Sasha Schroeder


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Center for International Media Assistance •

‘My Job is for Humanity’: Afghan Journalists Keep the News Flowing

For years, independent Afghan newspaper Etilaatroz has published hard-hitting investigations into corruption, discrimination, and nepotism. In 2017, the Afghan parliament stopped the sale of government land due to an investigation by the paper, which showed that then-President Ashraf Ghani sold the land to an election supporter at a deeply discounted rate. Later that same year, the newspaper published a leaked document showing that Afghan government officials had encouraged promotion of Pashtun
Center for International Media Assistance •

Fighting Fake News: How Mis- and Disinformation Legislation is Weaponized Against Journalists

In the aftermath of Russia’s deadly attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, that left nearly 600 civilians dead, journalist Maria Ponomarenko found herself ensnared in a legal battle for posting online that Russia was responsible, which the Russian defense ministry denied. In February 2023, she was sentenced to six years in prison for spreading “false” information about the Russian military. Her case is emblematic of a growing global trend as countries around the world try to protect their news ecosystems
Center for International Media Assistance •

Year in Review: Top 5 CIMA Publications of 2022

In 2022, independent media around the world faced some of the greatest threats seen in recent years. Global crises—including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, extreme violence in Mexico, and instability in Haiti—have contributed to a more hostile environment for independent reporting, including a reversal of the years-long global decline in journalist killings. Despite this troubling turn, independent media continue to relentlessly persevere in the face of increasingly hostile environments. As th
Center for International Media Assistance •

‘Alternative Means’: How Civil Society in Southern Africa Can Combat Impunity

Most killers of journalists walk free. The statistics are staggering: worldwide, almost nine out of 10 cases of journalist killings are met with impunity. To mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists and the tenth anniversary of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of the Impunity (UNPA), CIMA spoke with Zoe Titus, director of the Namibia Media Trust and chairperson of the Global Forum for Media Development, about how civil society can
Center for International Media Assistance •

Rebalancing the Relationship Between Big Tech and News Media

As the global journalism industry struggles to adapt to shrinking revenue brought on by the failure of traditional business models, Big Tech companies continue to dominate the digital advertising market. This uneven playing field has led policymakers in the US, EU, and Australia to attempt to rebalance the relationship between Big Tech and news organizations—but how are those efforts impacting media outlets located outside of the Global North? On September 20, CIMA hosted “Should Big Tech Pay f
UNC Media Hub •

Trekking through time: Documenting ancient Cherokee trails in Western North Carolina

Brows furrowed and field notebooks in hand, the two men can be found deep in the mountains several days a week. They walk carefully, pausing every so often to deliberate, take notes or point out landmarks. They are searching for trails that intertwine the eighteenth-century history of the Cherokee people and a prominent American naturalist. The mission: to preserve this history by documenting the ancient Cherokee paths that were used by explorer William Bartram on his journey throughout the Ame
UNC Media Hub •

Fighting the Defense Industry: Asheville Group Organizes Local and National Effort

The winding French Broad River is home to a number of rare and endangered species. Along the banks of the river outside Asheville, the oaks, river birches, sycamores, and willows provide crucial shelter for animals and the river alike. But 100 acres of the area beside the river have been cut down to make way for a plant that will be producing aircraft parts for Pratt and Whitney, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the world.
UNC Global •

Former US Ambassador Mary Yates Shares Lessons from a Diplomatic Career in Africa

Former US Ambassador Mary Yates Shares Lessons from a Diplomatic Career in Africa In a discussion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, former U.S. Ambassador Mary Yates warned of the dangers of forgetting about the African continent on the world stage. “Our disengagement is noted,” Yates said. “Since 2010, U.S. trade with Africa has decreased by more than 50 percent, and U.S. presidents have made just two visits.” Yates, who served for decades in the American Foreign Service ac
UNC Media Hub •

Waging Peace: Students from North Carolina and Iraq Create a Virtual Exchange

A couple of years ago, University of Mosul student Nora Al Jadoue wanted to leave Iraq. At the same time, UNC sophomore Eden Yousif wasn’t sure she would ever get to see Iraq. But thanks to an innovative virtual exchange program between the University of Mosul, UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Greensboro, students are developing new understandings of Iraq and the U.S. Despite being over 6,000 miles apart, students in Iraq and North Carolina have found they have much to share with one another and plenty
UNC Global •

