Blog Post

A mountain is going to the provinces

PANAMA -- Journalists working from the Panama provinces are not quite fortunate in regard to training: they live and work to far away from the country's capital and don’t have the same opportunities to take seminars and workshops usually available for their colleagues in Panama City.

Reporters and editors working in the provinces are usually non-staffers, working as free-lancer correspondents for the main newspaper, national TV and radio companies; Unless they are willing to travel to Panama on their own to attend the workshops, they rarely receive training.

In some instances the m

La publicidad en móviles: poca pero prometedora

Saqué la calculadora para revisar algunas cifras recientes y verifiqué que la publicidad en móviles ha captado menos de la mitad del 1% del total publicitario en EE.UU.

Sin embargo, los $500 millones USD de publicidad en móviles 2010 doblará el total del año anterior, según dice Bloomberg Business Week.

El ritmo del crecimiento y no el total de dinero es lo

Scientists and Journalists Working Together

Editors Blog: Knight Fellow Rachel Jones emphasizes the importance of scientists and journalists working together.

How many researchers does it take to switch on the "lightbulb" of insight about the benefits of learning to talk to reporters?

About 20. And it really helps when one of them is the lead researcher on the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS), Dr. Anthony Scott.

With the Push of a Button, A New Era Begins

Editors Note: Knight Fellow Rachel Jones talks about the new possibilities after receiving more than $43,000 for a new Health and Science Writers' Association.When I pushed the button on an email application for a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement grant back in late April, I was thinking a lot about the direction my Knight Health Fellowship would take in the months to come.

The Future of Fishing in Malawi

Editors Note: Knight Fellow Edem Djokotoe investigates the fishing industry in Malawi

The future of Malawi’s agriculture could lie in the hands of people like Heinrich Sitima, a 14-year-old school boy I met during a farm visit in Chiradzulu, a rural district some 30 minutes’ drive from Blantyre. He lives with his parents on Wambeu Farm, a 10-hectare sprawl with pigs, goats, cows, fish, bananas, cabbages, tomatoes, onions and a animal feed enterprise.

         
         Heinrich Sitima at Wambeu Farm in Chiradzulu 

Heinrich wants to be a farmer when he grows up.

Out With the Old and In With the New

A much-needed cleanup day did more than clear the dust at SLBC. It became symbolic of the change from stale, state-run facility to the nation’s first ever public broadcasting network. The “rescue team” of thirty-five active, young volunteers – men and women – clambered out of the poda-podas (converted mini-vans) sporting white t-shirts that read, “Support SLBC” early last Saturday morning.

The Power of Three

The first step in establishing a permanent training system in Peru takes place, as the nine stations are close to coming on board.

I love to run, something I’ve continued to do in Peru. But I never expected to find THIS growing under my shoe a mere 48 hours after my last outing! Mold. It’s one of the biggest problems in Lima, a city with one of the highest asthma levels in the world. But what really surprise me was how fast it grew. If only the rest of business in Peru moved as quickly...

A Young Journalist Sees NYPD Blue and Detects a Story

Six officers from New York City were standing around the tent camp in Haiti. Several questions later, the reporter I was working with had his first scoop.I generally reserve Tuesday mornings to work with Louis-Jean Olivier, a young journalist with the Haiti Press Network. Although Olivier had been studying journalism at the State University, he didn’t start working as a reporter until after the January earthquake, when on a fluke he ended up filing a story for HPN. He so impressed HPN’s owner that he was hired on the spot and has been working for the agency ever since.

“Elvis is in the building…” Welcome Gbanabom!

Gbanabom (Elvis) Hallowell was officially welcomed to the fold at SLBC as the new, permanent, Board-approved, presidentially-appointed Director General on October 1, 2010. After months of application forms, interviews, “politicking”, review committees and appointment processes, Gbanabom’s presence is a very welcome sign that things are moving forward in the transition from state-owned SLBS to the public broadcaster SLBC. Signs of progress can be few and far between but this giant step is hugely significant.

Community News Sites and Community Engagement

MalaysiaKini is currently working on a community news site, KomunitiKini, to provide news and information on communities across Malaysia. The local news situation in Malaysia is a microcosm of the national news situation, but only with fewer dedicated traditional news outlets. All of the local mainstream media is associated with a constituent party of the ruling coalition. Local or regional newspapers are relatively limited and coverage tends to focus on crime with limited reporting on community issues. Independent voices or community activism is restricted to online.