An officer at a crime scene in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, 2009
You may not know this about me, but I used to be the BBC reporter in Kingston, Jamaica. For the time that I was there, I reported on crime and the problem the island faced being a drug transit route. I was always looking to report what was happening there in a more enlightening way. To tell the stories behind the headlines kind of thing.
I face the same thing now, today looking at how we cover the Mexico drug cartels.
Alicia with Mark and Ros from World Have Your Say
Luckily, my colleague Alicia, seen in the photo at the centre of the swine flu storm – has found a woman who works with youngsters in Juarez, who are at risk of joining the gangs there. Take a look at this fantastic audio slideshow.
We are in the process of sending recording equipment to this lady, so that she can help us with the real life storytelling.
I really admire so much, the people who put themselves out there for their community. I met a person like this is Jamaica -there was a woman there who risked her own life to get two warring gangs to sit together in a room and talk to each other. I am trying to emphasise – as I do with all the citizen journalists we work with, that safety is the number one priority and that you must not put yourself or anyone else in danger in working with this project.
But these leading lights of a community are the true diplomats in this world I think, and I for one am looking forward to hearing this perspective. Do you think the same, or should we leave this topic to the professional journalists?
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May 26, 2009 at 5:56 pm
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