Institute hosts Freedom of Expression workshop
 The Institute of the Americas hosted its first Freedom of Expression workshop Jan. 11-15, which was attended by journalists from Guatemala, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Venezuela. The workshop focused on three key areas of reporting: The obligation of democracies to provide information to their citizens through the media; the responsibility of the media to accurately report the information; and the political, physical and economic repression journalists face in some countries as they attempt to report on organized crime and corruption. The journalists heard a presentation from Sergio Sarmiento, president of Caminos de la Libertad (Roads to Freedom), a program he established to encourage journalists around the world to fight for freedom of expression. They heard from Marc Cooper, a former correspondent in Latin America and professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. And they participated in a spirited roundtable with Vicente Calderon, director of TijuanaPress.com; Dora Elena Cortes, founder of the news service Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias (AFN); and Elliot Spagat, director of the San Diego/Tijuana regional office of the Associated Press.
Tony Cavin, a senior producer at CBS News, traveled from Washington, D.C., to work with journalists on new techniques for reporting in-depth stories. And the journalists made a visit to the USS Midway for an explanation on accessing information from the U.S. Navy. During a day-long field visit to Tijuana, the journalists met the staff of Zeta, a small weekly newspaper which has the suffered the murders of two editors and the attempted murder of its publisher over the past two decades. They also met with Raul Ramirez Baena, the former ombudsman for Baja California who now heads a group calling itself the Northwest Citizen’s Commission for Human Rights. In the evening, the group met with Victor Clark Alfaro, the head of the Bi-National Center for Human Rights. Carlos Lauria, Latin America program director for the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, spoke with the journalists during a 90-minute videoconference from New York. And the journalists themselves talked during a roundtable discussion about the challenges – and in some cases, danger – they face while reporting stories.
‘The world and Mexico are prepared’ for next wave of A/H1N1, journalists told during IOA workshop  LA JOLLA — As the United States and its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere prepare for the next wave of A/H1N1 influenza, a top physician with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the virus is less lethal than doctors and researchers believed during the April-May outbreak. “We are not going to prevent all the cases,” Dr. Stephen Waterman, who heads the CDC’s Quarantine and Border Health Services Branch in San Diego, told international journalists attending a Sept. 21-25 Pandemic Preparedness workshop organized by the Institute of the Americas. “Of course, we will have an increase in cases. But we do not think it will be as serious as we initially thought. ” Valuable lessons were learned during the first outbreak , Waterman told the journalists. “You do not want to create alarm,” he said. “It is possible to confront the situation. It is possible to prevent the illness.” Waterman shared his observations with journalists and government communicators from 10 countries in the Hemisphere who attended the workshop at the Institute’s La Jolla campus. The communicators traveled from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador and the United States to learn about the latest advances in the fight against the pandemic influenza. During the five-day workshop the journalists toured the Naval Health Research Center, whose scientists confirmed the first two cases of A/H1N1 in the United States. The journalists also heard a presentation from Dr. Dennis Burton, a leading researcher on HIV/AIDS antibodies at Scripps Research Institute. And they met with health care professionals and human rights workers who are preparing to treat at-risk groups during the next wave of the influenza. Six months after the first deadly outbreak, Waterman said, “the world and Mexico are well prepared for the situation.”He stressed the importance of vaccinating high-risk groups – pregnant woman, patients who suffer from asthma or chronic lung disease, diabetics and people with kidney and liver disorders. “It is important to communicate which are the high-risk groups,” Waterman said. “The vaccine will not be available for everyone.” He credited Mexico with sharing information on the virus when the outbreak began. “I think the response of Mexico was very good in the eyes of the CDC,” Waterman said. “The response was agile and flexible.” The A/H1N1 virus “was a surprise to everyone,” he said. “We were expecting a new virus because it has been more than 50 years since the last pandemic. We had made plans to confront a new virus. But when a new virus arrives the situation is always a little confused at the beginning." With the virus apparently under control, the CDC and doctors in Mexico are working closely on issues ranging from vaccines to anti-virals to technical questions surrounding treatment. “There is a new recognition now of the need to collaborate,” Waterman said.
