global journalist

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian has been imprisoned in Iran since July 2014. On this edition of Global Journalist, we examine how Iran's internal politics and relations with the U.S. have led to the lengthy jailing of a correspondent for a major U.S. newspaper. 

At first glance, the small West African nation of Equatorial Guinea is doing well. Sandwiched between Cameroon and Gabon on the Gulf of Guinea, the oil-rich nation of 820,000 has a per capita GDP equivalent to that of the Czech Republic or Portugal. But the picture is more complicated than that.

Much of its population lives in conditions similar to that in the world’s poorest countries.

On this edition of Global Journalist a look inside Equatorial Guinea, where oil has enriched its leaders but not its people.

In November 2009 in the Philippines, a convoy of dozens of journalists, lawyers and political activists were traveling to register an opposition candidate for governor of a province called Maguindanao.

The group of cars were stopped on the road by armed men in broad daylight. Fifty-eight people from the convoy were then shot to death, including 32 journalists and media workers. Six years later, no one has been convicted of the mass-killing. 

On this edition of Global Journalist, the legacy of the Maguindanao massacre and a look at why reporters are killed with impunity in the Philippines.

Next week is an historic one for Pope Francis. He’ll make his first trip to the United States since becoming pope in March 2013. He’ll visit President Obama in Washington D.C., stop by a high school in a poor section of New York, and attend a Catholic families conference in Philadelphia.

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the effect of his papacy inside and outside the Roman Catholic church.

With more than 30 million people spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, they are a minority everywhere they live.

Now Kurdish groups are battling both the Islamic State  and forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad as well as Turkey, a key U.S. ally. 

On this edition of Global Journalist: a deeper look at the role of the Kurds in the swirling conflicts of the Middle East.

In a special edition of Global Journalist, al-Jazeera's top executive Mostefa Souag addresses controversies that have shadowed the award-winning news network as it tries to grow its U.S. presence. Souag responds to questions about the network's independence from the Qatari government, perceptions of anti-Semitic and anti-American bias and its famous interviews with Osama bin Laden.

As a co-host of NPR's flagship "All Things Considered," Audie Cornish's voice is heard by 12 million people everyday. On a special edition of Global Journalist, she takes us behind the scenes of one of the most influential radio shows in the U.S. and talks about the future of public radio.

Greece's last two bailouts failed to rescue the country. This week, European leaders approved a new $95 billion package for the debt-stricken country. For Greeks, it means more tax hikes and cuts to pensions and other public spending–an option they soundly rejected in a nonbinding referendum in July. Still some argue that this bailout is different than the previous two – and that it may set the country on the path to recovery.

Eritrea is sometimes described as "the North Korea of Africa." And it's a deserved title.

You see them on the battlefields patrolling the front lines and risking their lives.

But they are not soldiers, at least not in the traditional sense. They’re war correspondents. These brave men and women travel to the most dangerous parts of the globe, all for the story.

For many journalists, covering one war is enough. But there’s a small group of reporters and photographers who have made it their career to jump from one war to another.

We're covering two issues on this edition of Global Journalist.

First, Jason McLure interviews Saw Yan Naing (@yannaingsaw), a journalist from Myanmar. He's in the United States as part of the Alfred Friendly Fellowship Program, which creates partnerships between American media outlets and journalists from around the world.

Venezuela is a country that should, by all accounts, be doing quite well. It’s one of the top oil-producing countries in the world.

But the South American nation also has one of the highest murder rates in the world, a government whose officials are accused of selling drugs, and millions living below the poverty line. Not only that, the country's economy is crumbling, and the government is notorious for clamping down on journalists who challenge it on these issues.

Journalists and bloggers in Bangladesh are finding themselves increasingly under fire. Last year, a group that calls itself “Defenders of Islam” published a “hit list” of more than 80 writers.

Then in the first six months of 2015, three of those named were hacked to death in separate knife attacks. The latest was in May, when four masked men attacked blogger Ananta Bijoy Das with machetes while he was heading to work.

