Chief of News in Rural Indonesia Finds Citizen Journalism Gives Villagers a Voice

By: Patrick Butler | 05/30/2012

Growing up in a village in rural Indonesia, a young boy by the name of Alim dreamed of one day owning his own TV. He never imagined he'd be the head of a broadcast news operation that reports on indigenous issues and serves as a voice for people who have never really had one before.

Today, Alim is chief of news at Ruai TV. His network works in conjunction with Ruai SMS, a mobile news network launched by Knight International Journalism Fellow Harry Surjadi that allows rural citizens to both receive and report local news to the provincial capital.

Columbia Journalism Review recently profiled the project and its results, which it calls an "exciting experiment."

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