IOA teams with SEMARNAT to host
climate change workshop for Mexican journalists 
LA JOLLA – The Institute of the Americas and Mexico's Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) hosted an Aug. 10-12 professional workshop on climate change for Mexican journalists. IOA President Jeffrey Davidow and Juan Elvira Quesada, Mexico's Minister of the Environment announced plans for the workshop during a June 4 conference in Cozumel commemorating World Environment Day, noting that their intention was to develop a sustained and lasting understanding of climate change and its impact on Mexico and the Americas. To accomplish that goal, the Institute of the Americas, in cooperation with SEMARNAT, hosted an intensive training program that offered both field trips to meet with experts on climate change and scientific sessions in the Institute's conference center. The workshop included a day-long science workshop at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where journalists participated in sessions with scientists in the Climate Research Division and in the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine. Journalists also met with scientists studying the impact of climate change on coral reefs, an issue of great concern to Mexico and, in particular to Cozumel, whose barrier reef system -- the second-largest in the world -- provides a rich environment for many species, including some unique species not found anywhere else on Earth. At the close of the three-day workshop, Elvira met with journalists to talk about measures he is taking in Mexico to address climate change. Elvira also addressed a bi-national audience during an Institute of the Americas Tequila Talk. Davidow pointed out that the Institute of the Americas is well situated for this type workshop because it is located on the University of California, San Diego, campus, which for many years has been at the forefront of research on climate change. Dr. Roger Revelle, one of the first scientists to study climate change, is credited with successfully lobbying for the establishment of a University of California campus in San Diego. When Dr. Revelle accepted a professorship at Harvard University, Al Gore was one of his students. Vice President Gore acknowledged Dr. Revelle in the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" as his inspiration for his climate change public awareness campaign. While other universities have more recently focused on climate change, the issue has been one of the fundamentals of instruction at the UCSD campus since its inception. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which became part of the University of California in 1912, is noted for its research on physical, chemical, biological, geological and geophysical studies of the oceans and the Earth.
Magazine report focuses on IOA journalism workshop theme  MEXICO CITY - Codigo Topo, a monthly magazine published by the Mexico City newspaper Excelsior, reported on its investigation into the murders and disappearances of Latin American journalists in the July 6 edition.
“The instruction we received from your organization left a mark,” said Suarez, who attended the May 4-8 workshop. “It continues to surprise me that journalists die in Mexico and their own media do nothing more than write about the incident. Their memory is very short.” Among the contributrs to the Codigo Topo report entitled, “Freedom of Expression: Journalists in Danger,” are two journalists who attended the Institute’s May workshop.
Renan Estenssoro, president of the La Paz Journalists Association in La Paz, Boliva, wrote about attempts by President Evo Morales to suppress the media in Bolivia. Katia Lemus, editor of the daily newspaper La Provincia in Morelia, Michoacan, described the threat to journalists in Michoacan from the drug cartel known as La Familia. To read the stories, click here. The workshop was the first in a series of 2009 journalism training sessions organized by the Institute of the Americas. On July 20-24, the Institute will hold an Investigative Journalism workshop, which will be attended by journalists from 10 Latin American countries. For more information, contact
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Walker to discuss threats faced by Latin American journalists on KPBS 'These Days' program 
IOA Vice President Lynne Walker will join KPBS host Maureen Cavanaugh on These Days Thursday (April 30) at 10:20 a.m. to discuss the impact of violence against journalists in Latin America.
