Program News

Food Arrives for Hungry Children After Citizen Journalist Files Report On Indian Cell Phone Network

When government food deliveries provided for malnourished children in rural India suddenly stopped around the first of the year, Savita Rath and other indigenous workers who care for the children did the best they could to provide meals.

But with food supplies dwindling, Savita also picked up a cell phone and filed a report through CGNet Swara, a mobile news network created by Knight International Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary.

Mobile News Service Breaks Story Alleging Police Crackdown in India

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.

Burns Chairman Given Commander's Cross

Frank Loy, chairman of the Arthur Burns Fellowships and former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, recently won the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The award was presented by German President Christian Wulff on Nov. 2, 2010, at the German Ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC. The Order of Merit is awarded to Germans as well as foreigners for achievements in the political, economic, social or intellectual realm and for outstanding services to the nation in the field of social, charitable or philanthropic work.

Knight Fellow Creates the First TV News Agency for Bangladeshi Women

The country’s first television news agency run by women launched in Dhaka this week. Established with the assistance of Knight International Journalism Fellow Kawser Mahmud, the Television News Agency (TVNA) not only offers a valuable new outlet for independent news, but also gives hands-on training for aspiring young women journalists.

The agency is a joint project of Knight International and the Bangladesh Center for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC).

Burns Alumnus Covers Stories from Across the Globe

CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen (Burns 2005) covered breaking stories around the globe this year. Pleitgen conducted an interview with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi just days after she was released from house arrest.

Knight International Fellow Wins Another Tech Award For "Voice of Chhattisgarh" Project

A project developed by Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary has won a technology award in India that recognizes unique initiatives to improve information sharing and citizen services through social media and Web 2.0 developments.

The 2010 India eGov 2.0 Award for Social Media Useage was presented Oct. 28 to Choudhary for his CGNet Swara , or “Voice of Chhattisgarh” project. “Voice of Chhatisgarh” enables trained citizen journalists in the remote Chhattisgarh region of India to produce news reports that local villagers listen to on their cell phones.

Citizen Journalists in Tribal India Use Cell Phones to Send and Receive News

In a remote region of central India, a citizen journalist reached for a cell phone recently, and with the push of a few buttons filed a report to a mobile phone news service developed by Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary. The story was about school workers going unpaid for more than a year, and included contact information for the education secretary.

Once it was confirmed and approved by professionals, the story was made available publicly. Subscribers to the news service got a prompt on their own cell phones that a new story had been posted.

Sikorski Mourns the Decline of Foreign Reporting in Berlin Dinner Speech

More than 150 Burns alumni, board members and guests gathered in Berlin on an unseasonably chilly June evening to hear from two Central European foreign ministers on topics as varied as transatlantic relations and the future of foreign correspondents.

Burns Alumna Sarah Wildman Wins Weitz Prize

Sarah Wildman (Burns 2008) won the Peter R. Weitz Prize for excellence and originality in reporting on Europe for a series she wrote for Slate. She conducted research for the series during her Burns fellowship. The $10,000 prize is awarded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and will be presented at an awards luncheon in July in Washington, D.C.

India’s Tribal Citizens Use New Cell Phone Network to Produce Local News

Dozens of citizen journalists in India’s chronically neglected tribal communities are producing and sharing audio news reports for the first time through an innovative cell phone system launched by a Knight International Journalism Fellow.

Members of India’s 80-million-strong Adivasi tribal community now have easy access through their mobile phones to reports on important issues such as housing evictions, police abuse and rural education.