Indian magazine Hardnews features citizen journalists who traveled to Delhi for a six-day workshop organized by Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary. These journalists from rural India report local issues using Choudhary's mobile news network, CGNet Swara. CGNet team member Smita Choudhary discusses the marginalization of Indian tribes by mainstream news sources. “Media is politically and commercially controlled these days. Nobody wants to hear a villager’s story,” she said.
India is one of the world's most dynamic economies, and media are an important part of its rapidly changing scene. Hundreds of new television stations are being licensed, magazines abound and newspaper circulation still posts healthy gains.
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.
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.
Down To Earth profiles Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's project, CGNet Swara, a mobile news network that crowdsources tips from tribal populations of India.
Editor & Publisher magazine profiles Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's project, CGNet Swara, a mobile news network that enables tribal populations to send in news relevant to their population. The piece calls the network the "first source of news in the state."
Professor Sandeep Junnarkar of the City University of New York speaks with Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary about his fellowship project, CGNet Swara, an alternative news network enabling tribal Indians to report local issues using mobile technology.
A website promoting international technology projects that increase government transparency, the Technology for Transparency Network, highlights Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's project, CGNet Swara - a mobile news network that enables tribes in Chattisgarh, India, to report on local issues. The website features an audio interview and its transcript with Choudhary discussing his goals for the project.
The Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) website features a radio broadcast about Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's mobile news network, CGNet Swara, which provides a new form of news gathering for tribal populations in central India. The broadcast story contains input from Choudhary explaining the evolution and necessity of the project.
Indian weekly Tehelka features Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's mobile news service, CGNet Swara, which offers a platform for tribal Indians to report on local issues. The article explains the project's mission and its successes - a liquor store near a school was closed because of citizens' reports after the government was trying to relocate the school instead.
