This Week: Rainforest Journalists Meet in Brazil

Authors:

Jon Sawyer
Pulitzer Center Alum

Adam Willis
Grantee

Eloisa Lopez
Grantee

Amna Nawaz
International RJF Grantee

Mike Fritz
International RJF Grantee

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Image by PBS NewsHour. Brazil, 2019.

English

This series looks at the potential consequences of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's pledges to...

Multiple Authors

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A map, designed by cartographer Marcos Brito, depicts all Rainforest Journalism Fund projects reported since the initiative's launch in 2018. Image by Jan Rocha. Brazil, 2019.

This newsletter was originally sent on August 8, 2019.

In the Amazon, About the Amazon

Jon Sawyer

Journalists from throughout the Amazon gathered this month in Manaus, Brazil, for the first convening of the Rainforest Journalism Fund, a global initiative administered by the Pulitzer Center. Among the topics discussed: the rights of women and Indigenous peoples, threats to biodiversity, cybersecurity, and the challenges of ensuring the safety of journalists and the people they cover. The journalists were joined for a joint session and dinner by 40 scientists and 15 Explorers from the National Geographic Society. Pulitzer Center Executive Director Jon Sawyer reflects on the importance of the convening, at a critical moment for Brazil and the world.

Catholic priests Robert Reyes (left) and Flavie Villanueva (center) lead the funeral procession of seventeen-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, who was shot and killed by police. Image by Eloisa Lopez. Manila, 2017.

Resisting Duterte’s Drug War

Adam Willis and Eloisa Lopez

The Catholic Church is one of the few institutions left in the Philippines that can resist President Rodrigo Duterte’s extrajudicial drug war, which has left some 20,000 dead. Reporting in a Pulitzer Center-supported story for The Guardian, Adam Willis and Eloisa Lopez profile the Catholic activists fighting to protect the victims of Duterte’s campaign of terror.

Identification of a women who has been walking and hitchhiking with her family for over two days. Image from video.

Venezuelans Find Temporary Refuge in Brazil

Amna Nawaz and Mike Fritz

Over four million people have fled economic and political turmoil in Venezuela, with many finding refuge in Brazil. The new Bolsonaro government continues to provide a haven for Venezuelan refugees, but without any clear path to stability in Venezuela, how long will the border remain open? Amna Nawaz and Mike Fritz report a Pulitzer Center-supported story for PBS NewsHour.