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Leaks, Whistleblowers, and the Media’s Right to Report

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This week, I moderated a discussion that followed the screening of Silenced, a new documentary that tells the stories of three whistleblowers who exposed torture, mass surveillance and government waste. What Silenced brought to the screen was the humanity of the whistleblowers and the patriotic idealism that compelled them to work in government agencies like the NSA and the CIA and then to speak out against the excesses they saw there. If anything, Silenced dramatizes how the landscape of government secrecy has changed dramatically since 9/11 and the war on terror.

Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA)

Thoughts from a Journalism Trainer

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For the past seven and one-half years, I have spent large portions of each year doing media-development work–most of it training of journalists or journalism students–in four countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and in Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Inevitably, my own experiences and observations about what works and what doesn’t, and what is really important in this work, have passed through my mind while researching and writing this report. None of them is unique, but it may be useful to list what I consider my three strongest lessons from nearly a dozen different training projects.

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14 Pulitzer Winners Blast Obama Admin on Prosecuting NYT’s Risen

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Fourteen Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists issued strong individual statements Monday that voiced emphatic support for New York Times reporter James Risen and urged the Justice Department to stop threatening him with harsh fines or imprisonment. Many of the statements from the Pulitzer winners included scathing criticisms of the Obama administration for a range of policies related to freedom of the press.

Anya Schiffrin

Global Muckraking: 100 Years of Investigative Journalism

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Global Muckraking is the first anthology of journalism from developing countries that goes back to the 19th century and includes 46 pieces of iconic reporting, each of which is introduced by a journalist, scholar, historian or activist who explains why the piece was important and what kind of impact it had (or didn’t) after it was published.

Data Journalism

New “NOAA View” Offers Environmental Data, Imagery

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Here’s how you can combine data and imagery on more than 100 environmental variables drawn from satellites, climate models, and other observation devices. NOAA — the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — has just released an updated version of NOAA View, with a handy new interface and significant new data.

fundraising

Seven Ways Small and Medium Nonprofits Limit Their Fundraising

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When it comes to small and medium organizations I have seen a consistent chronic under investment in fundraising and a consistent lack of understanding of the work. It’s not just about small and medium nonprofits learning key methods and techniques of larger institutions. It’s about changing the culture around fundraising, especially individual major giving. Small and medium nonprofits all rush the same foundation doors year after year. Foundation fundraising is easier to understand and doesn’t involve talking to individuals about their own money. Individual major gifts work is risky, harder to understand and involves talking to individuals about their money. So year after year these same nonprofits stay small.

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Training Journalists as a Crime

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Thank you for allowing me and my colleagues the opportunity to testify before you today. As you know, more than a year ago, I and 42 other NGO workers were convicted in an Egyptian court for working on programs designed to build democracy, monitor elections and train political parties and journalists. We were given sentences ranging from one to five years in prison. Most people who knew about the case probably think it was resolved long ago.