Documentary multimedia

Pulitzer Center presents recent grant recipient projects

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting came to UNC today to present “Women – Children – Crisis,” a lecture on the international coverage of global issues surrounding women and children. Three past grant recipients spoke about their experience documenting ethnic and societal conflicts around the world. In addition to hearing how they reported their stories, they presented their videos on Pulitzer Gateway, a site that officially launched today. Get ready because you’ll want to spend quite a bit of time watching these projects.

Journalist Meredith May reported on child indentured servants in western Nepal and an 83 year-old woman’s efforts to combat it. “Olga’s Girls” is an intimate look at a critical issue where poor families are forced to sell their daughters to wealthy families, many times losing contact with them forever. Olga is fighting back by providing these poor families with a pig or goat in exchange that they don’t sell their daughters. It’s a heart-breaking story, but an uplifting account of how one person can truly make a difference.

Journalist Michael Kavanagh made three month-long trips to eastern Congo to document the use of rape as a weapon of war. His piece was moving, especially because it was the first to interview the husband to better understand why he felt he had to leave his victimized wife.

I had to leave early so I didn’t get to hear Alaa Majeed’s account of women suffrage in Iraq, so I look forward to checking out her story and others on the Pulitzer Gateway. Take a look through these projects and if you have an idea to document an international story, apply for a Pulitzer travel grant!

Other posts that might interest you:

• Introducing Honduras and the Hidden Hunger
• Dealing with uncooperative story subjects
• Multimedia movement “Playing for Change” seeks to inspire through music

© 30 March 2009 Innovative Interactivity (II).