Across Continents, Florence Babb Collaborates to Enhance Course Instruction

Across Continents, Florence Babb Collaborates to Enhance Course Instruction When Florence Babb, professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, heard about Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), she jumped at the opportunity to enhance her Introduction to Latin American Studies (LTAM 101) class and ultimately took her work to Ecuador, where she’s been collaborating with Universidad San Francisco de Quito faculty and students. Babb applied for a Curric
UNC Global •

Combining Science and Policy: Angel Hsu’s Journey into Climate Conservation

After her first year of college, Angel Hsu was studying insect-plant interactions in the lowland tropical rain forests of Costa Rica when she realized she wanted to do more than scientific research. “After spending this amazing summer living in the jungle and doing this research, I was thinking this is all well and great, but what does it really matter if the rain forest is not here in another 10 or 20 years for people like myself to be able to study it?” Hsu said. “So then that really got me i
UNC Global •

High School Language Learners Create Projects on Health, Education and Climate at UNC-Chapel Hill

High School Language Learners Create Projects on Health, Education and Climate at UNC-Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted a virtual awards ceremony to celebrate teams from the seventh annual Learning Through Languages High School Research Symposium on Dec. 8. This year, world language students from 12 high schools conducted and presented research in their language of study on topics related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Thirty-one teams wer
International Press Institute •

Regional news site Nyugat is bucking the trend of captured media in Hungary

Breaking through the challenging media environment that the Orbán government has created over the past decade in Hungary, Nyugat is providing defiantly independent news while working to rebuild trust in the media by emotionally appealing to readers, write Vidya Kathirgamalingam and Jacqui Park Launched 21 years ago as an experiment at the “dawn of the digital age”, Nyugat is based in Szombathely, near the Austrian border. It has now become integral to its community of 50,000 readers. “People m
International Press Institute •

How local media in Ukraine are seizing the opportunity of media reform

Ukraine’s 2015 media reforms transformed the opportunities for journalism. Local news network Rayon and media agency ABO have been charting the way forward by building and engaging local communities, write Ameya Nagarajan and Sasha Schroeder. “Destatization” – a clumsy word but an exciting opportunity. When Ukraine’s lawmakers passed a law removing the dead hand of state influence in the media sector, it triggered a move toward a more independent and modern media market. Successful media – some
International Press Institute •

Case Study: Scrolla (South Africa)

Scrolla was founded in 2019 by Mungo Soggot, an entrepreneur and former investigative journalist, along with a team of other seasoned South African journalists including Phillip van Niekerk, Everson Luhanga, Zukile Majova, and Toby Shapshak. Soggot noticed that many South African publications catered to wealthier people with tertiary education and wanted to provide content to those with lower income and education levels. Scrolla aims to reach more South Africans through innovative mobile-first p
International Press Institute •

Case Study: Local Call (Israel/Palestine)

Launched in 2014 by sister news site +972 Magazine, Local Call is a Hebrew-language news site that advances citizen journalism in Israel and Palestine and works to end the occupation of Palestine. The site was co-founded and is co-published by Just Vision, a nonprofit that highlights Palestinian and Israeli grassroots leaders working to end the occupation by peaceful means. Producing four to five stories a day, Local Call seeks to fill a gap in independent, uncensored media with an “unapologetic
International Press Institute •

Case Study: Radio Al Balad (Jordan)

Radio Al Balad was launched as AmmanNet radio in 2000 with online audio reports, news bulletins, and a variety of programming. It began broadcasting terrestrially in the Amman metropolitan area in 2005 after the King issued a temporary law authorizing terrestrial broadcasts. Known as Radio Al Balad since 2008, the community broadcaster is now the only independent radio station whose audience is spread across the country. It covers human rights and community-centered stories that serve the Jordan
International Press Institute •

Case Study: Nyugat (Hungary)

Nyugat is the largest regional news site in Hungary. It is based in Szombathely, near the Austrian border, where it serves a community of 200,000 people in the broader region of County Vas. It launched 21 years ago as an online-only media outlet. Nyugat describes itself as fiercely independent, a nonprofit organization seeking to fill the gap of independent media in the region and in the country as a whole. Most mainstream media in Hungary, through a process known as media capture, are controlle
International Press Institute •

Case Study: Kloop (Kyrgyzstan)

Kyrgyzstan lacks independent media organizations that hold the government accountable. In response, Kloop was founded in 2007 by Bektour Iskender and Rinat Tuhvatshin and has become both a news website with a local focus and a journalism school known for teaching investigative reporting and media literacy. In recent years, Kloop has become one of the country’s most popular news sites and has moved to train many journalists from outside of he capital, Bishkek, to report on remote areas to bridge
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