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Editors' Notes

Dispatches

Editors' Notes

The Webbys: We Won...Thanks to You!

Calling All Video Journalists

Belize: Andy Palacio, 1960-2008

Kenya: Runners at Risk

May 07, 2008

The Webbys: We Won...Thanks to You!
BY Stephen Talbot

FRONTLINE/World has won two Webby People's Voice Awards. Thanks to you, we won the popular vote in two categories: one for the best online Documentary Series, and one for our story about prostitution in Dubai, "Night Secrets," as best Individual Episode in a News & Politics series.

March 12, 2008

Calling All Video Journalists
BY Stephen Talbot

Video journalist and former IRP Fellow Joe Rubin on assignment in Sri Lanka in 2002 for the very first broadcast of FRONTLINE/World.

We are pleased to announce that FRONTLINE/World has joined forces with the International Reporting Project (IRP) in Washington, D.C. to offer a Fall 2008 Fellowship for a video journalist to report an international story. Applications are now being accepted. The deadline is April 1.

You can find all the details and an online application form on the IRP Web site.

January 22, 2008

Belize: Andy Palacio, 1960-2008
BY Jackie Bennion

Andy Palacio in Belize. Photo: Marco Werman.

Editor's Note: We were saddened to learn of the sudden death last weekend of Andy Palacio, a wonderful singer and bandleader from Belize who spread his beloved Garifuna music around the world. Our music reporter, Marco Werman, had interviewed Palacio for our January 2004 FRONTLINE/World story, "The Exile's Song," and we sampled his songs on our Web site.

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January 10, 2008

Kenya: Runners at Risk
BY Stephen Talbot

Lornah Kiplagat at her high-altitude training center in Kenya in 2004.

An interview with Lornah Kiplagat

She's still trying to train at her camp in the highlands of western Kenya, but renowned runner Lornah Kiplagat is shaken by the recent turmoil in her village, Iten, and the violence which engulfed the nearby city of Eldoret, where a mob set fire to a church, killing more than 50 people who had taken shelter there.

Marathoner Luke Kibet was injured during an attack in downtown Eldoret, and a former member of Kenya's Olympic team, Lucas Sang, was hacked to death.

The violence was triggered December 30th when the government of President Mwai Kibaki announced he had been re-elected, despite early returns showing that the challenger, Raila Odinga, had a substantial lead. Since then, Odinga's supporters, mainly from the Luo tribe, have clashed repeatedly with Kibaki's followers, who are generally from the Kikuyu majority.

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December 10, 2007

Favorites for 2007
BY Stephen Talbot

Thanks to all for participating!

And the official winners of our "unofficial" poll are:

1.Best FRONTLINE/World on TV in 2007: "Hero Rats" and "Extraordinary Rendition"

Runners-up: "Afghanistan: The Other War" and "News War: War of Ideas"

2. Best FRONTLINE/World online in 2007: "Nepal: A Girl's Life" and "Ghana: Baseball Dreams"

Runner-up: "Dubai: Night Secrets"

3. FRONTLINE/World all-time favorite: "Uganda: A Little Goes a Long Way" (KIVA)

Runners-up: "The Women's Kingdom" and "Saddam's Road to Hell"

4. Books: "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert; "What Is the What" by Dave Eggers; "The Lay of the Land" by Richard Ford.

5. Movies: "The Lives of Others"

6. Music: Amy Winehouse, "Rehab"

7. TV: "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report"

Our "Unofficial" Holiday Poll

It has been a memorable year for FRONTLINE/World. We broadcast our 25th episode in April, we won our first two Emmys in September, and we registered our highest Web traffic ever in October and November, thanks to our "Extraordinary Rendition" report and our stories from Dubai, Burma and Pakistan.

But before we officially declare, "It's a wrap" for 2007, we'd like to hear from you about which of our "stories from a small planet" mattered most to you this year. And we're also curious about what books you've been reading and would like to share, what music you're listening to, what (if anything) you like on TV, and what movies you'd recommend.

So, welcome to our first year-end holiday poll.

October 02, 2007

And the Emmy Goes to...
BY Stephen Talbot

Reporter Gwynne Roberts projected on screen receiving the first award of the evening for his broadcast story, "Saddam's Road to Hell."

FRONTLINE/World was honored twice last week at the 28th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York. We received one Emmy for our broadcast story, "Iraq: Saddam's Road to Hell," by producer/reporter Gwynne Roberts, and another Emmy for "Libya: Out of the Shadow," one of our "Rough Cut" Web original videos by reporter Marco Werman and producer John MacGibbon.

The very first Emmy of the evening went to our Iraq story about Roberts' harrowing search for Kurds who disappeared under Saddam's regime. It won for "outstanding investigative journalism in a news magazine." This was particularly gratifying since we were competing in a tough category, which included a strong 60 Minutes story about war profiteering in Iraq.

August 21, 2007

Hero Rats
BY FRONTLINE/World Editors

An Apopo trainer handles one of the rodent recruits at Weetjens' lab in Tanzania.

Perhaps you were one of our viewers amazed to witness the abilities and intelligence of the rats featured in our story Hero Rats in Tanzania. We also heard from some of you who keep rats as pets and who were delighted to see their beloved creatures being put to good use. Either way, the story of the rats trained to uncover land mines has been one of the most popular videos on our Web site this summer, with comments flooding in after the June 27th broadcast.

July 23, 2007

Emmy Spotlight
BY Stephen Talbot

At FRONTLINE/World, this is what we like to call our "summer season."

FRONTLINE/World airs four to five times a year on PBS during FRONTLINE's October to June broadcast season. Our last TV episode went out on June 26 (you can still see all four stories online), and our next one isn't on until October, when FRONTLINE returns. Like many of you, this is the time of year we flee the office for vacations. But there's always someone here working because our Web site never sleeps.

May 03, 2007

Thembi's AIDS Diary: Where Is She Now?
BY Stephen Talbot

Thembi's AIDS Diary: A Year in the Life of a South African Teenager.

Last year, we posted a memorable, very personal Dispatch by Thembi Ngubane, an extraordinary 20-year-old South African who is living with AIDS. It was adapted from an award-winning public radio documentary.

Since many FRONTLINE/World Web visitors wrote to us about Thembi Ngubane's story, we thought you might like to read what has happened to her since then.

The following comes to us from Joe Richman of Radio Diaries, the producer of "Thembi's AIDS Diary."

April 25, 2007

Fair Trade Coffee -- An Update
BY Stephen Talbot

We noticed a story in last Sunday's New York Times (April 22) that reported fair trade coffee deals were proving to be beneficial for farmers and forests in the impoverished Mexican state of Chiapas.

"In this coffee region, known as Jaltenango, on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre," reported Elisabeth Malkin, "the [fair trade] programs appear to be making a difference, farmers say. Higher prices for certified beans have trickled down to some growers, and certification has had an environmental impact."