Every year, a handful of journalists from around the world are selected to be Alfred Friendly Fellows. These journalists are partnered with American news outlets in the hopes that they can learn and help spread U.S. news ideals, namely fair and accurate reporting.

After more than 50 years of hostility and frozen ties with the United States, Cuba is preparing to open up to the world. In this edition of Global Journalist, we look at what it’s like reporting in the Communist country, and what the restoration of diplomatic relations means for Cuba's economy and people.

This week's guests:

  The four-year long civil war in Syria has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee. But coverage of the conflict has waned, as other news stories have taken center stage. Global Journalist looks at how journalists are covering the war, and how it's affecting people on the ground.

This week's guests:

Ethiopia's parliamentary elections are set to be held May 24th, but there is little doubt the ruling party will win an overwhelming majority amidst a crackdown on independent media and political dissidents. This week on Global Journalist, we look at why and how the restrictions on the media in Africa's second-most populous country began, and speak with a journalist who spent more than a year in prison for reporting.

North Korea has long been a forbidden land for journalists, human rights advocates, and pretty much anyone who publicly disagrees with the regime’s philosophies and practices. But there have been more and more cracks in the facade, and people are beginning to share their stories with the rest of the world.

Two years after Pope Francis was selected to lead the Roman Catholic church, Global Journalist's Jason McLure sits down with three Catholic news agency journalists who to examine his popularity and how he interacts with the media.  

This week's guests:

This week on Global Journalist, guest host Joshua Kranzberg takes you around the world for a series of stories on the challenges of journalism in a rapidly changing world.

*Mahir Zeynalov, an Azerbaijani columnist for Turkey's Today's Zaman newspaper, speaks with Global Journalist's Jason McLure about being deported from Turkey for his Twitter use.

The small Arabian peninsula nation of Yemen has gone through a lot of turmoil in the past decade. One president was ousted in 2012 during the Arab Spring, in January a second was overthrown by the Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia. Meanwhile al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, perhaps the terror group's most deadly affiliate, has seized the opportunity to expand its presence in Yemen.

What is the future of this country, and what does it mean for the West if it becomes an Iranian ally or descends into Somalia-style chaos?

After the recent attacks in Copenhagen and France involving terrorists targeting Jewish people, Global Journalist looks at whether this is indicative of a broad rise in anti-Semitism in the region.

We examine recent incidents in France, the Netherlands and Denmark and discuss the threat from Islamic extremists and far-right and far-left political groups.

Our focus this week is on China and the restrictions it places on the media inside the country, and how it affects not only journalists but Internet users. From the Great Firewall to denying visas to critical foreign journalists, what is the future of freedom of expression in the world’s most populous country?

Many people know Ecuador as the home of calm and picturesque sights, from the Galapagos Islands and lush Amazonian rain forest to soaring Andean peaks.

We talk to acclaimed photographer Eugene Richards about his work, and receiving a 2014 Missouri Honor Medal.

http://youtu.be/vAwV09XgFzo

We talk to Audie Cornish, recipient of a 2014 Missouri Honor Medal, about her work at NPR and the future of radio.

The Guardian is a well known and highly respected newspaper that received a 2014 Missouri Honor Medal for services to journalism. We interviewed James Ball, special projects editor at The Guardian, about his newspaper's work and mission. We also spoke to Ball about his connection to Julian Assange and Edward Snowden; he's worked for Wikileaks and with the Guardian team that published the groundbreaking stories about the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program based on leaked documents from Edward Snowden.

This episode of Global Journalist is audio only.

We interviewed Brian Bonner and Katya Gorchinskaya of the Kyiv Post, which received a 2014 Missouri Honor Medal, about their careers and the future of journalism. The Kyiv Post is an English language, independent newspaper that became a prime source of information for the west when Russian actions in Ukraine escalated.

  We speak to Byron "Barney" Calame, a recipient of the 2014 Missouri Honor Medal, about his career at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Joining us is Paul Steiger, the founder of ProPublica, and the former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.

This episode of Global Journalist is audio only.

With the recent arrest of Azeri investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, we look at Azerbaijan's crackdowns on journalists, and whether there's hope for the future. Our guests: