#pulitzercenter

[kleinkriegsalon]

Antonella, 12, lebt in einem Vorort von Buenos Aires.

Foto Irina Werning

[saddayfordemocracy]

Winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2020!

Photographer of the Year; 

Seeds of Resistance by Pablo Albarenga,

In 2017, at least 207 leaders and environmentalists were killed while protecting their communities from mining, agribusiness and other projects threatening their territories. 

According to a 2018 report by Global Witness, most of these cases occurred in Brazil with 57 assassinations being recorded, of which 80% were against people defending the Amazon. 

While the statistics expose an alarming situation, they fail to provide detailed information about the stories and people behind these figures, nor about the struggles they still face. 

Despite being immersed in such a violent situation, indigenous and traditional populations refuse to abandon their land, even when it has been completely destroyed. The reason for this stoicism lies in their unique bond to their territories - this land is their life-support system, a sacred area in which hundreds of generations of their ancestors rest. 

Seeds of Resistance is a project that seeks to explore the bond between the land defenders and the territories they inhabit, in a single image. By using aerial footage, the main characters in the stories are seen from above, as though they are laying down their lives for their territory. Then, a second image is shot from a much higher altitude to show their land and reveal, where possible, the threats they face. 

Some of these images were possible thanks to Rainforest Defenders, a project by DemocraciaAbierta (OpenDemocracy) supported by the Rainforest Journalism Fund, in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center. 

[pulitzerfieldnotes]

Xyza Bacani

[TOP]  A child and a migrant worker rest in Little India, Singapore. The Dee Pavali festival is coming and decorations can be seen everywhere in Little India. The area is an ethnic district in Singapore located east of the Singapore river. Most of the Indian commercial industry is located in the area. It’s known as TEKKA in the Indian Singaporean community. October 17, 2016

We made dim sum today. The Chinese nationals I’m photographing invited me to make dim sum with them. I ruined most of the dim sums I made, but the hospitality they have shown is incredible. October 17, 2016

[Bottom]  I printed a photo of Sohag, a Bangladeshi migrant worker I photograph. We compared it to his photo when he first arrived in Singapore and the changes in his appearance are very noticeable. According to him, he aged a lot since he started working in Singapore. October 17,2016

To read more of Xyza’s reporting, visit her project “Singapore Runaways”. 

[pulitzerfieldnotes]

Picture: Mine employees work atop a massive tailings pile on the Far West Rand. Credit: Mark Olalde

South Africa’s Toxic Legacy

Mark Olalde

XOLOBENI, Eastern Cape – Volkswagen Polos were not meant to take off-roading, but sometimes roads don’t lead to the best stories. In one of South Africa’s most rural provinces, much of the land is communally held, and I am looking to find out what this means when multinational companies try to mine there.

 With the help of generous grants such as that from the Pulitzer Center, I have been able to travel to some of the most remote parts of this country to investigate.

 In December alone, I visited four of the country’s nine provinces to get past a phone call and find out what is truly happening on the ground. In addition to the Eastern Cape, I visited communities in Mpumalanga living mere meters from heaps of coal bound for power stations. One resident told me about the community’s children carefully picking their way around abandoned pits where underground fires burn on their way to school every day.

 Across the province of Gauteng, I walked into, drove around and flew over (pictured) unremediated goldmines. In the Free State, I spoke with former mineworkers and stumbled across the largest illegal mining operation I’ve ever seen. The trip also added color to my story I would have otherwise missed. Driving to meet my sources hit me with the disparity between one city’s numerous roundabouts – a vestige of the city’s history as a proposed utopian community – and the hostels once used as a tool of Apartheid and still a symbol of economic disparity.

Back in Johannesburg, I piece all these facets of the story together and am able to produce print, photography, audio, video and databases that would otherwise be impossible.

To read more of Mark’s reporting, visit his project at “http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/south-africas-toxic-legacy”.

[pulitzerfieldnotes]

Xyza Bacani

[Top] I went back to Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) office today to reconnect with the people who run the organization. I met them last March and started photographing the Migrant runaways. I was not able to go back to Singapore because of lack of funds. I finally got the opportunity to continue the project this month when the Pulitzer Center gave me a grant to continue the project. As i wait there, two new runaway migrant domestic workers arrived.  October 10, 2016

[Middle]  I accompanied a runaway migrant worker to her agency to fetch her things. Her former employer left her things at her agency after the agency contacted them. October 10, 2016

[Bottom]  I noticed tons of construction areas in Singapore. They are building new roads, subway stations in different areas of the city non-stop. Singapore is known as a global city and it’s obvious with the new infrastructures they are building. October 12, 2016

To read more of Xyza’s reporting, visit her project “Singapore Runaways”.

[reduxpictures]

Redux photographer Luke Duggleby has a photo exhibition in Bangkok at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre until September 3rd, supported by Pulitzer Center. It's titled “A Fragile Coexistence - Humans and Elephants in Eastern Thailand”. It shows Thailand's worst human-elephant conflict area which exists only a few hours east of the capital.

[reduxpictures]

Thailand – Konflikt zwischen Mensch und Tier: Wenn Elefanten Menschen töten

In Thailand töten Elefanten immer öfter Menschen. Die Tiere kehren zurück in die Gebiete, die ehemals Wald waren, wo heute Dörfer stehen. Wa

Redux photographer Luke Duggleby shot a story, supported by the Pulitzer Center, of the dangers elephants pose to people, villages, and farms that were once forests and jungle in Thailand, published in Der Spiegel, June 4, 2023.

[ciarajou4500a]

Building Trust

            The “Building Trust” video created by the Pulitzer Center helped me rethink the way both sources and journalists should deal with sensitive topics and trauma. Reporting sensitive topics isn’t easy, and I think it’s important for journalists to follow their own personal ethics and the ethical guidelines for their profession.

            One of the main takeaways I had about reporting on sensitive issues is that the person you are interviewing should always be put above the story you are telling. At the end of the day, your source’s wellbeing and safety are a priority and hold more value than your deadline. Sometimes a story might not come out the way you expected or may not be able to be published without jeopardizing the safety of the source, and that’s okay. One of the journalists in the video made a similar point to this and said that your editor might be upset with you, but you just need to let them be upset. Some scenarios will be out of your control. I believe you shouldn’t have to persuade a source to share any information they feel uncomfortable with.

            It’s also crucial to get to know your source on and off the record. Building a relationship with someone needs to happen in an environment where they know they don’t have to think about everything they say. This way, the source can feel like you aren’t there to solely use them for a story. It will also hopefully make it easier for the source to open up when the cameras are rolling. Along with this, it’s important to be fully transparent about how you’re planning on writing the story or creating the video. Letting your source have input can help them feel more in control of the narrative. Regardless of whether the topic is sensitive or not, I think it’s polite to send the story to your sources first before publishing, so you can get their approval and double check that everything is factual.

            One topic I feel strongly about that wasn’t covered in the video is interviewing children. For me, I think interviewing children directly after they experienced something traumatic should be off-limits. I’ve seen broadcast stories where children are interviewed after a school shooting, and this has always felt unethical to me. Children aren’t equipped to process their trauma by themselves, let alone discuss a traumatic event right after it happens without worsening their trauma. Children also can’t consent to an interview, and even though their parents can give permission for them, I don’t think they should. (I'm not a parent, however, so I can't speak for all situations.)

            Finally, it’s good to take time away from your job as a journalist to process your own feelings about what you witnessed and discussed. In the moment, many journalists are focusing on the story and the person they are interviewing, so it’s good to be able to take time for yourself later as well.