Walker, who was Mexico City bureau chief for Copley News Service for 15 years before joining the Institute of the Americas in April 2008, will discuss the threats, disappearances and murders of journalists who cover corruption and organized crime. Walker is directing a professional journalism workshop, which will be held May 4-8 at the IOA, entitled, "Silencing the Press: Violence Against Journalists as a Threat to Democracy." Among the journalists attending the workshop are a Venezuelan reporter who is the vice president of the College of Journalists; a Nicaraguan TV director; a Bolivian reporter who is the former president of the La Paz Journalism Association; and a reporter working with the Institute for Press and Society (IPYS) in Peru. Journalists from Mexico City and from Michoacan will also be among the participants as well as reporters from Tijuana news organizations. The journalists will meet with several specialists who are traveling to San Diego for the workshop. Catalina Botero, Special Rappoteur on Freedom of Expression for the Organization of American States, will review her annual report on freedom of expression in the Americas, which she will deliver in Washington next week. Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones, whose multimedia coverage of the drug violence in Mexico garnered several international journalism awards this year, will discuss his work entitled, "Mexico under Seige." Al Valdez, former supervising investigator with the Orange County District Attorney's Office anti-gang unit, will discuss international gangs and Jesus Quinonez, homicide detective with the Baja California Attorney General's Office, will explain how investigations are conducted. Carlos Lauria, senior program coordinator for the Americas with the Committee to Protect Journalists, will join Walker on These Days to discuss the rising wave of violence in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Lauria, who will be interviewed by phone from his office in New York, will also meet with journalists on May 4 during the IOA workshop. Sergio Sarmiento, director of TVAzteca's editorial board, will join These Days by phone from his office in Mexico City. Sarmiento is launching a project, "Road to Freedom: Freedom of Expression in Mexico," aimed at encouraging freedom of expression among journalists in the Americas. Sarmiento, who has published a book of essays written by Latin American journalists on the subject, will meet with IOA workshop participants on May 8 to discuss his plans for the project. The IOA workshop comes as journalists throughout the Americas are increasingly the targets of violence. On Monday, (April 27) a Honduran journalist in the capital of Tegucigalpa was murdered. Osman Lopez, 27, who worked for the daily newspaper La Tribuna and the broadcast station Channel 45, was shot to death in his car. His murder came less than a month after another Honduran journalist, Rafael Murguia, was shot to death in the city of San Pedro Sula. Murguia, a reporter for the Cadena Voces radio station, was dragged from his car and shot eight times. No one has been arrested in the slaying. On April 1, Rolando Santiz, a journalist with Telecentro 13, was killed in Guatemala City and a videographer from the television station, Antonio de Leon, was seriously injured. In Mexico, 25 journalists have been killed since 2000 and another eight have disappeared, making the country the most dangerous in the region for journalists. For information on the workshop, contact
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at 858-453-5560 x 128
Winners announced for Second Annual Jack F. Ealy Latin American Scientific Journalism Award
 LA JOLLA – The Institute of the Americas and the Fundacion Ealy Ortiz on July 13 announced the winners of the Second Jack F. Ealy Latin American Scientific Journalism Award. Winners of the award – the only science journalism award in Latin America -- were chosen from journalists who received full scholarships to attend the sixth annual Jack F. Ealy Workshop on Science Journalism held July 7-16 at the Institute of the Americas. The awards were judged by Dr. Juan Ramon de la Fuente, who served for eight years as rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Latin America’s largest university; Sergio Munoz, a former Los Angeles Times editorial board member whose syndicated column appears in newspapers throughout Latin America; Enrique Bustamente, director of Fundacion Ealy Ortiz and S. Lynne Walker, who was Copley News Service Mexico City Bureau Chief for 15 years and now serves as vice president of the Institute of the Americas. The workshop and the Ealy journalism award, which are designed to encourage in-depth, comprehensive coverage of science, health and environmental issues, were initiated by Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, president of the board of Mexico City-based El Universal in honor of his late father, Jack F. Ealy. First-place winners each received a cash prize of $5,000, second-place winners received $3,000 and third-place winners received a cash prize of $2,000. Winners of the Jack F. Ealy Latin American Journalism Award for Health coverage are: First place – Nelly Luna, who reports on health and science issues for “El Comercio” in Lima, Peru. Luna’s winning entry is a poignant story on women infected with AIDS. “Splendid,” Muñoz said of Luna’s winning entry. “Relevant, well written and clear. Making good use of sources the story narrates a human drama without being overly sentimental.” Second place – Ernesto Méndez, who reports for Grupo Imagen, Excélsior and Cadena 3 in México City. Méndez’s winning work tells of a mother’s long and politically sensitive fight to force the prosecution of a company responsible for the contamination death of her daughter. “Narrated with great agility, the story is relevant and terrifying,” Muñoz said. “Recognizing an extraordinary person for her humanity, her persistence and her social commitment, the writer gently takes the reader to a devastating place. The good use of sources permits him to document the horror of this story of death and impunity.” Third place – Sebastian Escalón, a freelance reporter whose work regularly appears in Siglo XXI in Guatemala. Escalón’s winning entry explains the Big Bang theory in a lively, accessible style. “Sebastian explains the Big Bang theory with a light-hearted style that reaches readers far beyond the scientific community,” Walker said. The winners of the Jack F. Ealy Latin American Journalism Award for Environmental coverage are: First place – Fernanda Landea, a reporter for Television Nacional de Chile. Her compelling science documentary program, “Cazadores de Ciencia,” takes viewers to faraway places such as Mumbai, India, and explains phenomena closer to home such as earthquakes. “The reporter uses interviews with scientists, military officials, children, the elderly and images of nature in southern Chile to recreate events that happened in the past,” Munoz said. “The relevance of the story is enormous and the way in which it is narrated, slowly building the suspense and using a serious, digified tone adds to the impact.” Second place – Lucía Cuozzi, reporter for Agencia Piso Trece Comunicación in Uruguay. Cuozzi’s work offered a well-documented and clearly written account of the challenges of disposing of highly polluting electronics. “Lucia’s stories, which explain complex subjects such as the architecture of sleep, are scientific, written with clarity and based on numerous and credible sources,” Walker said. Third place – Lucas Viano, reporter for the daily newspaper La Voz del Interior in Argentina. Viano’s work touches on themes ranging from a huge telescope to the threatened peperino to local scientists who made an important medical discovery. “The story is relevant because it offers an example of a group of local scientists whose work receives international recognition,” said Munoz. "The story is well written, clear and the narrative is very agile and laced with a fine sense of humor.”
IOA holds first HIV/AIDS journalism workshop
Twelve reporters from the U.S., Mexico, Nicaragua and Haiti attended the IOA’s first journalism workshop on “The Migration of HIV/AIDS.”
During the Aug. 9-11 workshop, journalists spent one day in north San Diego County, where undocumented migrants work, and another day in Baja California, Mexico, where the HIV/AIDS rate is the second-highest in Mexico. On the final day, the journalists heard presentations from several academics who had just returned from the International AIDS Society conference in Mexico City, where they presented findings from their ground-breaking research on the escalating rate of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis at the San Diego-Tijuana border.  Journalists traveled from throughout the region to attend the workshop, which was timed to coincide with the conclusion of the international conference in Mexico City. The radio, TV and print reporters who participated in the workshop specialize in medical and health coverage. Several cover health issues for U.S. and Mexican newspapers on the border, while some report
| Dr. Remedios Lozada, right, who heads Baja California’s HIV/AIDS program, was joined by the staff of PrevenCasa during a meeting between IV drug users and IOA workshop participants in a dry river bed of the Tijuana River. PrevenCasa, which opened six years ago in Tijuana, has implemented a clean needle program to slow the spread of HIV. |
for U.S. Spanish-language
publications. Other workshop
participants report for publications in Haiti, Nicaragua and Mexico’s southern states
of Nayarit and Guerrero. The workshop, which was sponsored by The Ford Foundation and the California Endowment, drew praise from the journalists. “Even though I´ve been covering Tijuana for 14 years, it really opened my eyes … Driving along the bed of the Tijuana River and speaking with addicts was a particularly powerful testimony of a side of the drug trade that gets little coverage.” Sandra Dibble, Tijuana Bureau Chief, The San Diego
Union-Tribune “Without a doubt, this is by far the best journalism workshop that I have attended.” Erika Cebreros, Associate Editor, El Mensajero Newspaper
IOA and Fundacion Ealy Ortiz announce
Latin America's first science journalism awards
The Institute of the Americas and the Fundacion Ealy Ortiz announce the winners of the Jack F. Ealy Latin American Scientific Journalism Award, the first science journalism award in Latin America. Winners were chosen from among 30 journalists who received full scholarships to attend the fifth annual workshop on science journalism held July 9-18 at the IOA. The awards were judged by Dr. Juan Ramon de la Fuente, who served for eight years as rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Latin America´s largest university; Sergio Muñoz, former Los Angeles Times editorial board member and syndicated columnist for newspapers throughout Latin America; Enrique Bustamante, director of Fundacion Ealy Ortiz; and S. Lynne Walker, who was Copley News Service Mexico City Bureau Chief for 15 years and now serves as vice president of the Institute of the Americas. The workshop and the Ealy journalism award, which are designed to encourage in-depth, comprehensive coverage of science, health and environmental issues, were initiated by Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, president of the board of Mexico City-based El Universal, in honor of his late father, Jack F. Ealy. First-place winners each received a cash prize of $4,000 and journalists selected for honorable mention each received a cash prize of $1,000. The winners of the Jack F. Ealy Latin American Journalism Award for Health coverage are: First place – Camilo Andres Amaya, who reports on health and science issues for “Semana” magazine in Bogota, Colombia. Amaya´s winning entry focuses on the treatable, but often overlooked, disease of uterine cancer. Honorable mention – Maria Alejandra Reyes, editor of the health and environment section of “El Periodico” in Valencia, Venezuela. Reyes´ entry showed readers the deplorable health conditions in a Baghdad hospital. The winners of the Jack F. Ealy Latin American Journalism Award for Environmental coverage are: First place – Liliana Guadalupe Chavez Diaz, a reporter specializing in environmental coverage at “El Imparcial” in Hermosillo, Mexico. Her three-part series explained the devastating consequences of large-scale tourism development in the coastal state of Sonora. Honorable mention – Sergio Federovisky, producer of the television program “Contaminacion Cero” in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His documentary demonstrated the dramatic impact of over fishing and polluting one of Argentina´s major rivers. To see interviews with this year´s Ealy science journalism prize winners,
click here. Winners of Ealy Scholarship announced  The Institute of the Americas announces the winners of 15 full scholarships to the fifth annual Jack F. Ealy Workshop on Science Journalism to be held July 9-18.
This year’s winners of the scholarship funded by the Fundacion Ealy Ortiz were chosen from among 275 print, radio and television journalists reporting throughout the Western Hemisphere.
The workshop and the Ealy scholarship, which are designed to encourage in-depth, comprehensive coverage of science, health and environmental issues, were initiated by Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, president of the board of Mexico City-based El Universal in honor of his late father, Jack F. Ealy.
The winners of scholarships to the fifth annual Jack F. Ealy Workshop on Science Journalism are:
• Sergio Federovisky, Talar Producciones, Argentina
• María Osorio, Los Tiempos, Bolivia
• Silvia Lisboa, Zero Hora, Brazil
• Liliana Álvarez Viteri, Health and Market, Chile
• Camilo Andrés Amaya, Revista Semana, Colombia
• Ángela Ávalos R., La Nación, Costa Rica
• Carlos Galecio Samaniego, El Universo, Ecuador
• Mirella Cáceres, El Diario de Hoy, El Salvador
• Karla Iberia Sánchez Sánchez, Televisa, Mexico
• Liliana Chávez, Canal 22, Mexico
• Martha Solano Martínez, La Prensa, Nicaragua
• Ramiro Escobar La Cruz, Diario Perú.21, Peru
• Isaías Miguel Ortiz, Semanario Clave, Dominican Republic
• Pedro Dutour, El Observador, Uruguay
• María Alejandra Reyes, El Periódico de Venezuela, Venezuela
“We’re very pleased to award scholarships to these knowledgeable and gifted journalists,” said Jeffrey Davidow, president of the Institute of the Americas and former ambassador to Mexico and Venezuela. “Their outstanding coverage of issues ranging from environmental conservation to global health exemplifies the type of reporting that is critical to the region’s future.”
The journalists are also finalists for two Jack F. Ealy Scientific Journalism Awards, the first such awards for outstanding coverage of health and the environment since the Institute of the Americas science journalism program began in 2003. Winners will be announced and a cash prize awarded on
July 9.
To see interviews with this year’s Ealy science journalism prize winners,
click here To see the agenda of this year’s Ealy program, click here To see photos from this year’s Ealy program, click here For a directory of this year’s participants, click here To review the presentations from this year's workshop, click here To read news stories by this year’s Ealy winners, click:
Environment Stories | Health Stories
To view television stories broadcast by this year’s winners, click:
Sábalos de la Maldad Parte1 | Sábalos de la Maldad Parte2
Orlando debe Nacer/Seccion Salud © Televisa,2008 To view a video of last year’s Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Program, click: Part 1 | Part 2 I | 
