Pulitzer Center Untold Stories

Project: Report Semi-finalists Find Inspiration

   

Donté Donald, Pulitzer Center

The instructions for the first round of Project Report video contest were to film a day in the life of an inspiring person, and the participants answered the call with compelling stories. The top 10 semi-finalists come from a group of 148 qualified entrants.  With topics that run the gamut from environmental responsibility to healthcare inequities, this year’s crop of entrants approached the assignment from multiple angles that brought their subjects to life. 

With such a strong field it wasn’t easy choosing the 10 best. We hope you’ll view all the entries, at youtube.com/projectreport—and remember, make your own selection to choose the Community Award winner from among the entries on the site.

The 10 semi-finalists submitted films that told inspiring and unique stories. From a pilot who volunteers his time and aircraft to transport sick people to distant hospitals to a compassionate elderly woman who sews pillows for those serving in the armed services, the subjects lead daily lives that should be shared.

Current Events: World Water Day

 

Pulitzer Center Staff

Image from Steve Sapienza and Glenn Baker's Easy Like Water project on floating schools in Bangladesh

Learn more about this reporting project

From the women who spend hours daily fetching water to political battles over international rivers to melting icepack and rising sea levels, the water issue affects us all, and we all contribute to it.

Worldwide, 1.1 billion people lack reliable access to safe water that is free from disease and industrial waste. And 2.6 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities. The result is the world's greatest public health crisis: More people die every day from waterborne diseases than from HIV-AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

Mark your calendar for a special Pulitzer Center presentation at the Environmental Film Festival in honor of World Water Day, the official UN-designated day for water issues. Get your fill of water knowledge by checking out DOWNSTREAM, the Pulitzer Center's new gateway portal launched last week.

Equatorial Guinea: Drilling Oppression

 

Summer Marion, Pulitzer Center

"Who is Africa's Worst Leader? Hint: Probably not Robert Mugabe." 

That's what Peter Maass entitled a blog entry for Slate in June 2008. After all the media attention accorded to Mugabe's brutality and corruption, who would expect to find a head-of-state better suited for the distinction?

Teodoro Obiang gives Mugabe a run for his money - in the forms of extortion, Malibu estates and overseas bribery, according to a November 2009 Harper's piece by Ken Silverstein which Maass cites as the most thorough journalistic examination of Obiang's corruption he's seen. Obiang is the president of Equatorial Guinea. The country, situated on the Western coast of central Africa compares to the state of Maryland in its size and the city of Denver, Colorado, in terms of its population of approximately 600,000. He seized power in a 1979 coup toppling the equally bloody rule of his uncle who assumed control when Equatorial Guinea gained its independence from Spain. Obiang then had his uncle executed by firing squad.

Destitute poverty as a by-product government oppression and severe lack of infrastructure has worsened since the discovery of oil in the 1990s made Equatorial Guinea one of Sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producers. Oil companies employing foreign workers now monopolize the economy, solidifying class barriers and widening the disparity of wealth. The Obiang family alone constitutes the upper echelon of a two-class system.

If Obiang's name isn't ringing any bells for you, you're not alone.

Support the Pulitzer Center through Kachingle

 

Pulitzer Center Staff

At the Pulitzer Center, our mission is to support and produce quality international coverage of systemic issues underreported in the US media. Continued funding is critical to this work. We rely on core support from members of the Pulitzer family and private foundations. We believe it is equally important to receive support from individuals like you to build a diverse base of individuals seeking quality journalism on these important issues of our time.

Direct contributions to support our international reporting projects and educational initiatives are always welcome by the Pulitzer Center, a 501 (c) (3) public charity. Any level assists with our work.

And there’s another way for you to contribute - just by coming to our website and reading our work online. Kachingle is an innovative social micropayment service that enables readers to easily make ongoing, voluntary micropayments to the Pulitzer Center and other media sites.

YouTube Project: Report! Share YOUR Story

   

Pulitzer Center Staff

Project: Report 2010, a partnership between YouTube and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, made possible by Sony and Intel, is an opportunity for aspiring journalists to get the word out about undertold stories in their communities. There's still time to submit before the deadline on Sunday, 2/28!

ROUND 1 ASSIGNMENT:  

In a three-minute video, document a single day in the life of a compelling person the world should meet and showcase how that person is making a positive impact in his or her community. 

Learn more about the project and view production tips from the judges on what makes a winning video.

Visit the official Youtube channel to see submissions to date, including stories on everything from girls rescued from prostitution at Courage House in Tanzania to the legacy of Brooklyn's Krispy Pizza . Also hear from last year's winners, and submit your own story!

Ten semi-finalists from Round 1 will receive technology prizes from Sony and Intel to help them produce their videos in Round 2. Five grand prize winners from Round 2 will be awarded $10,000 grants to produce international reporting projects with the Pulitzer Center.

We can't wait to view your submission!

Pulitzer Center Journalists Discuss Their Work at Film Fest

 

Mark Stanley, Pulitzer Center

On Monday evening, Pulitzer Center-sponsored journalists showed their short documentaries at the Human Rights Film Festival at Georgetown Law Center. Afterward, the journalists discussed their work and took questions from the audience.

Carmen Russell, who worked on a report about Haiti's slave children, also known as Restaveks, said the following in reference to his film:

When these families that are taking care of [the Restaveks] can't afford to take care of them, can't afford to feed them, I have no doubt they are ending up out on the street, and I'm sure that's what's happening overwhelmingly post-earthquake now.

Links to the films are provided below. To listen to the journalists discuss their work, watch the following:

Government Funding for the Press (with Poll)

 

Mark Stanley, Pulitzer Center

David Westphal, left, and Geoffrey Cowan (photo by Sam Hurd)

This morning, David Westphal and Geoffrey Cowan gave a press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to discuss their report "Public Policy and Funding the News." Westphal is executive in residence at the USC Annenberg School for Journalism and former Washington editor for McClatchy. Cowan is dean emeritus at Annenberg.

The report is an examination of the history and recent role of U.S. government support for news organizations. The authors claim that many commentators, including those in the press, are unaware of the ways in which the government has supported journalism throughout the nation's history.

Internews: Media Coordinating Relief in Haiti

   

Summer Marion, Pulitzer Center
Images and video by Jennifer Glasse, Internews

A food distribution queue in Haiti this week

Haiti's infrastructural devastation in the wake of last week's earthquake highlights media's critical role in facilitating relief efforts. Mark Frohardt knows this all too well. Frohardt is Vice President for Health and Humanitarian Media at Internews, an international media and development organization mandated to empower local media. He and his team arrive in disaster areas at the height of crises to fill gaps in information sharing and provide local media outlets with the necessary tools to rebuild.

The New York Times and the Great Paywall Debate (with Poll)

   

Mark Stanley, Pulitzer Center

This morning, The New York Times announced it will introduce a paid model for NYTimes.com. Beginning in 2011, it will no longer be possible to receive the wealth of journalism content offered on the site for free.

While the idea of paying for high quality journalism content, as audiences have traditionally done with print newspapers, is intuitive to some, others have had mixed reactions to the Times’ announcement.

Consequences of Inaccessible Water in Haiti

Peter Sawyer, Pulitzer Center

Peter Sawyer is the special projects associate for the Pulitzer Center’s work on global water issues.

Water has been identified as a top priority for aid to Haiti as it struggles to recover. The consequences of not having access to water extend beyond dehydration. Thirst drives people to water sources they would not have considered before - sources contaminated with human waste, garbage, and industrial byproducts. Using this water leads to diseases like cholera and dysentery, which spread rapidly through communities. Aid efforts must place a priority on bringing safe water to Haiti as soon as possible if the country is to quickly move beyond the immediate crisis to long-term recovery efforts.

Providing water to Haiti has been troublesome for decades. According to the World Health Organization, only 58% of Haitians had sustainable access to clean water in 2006. And this meager portion has only increased by six percent since 1990. Figures for access to safe sanitation facilities are even worse with only 19% having access in 2006, down ten percent since 1990. The destruction caused by the earthquake has depressed these numbers even further.

Sanitation and water quality experts around the world are proposing solutions to Haiti's monumental water problems. Steve Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization, suggests in a New York Times editorial that Haiti focus on local water networks with flexible piping that can be buried and repaired easily. He also advocates delivering bulk water to distribution points where local leaders handle payments and maintain the system. Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, writes about the effort to bring emergency water relief to Haiti in a recent post for San Francisco Gate's City Brights blog. He agrees with Solomon about the need to focus on local systems, and favors small-scale purification systems over bottled water, which is expensive and difficult to ship.

The tragedy in Haiti has brought to light the consequences of not having access to clean water. Across the globe, 1.1 billion people do not have access to reliable, clean water and 2.6 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. For more information on water issues, the Pulitzer Center's Water Wars web portal provides insight into the causes and solutions of the global water crisis.