a different way, we are invested here, too.

I, too, have instigated changes.

October
11
2012

Reducing Deaths From Illegal Abortion in Mozambique

On Friday, September 28 – the Day of Global Action for Decriminalization of Abortion – my trainees splashed the gruesome consequences of clandestine abortion across major Mozambican media. The weekly SOL published a two-page story on abortion in Inhambane province, 500 kilometers north of Maputo, while the daily O Pais, Radio Mocambique and three Internet news sites picked up a story from the Portuguese news service LUSA by a reporter I coach, Emanuel Pereira.

September
27
2012

Indian Women Enrolled in Journalism School See Media Career as Path to Empowerment

The World Media Academy has started its new academic year with a new partner: the 9.9 School of Convergence. By joining forces with 9.9, WMA is able to offer its students a multimedia experience that combines print, online and broadcast.

Our 22 students come from the north, south, east and west of this diverse country. We also have one international student, Susma Pradhan, who hails from Thimpu, Bhutan.

Susma is one of 14 women who make up this year's class.

August
23
2012

Mobile and Advertising Innovations Set the Course for Sustainability Efforts by Liberia Media

Since embarking a year ago on a media-sustainability project as a Knight International Journalism Fellow in Liberia, I have worked with managers at three newspapers and three radio stations to help them succeed not only as news organizations but also as businesses.

The Liberia media industry is extremely volatile, with radio stations, in particular, shutting down from time to time for lack of income.

August
16
2012

Bogota Hacks/Hackers to Launch Crowdsourced Map on Environmental Problems

“Mi Bogotá Verde,” or My Green Bogota, a new, crowdsourced digital map that will track solid waste disposal – the first of many urban environmental concerns – is just weeks away from going online in Bogota.

The map was developed during the first hackathon of the Bogota chapter of Hacks/Hackers, created just four months ago.

July
25
2012

Learning Data Visualization Skills Helps Tell Compelling Stories in Africa

For two days, the trainers became trainees, and it was fun. We stepped into the world of data visualization using the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). These population-based surveys provide reliable information on HIV, malaria, gender, family planning, maternal and child health, and nutrition in more than 90 countries.

July
25
2012

Unsafe Abortion Makes News, as Mozambique Prepares for a Change in Law

Abortions are technically illegal in Mozambique. Even though the laws are no longer enforced, medical standards have yet to catch up, especially in rural areas where patients find less sterile, riskier procedures. Now with a new effort to revamp and discard the old national laws, all that is about to change.

July
25
2012

Digital Map to Track Corruption Launches in Colombia

A digital mapping tool to track corruption in Colombia on a national scale launched July 24, a result of our partnership with the Consejo de Redacción, a country-wide organization of investigative journalists.

July
24
2012

Hack/Hackers Sao Paulo: On the Quest for Journalism Innovation

On Monday, July 16, I launched Brazil’s first Hacks/Hackers chapter in Sao Paulo. The initiative has the support of ABRAJI (the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association), the local offices of the Open Knowledge Foundation and W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium).