On February 5, 2015, in partnership with Cultural Survival, the International Center for Journalism (ICFJ) hosted a training in Antigua, Guatemala for community radio volunteers as a part of ICFJ’s Investigative Reporting Initiative for the Americas. The goal of the workshop was to enhance the reporting and technological skills of community radio operators in Guatemala. Thirty radio volunteers working in various community media projects were selected to participate. The majority of the participants also work in promoting human rights relevant to their communities and in revitalizing local languages and traditions.
The event in Antigua was a two-day Radioathon with key components being discussions and trainings in new technologies aimed to improve the quality of news. Tom Albrecht, ICFJ representative and program coordinator, says “I would say the goal is to support and strengthen the abilities of local volunteers in order to improve the quality of the information they are reporting. Generally, these volunteers don’t have access to these resources, so we hope this event will be able to provide them with new tools.”
At the end of the training, participants were encouraged to submit a community media project proposal to ICFJ. Twenty proposals and research projects will be chosen to receive mentoring and support of ICFJ as well as funding. The support will focus on training journalists and volunteers of community radio stations in the development of professional investigative journalism skills, as well as provide tools to exercise journalistic work that crosses borders, focusing on human rights, education, health, justice, environment, democracy, and cultural issues.
“These spaces help to strengthen the work of social communicators and community volunteers in Guatemala. Many of us have no college education but we are passionate about radio. Events like these really help us to learn and to protect ourselves as journalists, and allows us access to information without having to get what many call a formal education,” says William Lopez community journalist and ICFJ program coordinator in Guatemala.
Maria Emilia Martin, a well-recognized journalist with over two dozen awards for her work on Latino issues and Latin America, headlined the event. As a recipient of Fullbright and Knight Fellowships, Martin has experience in journalism and radio training in the US, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and many other countries. Public Radio producer Kate Richardson from New Orleans also conducted the trainings. Richardson works as a general reporter and producer of Listening Post NOLA, a community journalism project.
The Radioathon brought new skills to radio operators and new media projects to many areas of Guatemala, enriching the community radio movement.
