“
IWPR is the zeitgeist!
”
Ed Vulliamy
The Guardian |
IWPR builds democracy at the frontlines of conflict and change through
the power of professional journalism. IWPR programs provide intensive
hands-on training, extensive reporting and publishing, and ambitious
initiatives to build the capacity of local media. Supporting peace-building,
development and the rule of law, IWPR gives responsible local media
a voice.
“
IWPR fills a critical gap by
helping local journalists to focus on human rights and justice
issues. In the process, it contributes to democratic transitions,
and demonstrates that the best war reporting is not about
military conflict, but human consequences.”
Samantha Power
Pulitzer Prize-winning
author of
A Problem from Hell: America
and the Age of Genocide |
The Institute has grown substantially since its inception in
the early 1990s, when it disseminated frontline reporting by Balkan
journalists to counter nationalist hate speech and international
misunderstanding of the conflicts in the region.
IWPR now exists as an international network for media development,
with not-for-profit divisions in Europe, the US and Africa supporting
training and capacity-building programs for local journalism,
with field programs in more than two dozen countries.
Under dictatorships such as Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan, and on-going
conflict areas such as Chechnya, IWPR serves a critical role as
“electronic samizdat,” supporting local reporters
under siege and utilizing new technologies to disseminate their
reporting in country, regionally and internationally. This includes
extensive syndication in newspapers throughout the United States
and regular appearances on NPR, CNN and BBC. In transitional regions,
like the Balkans, IWPR has established a network of independent
local media organizations to provide journalist training and investigative
reporting for the long term. This includes a focus on reporting
on war crimes and war crimes tribunals, in The Hague and the former
Yugoslavia.
“
IWPR is unique in combining
consistently accurate reporting with incisive analyses of
regional trends. Time after time, IWPR is the first with the
news, and the best at putting the story in context through
regional voices. I’m a big fan.
”
Lorne Craner
President, International
Republican Institute |
In conflict and post-conflict areas such as Iraq, IWPR operates
at the frontline of struggle to professionalize media and civil
society, empowering responsible local voices, supporting human
rights and development reporting, and contributing to cross-community
understanding. In Afghanistan, IWPR has established the country’s
first-ever independent news agency to provide balanced indigenous
reporting on development, electoral and social issues. In both
areas, IWPR provides special focus on empowering women journalists.
In Uganda, IWPR is launching an independent radio news agency
in advance of critical elections. |
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Learning
About Risk
July/August
'09
Afghan
Election Updates
Recent
double bombing in Baghdad has cast doubt on the government's
ability to guarantee security and prompted fears such violence
may affect voter turnout in anticipated January elections,
writes iWPR reporter Ali Karim. 
Protests
are sweeping the country in the wake of allegations that American
troops burned copies of the Quran during a patrol in a province
near Kabul, a charge strongly denied by U.S. military officials,
writes IWPR reporter Abdullah Obaidi.
“The
challenges of organizing a new poll within a few weeks are
daunting, and it may ultimately prove impossible to carry
out,” forecasts IWPR editor Hafizullah Gardesh.
Jean
MacKenzie, IWPR Afghanistan director, assesses reports of
low voter turnout and allegations of fraud in country’s presidential
and provincial councils elections.