Multimedia highlights from 2009
From war in eastern Congo, HIV / AIDS in the Caribbean, entrepreneurship in Ethiopia and Jamaica’s Chinese community, here are some of the (video, radio and print) stories I produced this year.
MULTIMEDIA PACKAGES
Crisis in Congo — With field producers, I produced and edited videos about the humanitarian crisis and the epidemic of rape by telling the stories of two families caught up in the war. Pascal and Vestine flee from refugee camp to refugee camp, and Georgina and André explain how her rape tore apart their 33-year marriage. The “Crisis in Congo” videos won the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the international television category and were nominated for a National News Emmy in the “Best story in a regularly scheduled newscast” category.
Jamaica’s Glass Closet — I collaborated with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting on five broadcast videos on HIV/AIDS and homophobia in Jamaica. Our stories break down Jamaica’s social structure from anti-gay laws to social intolerance, we document an underground gay church service and follow a community leader as she raises awareness of HIV/AIDS. Additional online content include: articles, blogposts, a radio show and video interviews.
Stateless to Statehood — This ongoing multimedia project examines the root causes of statelessness in the post-colonial period, in the the aftermath of major wars and the break-up of empires. We’re identifying potential ways to solve statelessness via legal and political avenues, as well as exploring the themes of nationalism and ethnic identity.
VIDEO
One island, two Jamaicas and a ‘whole heap’ of difference — A public debate erupted earlier this year when graphic Dancehall music lyrics and images were banned from Jamaica’s airwaves. The public responses reveal the legacy of two Jamaicas dating back to the country’s slave history. I scripted, produced and edited this video for the Worldfocus broadcast in October 2009.
Pascal and Vestine are alive in Congo, but still not home — Michael J. Kavanagh returned to eastern Congo last month and found Pascal and Vestine. He interviewed the Bumbaris last year, and since, they’ve fled for a third time and are now in a new refugee camp. We updated this story, which aired on the Worldfocus broadcast in March 2009.
Caribbean HIV rate ranks second to Sub-Saharan Africa — Julia Greenberg of AIDS-Free World discusses Jamaica’s AIDS epidemic within the context of the Caribbean region, address anti-sodomy laws in Jamaica and around the world and identify the successes and shortcomings Jamaica has experienced in containing the epidemic. I produced this studio interview, which was published on Worldfocus.org in September 2009.
RADIO
Worldfocus Radio — I report, script and produce a weekly radio show with host Martin Savidge. We dedicate 30 minutes to under-reported international stories. Guests call in from all over the world for casual conversations on serious issues. This radio show grew out of an idea to experiment with a free, online audio platform — almost 40 shows later, it has become one of the most popular content streams on our website.
My favorite three shows:
Entrepreneurship in Ethiopia — The Ethiopian government is trying to strengthen local businesses and attract foreign direct investment. Martin Savidge hosts Ermyas Amelga and Phillip LeBel to discuss how easy it is to do business in Ethiopia and who’s investing.
Philippines — The Forgotten Terrorist Front — Since 9/11, the U.S. has stationed 500 to 600 troops in the Philippines to root out terrorists from the lawless jungles of the heavily Muslim south. Martin Savidge hosts Eliseo Mercado and Zachary Abuza to discuss Filipino counter-insurgency.
Reverse Brain Drain (China and India) — Does the U.S. risk falling behind as skilled immigrants return to their home countries? Martin Savidge hosts Vivek Wadhwa and Michele Wucker to discuss emerging opportunities for highly-skilled immigrants and U.S. immigration restrictions.
Generations meet in Jamaica’s Chinese cemetery — I write about a visit to my grandfather’s grave in the Chinese cemetery in Kingston, Jamaica. It’s a personal story about the death and renewal of Jamaica’s Chinese community.
Conflict endures in Ethiopia’s ethnic Somali region — I interview former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia David H. Shinn about the violent, separatist conflict in southeastern Ethiopia that has claimed thousands of lives over the last 15 years. He answers questions about the roots of this under reported conflict and whether it could be the next Darfur.
No daggerin’ on Jamaican TV and on Worldfocus — I write about why Worldfocus decided not to air daggerin’ images, addresses the realities of rampant violence and adolescent sex and explore how some Jamaican artists are singing more uplifting gospel Dancehall music.
Gay men in Jamaica must lead two separate lives — I’ve been on the “gay Jamaican” beat for two years now. Here is a story of a gay Jamaican whose story resembles many other gay men in Jamaica. He received asylum in the U.S. on the basis of his sexuality but still wrestles with issues of secrecy and religion, and his family in Jamaica still doesn’t know he’s gay.
