Blog Post

December
20
2010

Digital Journalism Center in Guadalajara takes hold with new leadership

Over two years, the Center, a project of the Knight International Journalism Fellowship program, offered 15 online training courses in Spanish to some 500 journalists from 22 countries as well as in-person technical training to more than 200 of the best performers. On a Saturday in December, the 15th class to pass through the Digital Journalism Center in Guadalajara, Mexico, had its recognition ceremony.

December
16
2010

Creative ways to use communication technology in Panama

Journalists in Panama are using online technology to link colleagues from Panama city, Washington, D.C., an the provinces to discuss ongoing challenges to freedom of expression.

December
11
2010

Journalists in Mozambique Tread a Careful Line Between Medical Fact and Local Lore

On the first day, only the girls in the afternoon shift at one classroom fainted. First one, then four, 20 by the end of the week. In the second week, the fainting spells spread to all the classes of the Quisse Mavota High School in the periphery of Maputo. Among its 4,475 pupils, only the older girls fainted. By the end of the second week, 120 girls were having fainting spells and these were spreading into the satellite school. Panic followed: parents, teachers and students alike were scared.

The girls explained that the ancestor spirits were upset.

December
10
2010

Bizarre Stories Sometimes Trump Substance, Even in Malawi

When it comes to crazy things, nothing beats what Pilirani Lazaro, a 22-year-old peasant farmer from Kalaza Village in central Malawi, did recently.

It may sound stranger than fiction, but on November 21, he took a knife, went into the bush, cut off his testicles and immediately put them up for sale.

December
8
2010

In Haiti, Journalists Score A Front Page Winner At Last

Six journalists from six different backgrounds come together to publish their first investigative report on international aid, making the front page of Haiti's only daily newspaper.

December
6
2010

Citizens are reporting crime and corruption to Mi Panama Transparente

Dozens of reports are being sent to Mi Panama Transparente, the online crowdsourcing platform to track incidents of crime and corruption in Panama.

PANAMA, PANAMA -- The individual and his family were getting into a truck, ready to leave the Sumit park. Everything seemed to be normal except for the fact that the truck was marked with the legend ANAM (National Authority of Environment) in a Sunday afternoon, when no official vehicle are supposed to be on the streets for personal purposes.

November
30
2010

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.

November
27
2010

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.

November
24
2010

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.

November
12
2010

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.