Worldfocus: Crisis in Congo videos receive Emmy nomination
Worldfocus was nominated for an Emmy in the “Best story in a regularly scheduled newscast” category for our coverage of the “Crisis in Congo” (Executive Producer: Marc Rosenwasser, Correspondent: Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center, Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Taylor Krauss).
The “Crisis in Congo” videos also won the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the international television category.
War in DR Congo: The story of Pascal and Vestine
Rape as a weapon of war
For original article: Worldfocus receives two Emmy nominations!
Worldfocus Radio: Statelessness
I produced this online radio show for Worldfocus.org.
Imagine you have no birth certificate, no passport and no legal rights. You’re trapped in the country where you were born, but no document indicates that you even exist. The state doesn’t recognize you, so you can’t vote, you can’t access education and you can’t obtain formal employment.
This is a worst-case situation, but across the globe, between 12 and 15 million people live in various stages of statelessness, which means they lack citizenship in any country.
Some of the most notably stateless people include the Palestinians of the Middle East, the ethnic Tutsis of Central Africa, some Roma in Europe and Haitian children in the Dominican Republic.
Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the common themes that surface among stateless people — economic discrimination, social exclusion, identity and the feeling of invisibility.
Martin Savidge hosted the following guests:
Bill Berkeley, previously an investigative reporter and editorial writer at The New York Times, teaches journalism at Columbia University. He is the author of The Graves Are Not Yet Full: Race, Tribe and Power in the Heart of Africa and a forthcoming book on statelessness.
Dawn Calabia is a senior adviser for Refugees International. She has 30 years of experience with foreign policy analysis, human rights issues and public advocacy. She has handled governmental and non-governmental relations in the U.S. and the Caribbean for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and has led numerous fact-finding missions to Central America, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa.
The show also includes audio clips from:
Julia Harrington, a senior legal officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, who explains how her organization uses legal channels to advocate for stateless people. Julia has brought cases before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Adam Hussein, who was born stateless as a Nubian in Kenya, and is currently the project coordinator of the Open Society East Africa Initiative.
Samira Trad, the director of Beirut-based Frontiers-Ruwad, a human rights NGO.
Worldfocus: Stateless to Stathood (ongoing multimedia project)
I’m working on a summer-long multimedia project on statelessness.
Every day, 12 to 15 million people wake up as citizens of no nation at all. These men, women and children are scattered across six continents and excluded from virtually all the benefits of nationality - a passport, the right to vote, land ownership, access to health care and legal employment. From Rohingyas in Myanmar to Nubians in Kenya and Haitians in the Dominican Republic, stateless people live without the protection and recognition of the governments that rule the places where they live.
On June 10, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the first-ever legislation to recognize and reduce statelessness, which also addressed issues of global stability and security. The issue encompasses a tangle of nationalistic politics, international human rights law and ethnic discrimination.
This de jure statelessness — meaning, lack of legal status of nationality and citizenship — is often conflated with peoples seeking states of their own. Worldfocus’ project “Stateless to Statehood” traces a continuum — from people with literally no citizenship to groups striving for national self-determination. “Stateless to Statehood” examines the root causes of statelessness in the post-colonial period, the break-up of empires and the aftermath of major wars. We’re identifying potential ways to solve statelessness via legal and political avenues, as well as exploring the themes of nationalism and ethnic identity.
Columbia J-School: Lisa Biagiotti wins RFK Journalism Award
Lisa Biagiotti ‘08 has won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the international television category for “War in DR Congo,” a Worldfocus production.
“War in DR Congo” honors the victims of a humanitarian crisis often ignored by the mainstream media. Over five million people have died, mostly from preventable disease and starvation, in Congo’s decade-long civil war. In the last year alone, more than a million people have fled the fighting. Such staggering data on death and displacement in the region often overshadows the personal stories of human suffering, which this report brings to life.
Marc Rosenwasser, Michael J. Kavanagh and Taylor Krauss share this honor with Biagiotti, who specialized in new media at the Journalism School.
Biagiotti is also the executive editor of Worldfocus.org and has produced online content for the PBS foreign affairs documentary series “Wide Angle,” the J-School Web magazine NYC24 and the Queens blog “Junction BLVD.” In 2001, Lisa received a Fulbright grant to research Muslim immigration in Italy and currently serves on the New York board of the Fulbright Association.
The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights announced winners in nine professional and four student categories of the 41st Annual Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards. The winning pieces examine the causes, conditions and remedies of injustice and analyze relevant public policies and attitudes and private endeavors.
For original article: Lisa Biagiotti ‘08 wins RFK Journalism Award
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